Alan Taylor 
EESI Associate
Alan Taylor
Contact Information:
Department of Geography, Associate Director, Earth and Environmental Systems Institute
309 Walker Building
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: (814) 865-1509
email: aht1@psu.edu
Dept. website: http://www.geog.psu.edu/people/taylor/
Current Research Interests:
I have broad research interests in ecological biogeography and vegetation dynamics, particularly the role of natural and human disturbance and climate variation on forest dynamics. Much of my recent research has focused on identifying the influence of changes and interactions of land use history and climate on fire disturbance and forest conditions in the western United States. I address both theoretical and applied questions in my research and use a wide range of methodological approaches including tree ring analysis, spatial analysis and statistical modeling, simulation modeling, and historical ecology. I have also conducted research on the dynamics of subalpine bamboo forests with giant pandas in southwest China and on highland bamboo forests in mountain gorilla habitat in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda. At Penn State I teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Global Ecology and Biogeography, Geographical Ecology, Forest Geography, Landscape Ecology, Vegetation Dynamics, and Invasive Species.
Selected Publications:
2008 Beaty, R.M., & Taylor, A.H. A 14,000 year sedimentary charcoal record of fire from the northern Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe Basin, California, USA. Holocene. pdf file 1.01 mb
2008 Beaty, R.M., & Taylor, A.H. Geographic Variation in Mixed-Conifer Forest Fire Regimes in California1. Forest Service General Technical Report PSW-GTR 189: 123-130. pdf file 275 kb
2008 Trouet, V., Taylor, A.H., Carleton, A.M., & Skinner, C.N. Interannual variations in fire weather, fire extent, and synoptic-scale circulation patterns in northern California and Oregon. Theoretical and Applied Climatology. pdf file 570 kb
2008 Schmidt, D.A., Taylor, A.H., & Skinner, C.N. The influence of fuels treatment and landscape arrangement on simulated fire behavior, Southern Cascade range, California Forest Ecology and Management 255 3170–3184. pdf file 784 kb
2008 Beaty, R.M. & Taylor, A.H. Fire history and the structure and dynamics of a mixed confider forest landscape in the northern Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe Basin, California, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 255 (2008) 707–719. pdf file 1.32 mb
2008 Taylor, A.H., Trouet, V., Skinner, C.N. Climatic influences on fire regimes in montane forests of the Southern Cascades, California USA. International Journal of Wildland Fire 2008, 17, 60–71 pdf file 326k
2007 Beaty, R.M. & Taylor, A.H. Fire disturbance and forest structure in old-growth mixed conifer forests in the northern Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe Basin, California, USA. Forthcoming in the Journal of Vegetation Science. pdf file 324k
2007 Poulos, H.M., Taylor, A.H., & Beaty, R.M. Environmental controls on dominance and diversity of woody plant species in a Madrean, Sky Island ecosystem, Arizona, USA. Plant Ecology 193:15–30 pdf file 402k
2007 Sakulich, J. & Taylor, A.H. Fire regimes and forest structure in a sky island mixed conifer forest, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas, USA. Forest Ecology and Management. 241:62–73 pdf file 1.05mb
2006 Scholl, A.E. & Taylor, A.H. Regeneration patterns in old-growth red fir–western white pine forests in the northern Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe, USA. Forest Ecology and Management. 235:43–154 pdf file 798k
2006 Skinner, C.N. & Taylor, A.H. Southern Cascades Bioregion. In: Fire in California’s Ecosystems. Edited by N.G. Sugihara, J.W. van Wagtendonk, J. Fites-Kaufman, K.E Shaffer, A.E. Thode. University of California Press, Berkeley. pp. 195-224. pdf file 1.31mb
2006 Skinner, C.N., Taylor, A.H., & Agee, J.K. Klamath Mountains bioregion. In: Fire in California’s Ecosystems. Edited by N.G. Sugihara, J.W. van Wagtendonk, J. Fites-Kaufman, K.E Shaffer, A.E. Thode. University of California Press, Berkeley. pp. 170-194. pdf file 810k
2006 Taylor, A.H. Forest Changes Since Euro-American Settlement and Ecosystem Restoration in the Lake Tahoe Basin, USA. USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-203. pdf file 972k
2006 Taylor, A.H., Jang, S.W., Zhao, L.J., Liang, C.P., Miao, C.J., and Huang, J. Regeneration patterns and tree species coexistence in old-growth Abies-Picea forests in southwestern China. Forest Ecology and Management. 223:303-317. pdf file 602k
2006 Trouet, V., Taylor, A.H., Carleton, A., & Skinner, C.N. Fire-climate interactions in forests of the American Pacific coast. Geophysical Research Letters: 33: L18704 pdf file 1.97mb