Dr. Katherine Crowley

Instructor, Center for Wildlife Studies
Assistant Professor of Plant Biology, Unity Environmental University Hybrid Learning

Ph.D. Natural Resources, Program in Biogeochemistry & Environmental Biocomplexity, Cornell University

Email: kcrowley@unity.edu

Kathy is a broadly trained plant biologist and ecologist.  She works at Unity College in Maine, where she teaches courses in botany and ecology and conducts research in forest and wetland ecosystem ecology.  Before joining Unity College, Kathy worked as a Postdoctoral and Research Associate at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York.  She received her Ph.D. from the Cornell University Department of Natural Resources, where she investigated the influence of rich fen mosses on vascular wetland plants via effects on the biogeochemistry of shallow soils.  She also spent several years as a wetland environmental consultant in Nevada and as an associate ecologist for the New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau and The Nature Conservancy. 

Kathy’s research focuses on the role of plants in a changing environment.  She uses field and modeling approaches to investigate how plant species change interacts with environmental stressors to affect how ecosystems function.  She is currently involved in developing the SpeCN forest ecosystem model to investigate the interacting effects of invasive insects and disease, climate change, and atmospheric nitrogen pollution on northeastern U.S. forests. 

    • Plant Identification for Wildlife Biologists

    • Plant Community Assessment

    • Plant Taxonomy for Wildlife Biologists

    • Meixler, M.S., M.J. Kennish, and K.F. Crowley. 2018. Assessment of plant community characteristics in natural and human-altered coastal marsh ecosystems. Estuaries and Coasts 41: 52-64.

    • Crowley, K.F. and G.M. Lovett. 2017. Effects of nitrogen deposition on nitrate leaching from forests of the northeastern United States will change with tree species composition. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 47: 997-1009.

    • Crowley, K. F. and G.M. Lovett. 2017. Effects of changing tree species composition on nitrate leaching and carbon storage in Northeastern forests. NYSERDA Report 16-40. Prepared for New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Albany, NY.

    • Crowley, K.F., G.M. Lovett, M.A. Arthur, and K.C. Weathers. 2016. Effects of invasive insects and diseases on carbon and nitrogen cycling in northeastern US forests: A modeling analysis. Forest Ecology and Management 372: 269-290.

    • Lovett, G.M., M.A. Arthur, and K.F. Crowley. 2016. Effects of calcium on the rate and extent of litter decomposition in a Northern Hardwood forest. Ecosystems: 19:87-97.

    • Crowley, K.F., B.E. McNeil, G.M. Lovett, C.D. Canham, C.T. Driscoll, L.E. Rustad, E. Denny, R.A. Hallett, M.A. Arthur, J.L. Boggs, C.L. Goodale, J.S. Kahl, S.G. McNulty, S.V. Ollinger, L.H. Pardo, P.G. Schaberg, J.L. Stoddard, M.P. Weand, and K.C. Weathers. 2012. Do nutrient limitation patterns shift from nitrogen toward phosphorus with increasing nitrogen deposition across the northeastern United States? Ecosystems 15: 940-957.

    • Crowley, K.F. and B.L. Bedford. 2011. Mosses influence phosphorus cycling in rich fens by driving redox conditions in shallow soils. Oecologia 167: 253-264.

    • Crowley, K.F. and D.D. Sperduto. 2001. Ecological landscape analysis of New Hampshire state lands. New Hampshire Natural Heritage Inventory, DRED, Concord, NH.

    • Crowley, K.F. and D.D. Sperduto. 2001. Key to upland forest communities in New Hampshire. New Hampshire Natural Heritage Inventory, DRED, Concord, NH.