Curriculum Vitae

I am interested in the dynamics of plant populations and communities. Using experimental and modeling approaches, I investigate how individuals respond to a variable and changing environment and what role this may play in population interactions and community structure. Specific research areas include:

• Causes and consequences of population size structure.
• The dynamics of nitrogen-fixing legumes in grassland.
• Resource pulse use in arid and semi-arid ecosystems.

Adjunct Assistant Professor

School of Renewable Natural Resources , University of Arizona, Tucson, 2000 -

Postdoctoral Fellow

Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 1997 -

Research Scientist

Institute of Grassland and Evironmental Research, Okehampton, UK, 1988-1994

John L. Harper Prize for a paper published in Journal of Ecology

Robert W. Hoshaw Memorial Award, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona

1. Ehleringer, J.R., Schwinning, S. & Gebauer, R.L.E. 1999. Water use in arid land ecosystems. IN: Advances in Plant Physiological Ecology, Press, M.C. (ed.), Blackwell Science, Oxford, pp. 347-365.

2. Parsons, A.J., Carrere, P. & Schwinning, S. 1999. Dynamics of heterogeneity in a grazed sward. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Grassland Ecophysiology and Grazing Ecology, deMoraes, A., Nabinger, C. de faccio, P.C., Alves, S.J. & Campos Lustosa, S.B. (eds), Curitiba, Parana, Brazil: pp. 187-214.

3. Schwinning, S. & Parsons, A.J. 1999, The stability of grazing systems revisited: spatial modls and the role of heterogeneity, Functional Ecology 13: 737-747.pdf file

4. Schwinning, S. & Weiner, J. 1998. Mechanisms determining the degree of size-asymmetry in competition among plants, Oecologia 113, 447-455.pdf file

5. Schwinning, S. & Parsons, A.J. 1996a. Analysis of the coexistence mechanisms for grasses and legumes in grazing systems.Journal of Ecology 84,799-813.pdf file

6. Schwinning, S. & Parsons, A.J. 1996b. A spatially explicit population model of stoloniferous N-fixing legumes in mixed pasture with grass.Journal of Ecology 84, 815-826.pdf file

7. Schwinning, S. & Parsons, A.J. 1996c. Interactions between grasses and legumes: understanding variability in species composition. In: Legumes in Sustainable Farming Systems. Proceedings of the Sustainable Farming Systems/ British Grassland Society Joint Conference, pp. 153-163.

8. Chapman, D.F., Parsons, A.J. & Schwinning, S. 1996. Management of clover in grazed pastures: expectations, limitations and opportunities. In: White Clover: New Zealand's Competitive Edge. Symposium of the New Zealand Grassland Association, Lincoln, N.Z., pp. 55-64.

9. Schwinning, S. 1996. Decomposition analysis of competitive symmetry and size structure dynamics. Annals of Botany 72: 47-57.

10. Schwinning, S. & Fox, G.A. 1995. Population dynamic consequences of competitive symmetry in annual plants. Oikos 72: 422-432.

11. Schwinning, S. & Rosenzweig, M.L. 1990. Periodic oscillations in an ideal-free predator-prey distribution. Oikos 59: 85-91.