James H. Speer

Assistant Professor of Geography & Geology
Specialties: Biogeography and Dendrochronology
Ph.D., University of Tennessee, Knoxville         Educational Excellence Teaching Award, Arts & Sciences, 2005
Joined the Department in 2001

E-mail Dr. Speer
jspeer@isugw.indstate.edu
(812)-237-2257

Curriculum Vitae

GEOL 160: Introduction to Earth and Sky
GEOG 111: Physical Geography
GEOL 385: Structural Geology
GEOG 411: Conservation of Natural Resources
GEOG 415/515: Field Geography of the United States
GEOG* 418/518: Soil Genesis and Classification
GEOG** 465/565: Fundamentals of Tree Ring Research
GEOG 490/590: Biogeography
GEOG/GEOL 452/552: Quaternary Environments

http://dendrolab.indstate.edu/

*Cross listed with Geology 418/518
**Cross listed with Geology 465/565, Anthropology 465/565, and Life Science 465/565

Research Interests

Dr. Speer is a dendrochronologist with experience in reconstructing environmental variables that affect tree growth, such as insect outbreaks, fire, masting, and climate.  He is excited about the many uses and more widespread applications of dendrochronology.  He is presently developing tree-ring chronologies in the tropics where previously researchers had thought that annual rings did not form.  He has developed the first insect outbreak reconstructions on pandora moth, a frequent defoliator of western pine forests and he has developed new methods that enable dendrochronologists to use tree rings to reconstruct past fruiting in oak trees.  Most recently he has been working on an NSF funded grant to explore the effect of cicadas on tree growth.

Selected Publications

2005     Beilfuss, M.L. and Speer, J.H. Achieving scientific literacy in the undergraduate earth science classroom. Journal for the Liberal Arts and Sciences, 9(4): 13-19.

2005     Fritts, H.C. and Speer, J.H. Tree-Ring Analysis. Encyclopedia of World Climates, second edition. Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 732-742.

2004     Gagen, M., Daniels, L.D., Kipfmueller, KF., Speer, J.H., and Anchukaitis, K.J. Tree-ring presentations at the 2003 meeting of the Association of American Geographers. Dendrochronologia 22(1): 3-7.

2004     Speer, J.H. and Holmes, R. Stem analysis on four ponderosa pine trees affected by repeated pandora moth defoliation in central Oregon. Tree-Ring Research 60(2): 69*76.

2004     Speer, J.H., Orvis, K.H., Grissino-Mayer, H.D., Kennedy, L.M., and Horn, S.P. Assessing the dendrochronological potential of Pinus occidentalis Swartz in the Cordillera Central of the Dominican Republic. The Holocene 14(4): 563*569.

2004     Speer, J.H., Scott, P., Crites, D.B., and Steeg, R.P. III. Periodical Cicadas: Myths, Mysteries, Facts, and Fallacies. The Hoosier Science Teacher 29(4):107*109.

2003     Speer, J.H., Jensen R.R. A hazards approach towards modeling pandora moth risk. Journal of Biogeography 30: 1899*1906.

2002     Lafon, C.W. and Speer, J.H. Using Dendrochronology to identify major ice storm events in oak forests of southwestern Virginia. Climate Research 20(1): 41*54.

2001     Speer, J.H., Swetnam, T.W., Wickman, B.E., and Youngblood, A. Changes in pandora moth outbreak dynamics during the past 622 years. Ecology 82(3): 679*697.

Selected Presentations

2005    Speer, J.H. Environmental Issues, Their Causes, and Sustainability. Geography Educators Network of Indiana Workshop, Purdue
University, March 12.

2005    Speer, J.H. Contributions of Dendrochronology to Disturbance
           Ecology in North America. Virginia Tech, February 18.

2004    Speer, J.H. The Application of Dendrochronology to
           Understanding Pandora Moth and Cicada Outbreaks. Indiana
           University, November 12.

2004    Speer, J.H. Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Insect Outbreaks
           using GIS and Dendrochronology. West Virginia University,
           October 22.

2004    Speer, J.H. Examining the Effect of Cicada Root Parasitism Using
           Dendrochronology. National Science Foundation, Washington D.C.
           May 11.

2004    Speer, J.H. The Effect of Pandora Moth and Cicadas on Tree
           Growth Demonstrated Through Dendrochronology. Biology
           Department, Indiana University Bloomington. January 26.

2004    Speer, J.H. and Hansen-Speer, K.M. Expanded Applications for
           Dendrochronology in Archaeology: An Ecological Interface. Paper
           presented at the Archaeological Sciences of the Americans.
           Inaugural Symposium. University of Arizona. September 22-25.

2004    Speer, J.H. and Clay, K. The Effect of Cicada Root Parasitism on Red Maple in southwestern Indiana. Paper presented at the Association of American Geographers, Philadelphia. March 14 * 19.

2003    Orvis, K.H., Horn, S.P., Grissino-Mayer, H.D., Kennedy, L.M., League, B.L., and Speer,                 J.H. "Tropical Fire Regimes of the Past." The 2nd International Wildland Fire Ecology
           and Fire Management Congress. Orlando, Florida. November 16-20.

2003     Gentry, C.M., Speer, J.H., Jensen, R.R., and Wolf, S.F. "The Effect of Prescribed Burns               on Cation Exchange Capacity in an Oak Savanna." Poster presented at the Association of            American Geographers (AAG), New Orleans. March 5-8.

2003     Mitchell, P., Speer, J.H., Jensen, R.R., and Bierly, G.D. "Exploring Groundwater              Contamination with Dendrochronology in NW Indiana." Poster presented at the   Association            of American Geographers (AAG), New Orleans. March 5-8.

2003     Speer, J.H., and Arntzen, K.K. "The Use of Tree Rings as an Indicator of Fine-Scale                         Environmental Gradients." Paper presented at the Association of American Geographers

2002     Short, S.E., Speer, J.H., Wolf, S.F., and Brake, S.S.  “Use of dendrochemistry to evaluate uptake in black walnut trees growing on a coal waste pile in Indiana.”  Paper presented at the Geological Society of American Meeting (GSA), Denver, Colorado, October 27^th – 30^th.

2002     Speer, J.H., Orvis, K.H., and Greenberg, C.H.  “Climatic Response of Five Oak Species in the Mixed Hardwood Forest of the Southern Appalachians.”  Paper presented at the Association of American Geographers (AAG), Los Angeles, March 19^th – 23^rd.

2001     Speer, J.H. and Jensen, R. R.  “Spatial Analysis of Pandora Moth Outbreaks in South-Central Oregon.”  Paper presented at the Meeting of the West Lakes Division of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), Joliet Junior College.  October 11^th – October 13^th.

2001     Speer, J.H., Orvis, K.H., and Greenberg, C.H.  “Oak-mast reconstructions through dendrochronological analysis in the southern Appalachians.”  Paper presented at the Association of American Geographers (AAG), New York.  February 27^th – March 4^th.

2001     Speer, J.H.  “Environmental Records from Dendrochronology and Their Use in Archaeology.”  Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis MO.  October 26^th.

2000     Speer, J.H., Orvis, K.H., and Greenberg, C.H.  “The methodology for oak mast reconstruction in the southeastern United States”.  The International Dendrochronology Conference, Mendoza Argentina.  April 2-7.

2000     Speer, J.H., Kennedy, L.M., Horn, S.P., and Orvis, K.H.  “Initial Tree Ring Analyses of Pinus occidentalis in the Highlands of the Dominican Republic”.  The International Dendrochronology Conference, Mendoza Argentina.  April 2-7.