Jens T Stevens, Ph.D.
Biography
Jens Stevens is a research ecologist at the New Mexico Landscapes Field Station, a Fort Collins
Science Center facility in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Jens has a M.S. in Plant Biology from the
University of Vermont, where he studied fire-invasive plant interactions in the Florida Everglades,
and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California Davis, where he studied interactions
between fire, climate and forest management in the Sierra Nevada of California. Jens has conducted
diverse research on forests of California and elsewhere in western North America, which seeks to
understand the causes and ecological consequences of forest disturbance at multiple spatial and
temporal scales.
Education
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Ph.D. Ecology, University of California Davis, 2014
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M.S. Plant Biology, University of Vermont, 2008
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B.S. Biology, Carleton College, Minnesota, 2006
Professional Experience
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2018 - present, Research Ecologist, USGS New Mexico Landscapes Field Station, Fort Collins Science Center, Santa Fe, NM
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2016-2018, Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California Berkeley
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2014-2016, Postdoctoral Scholar, John Muir Institute of the Environment, University of California Davis
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2008-2009, Research Technician, Dartmouth College, Hanover New Hampshire
Science and Products
Effects of disturbance and drought on the forests and hydrology of the Southern Rocky Mountains
Climate-related forest disturbances, particularly drought-induced tree mortality and large, high-severity fires from increasingly warm and dry conditions, are altering forest ecosystems and the ecosystem services society depends on (e.g., water supplies). Our research combines long-term place-based ecological data, diverse methods (e.g., paleo, remote-sensing), and networking approaches to...
The New Mexico Landscapes Field Station
The New Mexico Landscapes Field Station is a place-based, globally-connected, ecological research group that studies and interprets ecosystem and wildlife dynamics, working with land managers and community leaders to deliver solutions that foster the linked health of human and natural systems.
Our partnerships, and co-location, with land management agencies provide us with opportunities...
Forest restoration and fuels reduction: Convergent or divergent?
For over 20 years, forest fuel reduction has been the dominant management action in western US forests. These same actions have also been associated with the restoration of highly altered frequent-fire forests. Perhaps the vital element in the compatibility of these treatments is that both need to incorporate the salient characteristics that...
Stephens, Scott L.; Battaglia, Mike A.; Churchill, Derek J.; Collins, Brandon M.; Coppoletta, Michelle; Hoffman, Chad M.; Lydersen, Jamie M.; North, Malcolm P.; Parsons, Russell A.; Ritter, Scott M.; Stevens, JensThe Fire and Tree Mortality Database, for empirical modeling of individual tree mortality after fire
Wildland fires have a multitude of ecological effects in forests, woodlands, and savannas across the globe. A major focus of past research has been on tree mortality from fire, as trees provide a vast range of biological services. We assembled a database of individual-tree records from prescribed fires and wildfires in the United States. The Fire...
Cansler, C. Alina; Hood, Sharon M.; Varner, J. Morgan; van Mantgem, Phillip J.; Agne, Michelle C.; Andrus, Robert A.; Ayres, Matthew P.; Ayres, Bruce D.; Bakker, Jonathan D.; Battaglia, Michael A.; Bentz, Barbara J.; Breece, Carolyn R.; Brown, James K.; Cluck, Daniel R.; Coleman, Tom W.; Corace, R. Gregory; Covington, W. Wallace; Cram, Douglas S.; Cronan, James B.; Crouse, Joseph E.; Das, Adrian; Davis, Ryan S.; Dickinson, Darci M.; Fitzgerald, Stephen A; Fule, Peter Z.; Ganio, Lisa M.; Grayson, Lindsay M.; Halpern, Charles B.; Hanula, Jim L.; Harvey, Brian J.; Hiers, J. Kevin; Huffman, David W.; Keifer, MaryBeth; Keyser, Tara L.; Kobziar, Leda N.; Kolb, Thomas E.; Kolden, Crystal A.; Kopper, Karen E.; Kreitler, Jason R.; Kreye, Jesse K.; Latimer, Andrew M.; Lerch, Andrew P.; Lombardero, Maria J.; McDaniel, Virginia L.; McHugh, Charles W.; McMillin, Joel D.; Moghaddas, Jason J.; O'Brien, Joseph J.; Perrakis, Daniel D. B.; Peterson, David W.; Pritchard, Susan J.; Progar, Robert A.; Raffa, Kenneth F.; Reinhardt, Elizabeth D.; Restaino, Joseph C.; Roccaforte, John P.; Rogers, Brendan M.; Ryan, Kevin C.; Safford, Hugh D.; Santoro, Alyson E.; Shearman, Timothy M.; Shumate, Alice M.; Sieg, Carolyn H.; Smith, Sheri L.; Smith, Rebecca J.; Stephenson, Nathan L.; Stuever, Mary; Stevens, Jens; Stoddard, Michael T.; Thies, Walter G.; Vaillant, Nicole M.; Weiss, Shelby A.; Westlind, Douglas J.; Woolley, Travis J; Wright, Micah CharlesBiogeography of fire regimes in western US conifer forests: A trait-based approach
Aim Functional traits are a critical link between species distributions and the ecosystem processes that structure those species’ niches. Concurrent increases in the availability of functional trait data and our ability to model species distributions present an opportunity to develop functional trait biogeography, i.e. the mapping of functional...
Stevens, Jens; Kling, Matthew M.; Schwilk, Dylan W.; Varner, J. Morgan; Kane, Jeffrey M.Forest vegetation change and its impacts on soil water following 47 years of managed wildfire
Managed wildfire is an increasingly relevant management option to restore variability in vegetation structure within fire-suppressed montane forests in western North America. Managed wildfire often reduces tree cover and density, potentially leading to increases in soil moisture availability, water storage in soils and groundwater, and streamflow...
Stevens, Jens; Boisramé, Gabrielle F. S.; Rakhmatulina, Ekaterina; Thompson, Sally E.; Collins, Brandon M.; Stephens, Scott L.Fire history across forest types in the southern Beartooth Mountains, Wyoming
Fire is a critical ecosystem process that has played a key role in shaping forests throughout the Beartooth Mountains in northwestern Wyoming. The highly variable topography of the area provides ideal conditions to compare fire regimes across contiguous forest types, yet pyro-dendrochronological research in this area is limited. We reconstructed...
Brown, Sabrina R.; Baysinger, Ashley; Brown, Peter M.; Cheek, Justin L.; Diez, Jeffrey M.; Gentry, Christopher M.; Grant III, Thomas A.; St-Jacques, Jeannine-Marie; Jordan, David A.; Leef, Morgan L.; Rourke, Mary K.; Speer, James H.; Spradlin, Carrie E.; Stevens, Jens; Stone, Jeffery R.; Van Winkle, Brian; Zeibig-Kichas, Nickolas E.Fire severity and changing composition of forest understory plant communities
QuestionsGradients of fire severity in dry conifer forests can be associated with variation in understory floristic composition. Recent work in dry conifer forests in California, USA, has suggested that more severely burned stands contain more thermophilic taxa (those associated with warmer and drier conditions), and that forest disturbance may...
Stevens, Jens; Miller, Jesse E.D.; Fornwalt, Paula J.