Williams, Kathy S. Ecology Program (SEOB co-member), Associate Professor of Biology. Ph.D., Biological Sciences (Population Biology), Stanford University (1981)       kwilliam@sunstroke.sdsu.edu

Research interests:

Upper Division and Graduate Courses: Coevolution (UD/G), Ecology and the Environment (UD), Introductory Entomology (UD), Insect Ecology (UD/G), Seminar in Insect-Plant Interactions (G)

Current Graduate students: Dave Bailey, Patrick McConnell, Christian Manion, Alison Williams Anderson (Ph.D.)

Current research activities:  Kathy Williams graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1977 with a B.A. in Liberal Arts. She then went on to earn her Ph. D. in Population Biology from Stanford University in 1981.  She spent 3 years in Canada doing a post-doc at the University of British Columbia studying population dynamics of insects used in the biological control of weeds. From there she moved to the University of Arkansas where she spent another 3 years studying the emergence of millions of periodical cicadas that appear only every 13 years and their effects on predator populations. 
     Riparian ecology. Since coming to San Diego in 1987, Dr. Williams has continued to pursue her research interests on population dynamics of insects, focusing on how habitat characteristics (including foodplants) affect insect populations and how insect abundance and diversity affects their predator populations. One of her research interests that combines these foci is her work on insects as indicators of restoration ‘success,’ especially in habitats managed for endangered insectivorous birds. She has conducted this work in riparian (riverside) areas of San Diego Co. and in Arizona. She is in the third year of working with colleagues in Arizona on effects of removing increasing amounts of ground water (for human uses) on surface flows of rivers in arid SW. They are examining how those hydrological changes influence plant physiology and population dynamics, and riparian animal (insect) populations. Dr. Williams and her PhD student, Alison Anderson are also examining effects of elevated CO2 on chaparral insect communities at SDSU’s Sky Oaks Field Station.
     Another major area of her research interest involves insect biodiversity and conservation ecology, especially as it relates to insect food selection & reproductive behavior.  Many species of insects can be used as indicators of biodiversity, and as such, Dr. Williams recently has been studying two endangered species of butterflies that occur in the San Diego area.  With her students, Dr. Williams is currently conducting research in collaboration with the US Forest Service, California State Parks, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to understand the ecology of one of the rarest butterflies in N America, the Laguna Mountains Skipper. Since Dr. Williams has continued to study the biology of checkerspot butterflies after completing her dissertation on them, she is also involved in a more limitedy way in the recovery of the local endangered ‘Quino checkerspot’ that once was common in this area but has declined dramatically with increasing urbanization.
     Dr. Williams currently supervises 3 graduate students and numerous undergraduates working to quantify effects of elevated CO2 on insect communities, to examine the role of plant communities in butterfly conservation biology, to identify the functions of non-native plants such as Tamarix on riparian insect communities, and to quantify factors affecting monarch butterfly colony persistence.

Research in science education:   In the last few years Dr. Williams has been involved with several NSF-funded projects allowing her to address another area of her passions, enhancing science education.  In 1998, Dr. Williams and Drs. D.Dexter, & K.Fisher began working through an NSF project, called Project FIRST. This NSF funded project used field stations at SDSU and in AZ, MN, FL, & KY as resources for helping faculty develop strategies for enhancing undergraduate science education by implementing student-active and inquiry-based learning methods. The SDSU teams of faculty we worked with were from SD City Coll., CSUSM, Victor Valley Comm. Coll., Pasadena City Coll., Southwestern Coll. This year, Dr. Williams and her colleagues were refunded by NSF for 4 yr as FIRST II [www.first2.org]to expand this project and conduct research to quantify the effects of innovative methods on undergraduate biology learning.
     In 2000, Dr. Williams, Douglas Deutschman, and Walter Oechel were funded through NSF CCLI to collaborate on reforming curriculum in the Ecology Program Area within the Biology Department. Their goal is to provide biology majors and non-majors with a greater understanding of ecological concepts by fusing innovative teaching with cutting-edge technology. Faculty are collaborating to bring scientific inquiry, field studies, and real time global change technology into several biology-majors’ core and advanced ecology courses, and ultimately a non-majors’ ecology course. Funding provided instrumentation with which students in large and small classes can measure atmospheric CO2 concentrations, microclimate, net radiation, and energy balance at two SDSU field stations, on campus, and at CIBNOR, our collaborating institute in La Paz, BCS, on site and via internet transmission. These activities are bringing research experiences into the classroom as students learn about the effects of global change, using Mediterranean ecosystems as a model. We expect students to better understand the process of scientific inquiry, data acquisition and analysis, and how to communicate scientific information, both orally and in writing. In our first semesters of using this reform, our students have held wonderful symposia presenting their own research results in a professional forum. 
     Dr. Williams is also PI on another successful proposal to NSF to develop data management and communications at SDSU Field Stations. Drs. W. Oechel, and S.Shapiro are co-PIs. Currently there is a wealth of data regularly being collected from basic and state-of the-art instrumentation at the SDSU Biological Field Stations, for both research and educational programs. This funding is providing computer and communications equipment to enhance the instrumentation facilities at Santa Margarita and Sky Oaks Field Stations being used for research and classroom activities. With combined funding from FEMA plus collaboration with the SuperComputer facility and colleagues at UCSD and U Oregon, these data will soon be available in real time from websites available to researchers and educators anywhere.

Selected Publications:

Williams, K.S. 2000. Assessing success of restoration attempts: What can terrestrial arthropods tell us?  In "2nd Interface Between Ecology and Land Development in California, Vol. 2," J. E. Keeley, M.Baer-Keeley, C.J.Fotheringham, eds. pp 237-244. Sacramento, CA. U.S. Geological Survey. Open-File Report 00-62.

Williams, K.S. 2000. Teaching and learning with EcoBeaker 2.0. Ecology 81: 1173?1174. Review. 

Williams, K.S. 1997. Terrestial arthropods as ecological indicators of habitat restoration in southwestern North America. In "Restoration Ecology and Sustainable Development," K.M. Urbanska, N.R.Webb & P.J. Edwards eds. pp 238-258. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Williams, K.S and C. Simon. 1995. Behavior, ecology, and population genetics of periodical cicadas. Annual Review of Entomology 40:269-295.

Williams, K.S. 1993. Use of terrestrial arthropods to evaluate restored riparian woodlands. Restoration Ecol. 2: 107-116.

Williams, K.S., K.G. Smith, and F.M. Stephen. 1993. Emergence of 13- yr periodical cicadas (Cicadidae: Magicicada): Phenology, mortality, and predator satiation. Ecology 74:1143-1152.

Williams, K.S. and K.G. Smith. 1991. Dynamics of periodical cicada chorus centers (Homoptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada). J. Insect Behavior 4:275-291.

Karlin. A.A., K.S. Williams and K.G. Smith. 1991. Biochemical evidence for rapid changes in heterozygosity in a population of periodical cicadas (Magicicada tredecassini). Amer. Midl. Nat. 125:213-221 .

Wheeler, G.L., K.S. Williams and K.G. Smith. 1991. Role of periodical cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada) in forest nutrient cycles. Forest Ecology and Management 51:339-346.

Smith, K.G., N.C. Wilkinson, K.S. Williams. 1987. Predation by spiders on periodical cicadas (Homoptera, Magicicada). Journal of Arachnology 15:277-279.

Williams, K.S. 1987. Responses of persimmon trees to periodical cicada oviposition damage. In Insects-Plants. Labeyrie, V., Fabres, G., Lachaise,D. (eds). W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands.

Johnson, N.D., K.S. Williams, P.R. Ehrlich. 1987. Effects of chemical fertilization of Diplacus autantiacus on the development and persistence of the post-diapause larvae of its lepidopteran herbivore, Euphydryas chalcedona. Amer. Midl. Nat. 117:435-438.

Myers, J.H. and K.S. Williams. 1987. Lack of short or long term inducible defenses in the red alder-western tent caterpillar system. Oikos 48:73-78.

Williams, K.S. 1985. Climatic influences on biological control: Biological control of St. John's wort in British Columbia. Proc. 6th Int. Symp. Biol. Control of Weeds, 1984. E.S. Delfosse (ed). Agriculture Canada, pp. 127-132.

Williams, K.S. and J.H. Myers. 1984. Previous herbivore attack of red alder may improve food quality for fall webworm larvae. Oecologia 63:166- 170.

Graduate theses directed:

Alison Williams Anderson. 
Ph.D. in progress. Effects of elevated atmospheric CO₂ on arthropod populations in California chemise chapparal.

David Bailey. M.S. in progress (Community characteristics of Horkelia clevelandii and implications for the endangered Laguna Mountains Skipper, Pyrgus ruralis lagunae) chair

Patrick McConnell. M.S. in progress (Effects of the phloem feeder Opsius stactogalus on its host, Tamarix, and its influence on the Tamarix invertebrate community) chair

Christian Manion. M.S. in progress (Mechanisms to explain persistence times of monarch (Danaus plexippus) aggregations in coastal California) chair

Gretchen Small. 2000. Insect diversity and pollination strategies associated with avocado (Persea americana) at the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve. M.S. SDSU. chair

Jill Terp. 1998. Habitat use patterns of wintering shorebirds: The role of salt evaporation ponds in south San Diego Bay.  M.S. SDSU. co-chair

Sydney Lynch. 1998. Floral visitation and floral visitation in Mimulus aurantiacus (Monkey Flower) .  M.S. SDSU. chair

Sandra Garver. M.S. 1997. Respiration patterns in non-diving pinnipeds. co-chair

Deborah Waldecker. 1996. Effects of elevated CO2 and soil nitrogen pretreatments on litter decomposition in the tallgrass prairie.  M.S. SDSU. co-chair

Andrea Peirce Calvano. 1995. Nutritional ecology of three subspecies of the checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas chalcedona).  chair

Harry Smead. 1995. Factors that influence the distribution of Ceroccocus quercus scales on Quercus engelmannii.  chair

Steven Penix. 1994. Interactions of two willow-boring insects at a riparian restoration site.  M.S. SDSU. chair

John Tiszler. 1994.  Changes in soil nitrogen structure and dynamics associated with the establishment of desert shrubs in a Chihuahuan Desert black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda Torrey) grassland. M.S. SDSU. co-chair

Rebecca Jo Watts. 1992. An examination of chaparral cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae) and their host use patterns in San Diego County. M.S. SDSU. chair

Scott Snover. 1992.  Ecology of the globosus dune beetle (Coelus globosus) in relation to native and non-native host plant species.  M.S. SDSU. chair

Kimberley Johnson. 1991. The effects of host quality on a phytophagous insect (Homoptera: Delphacidae) and its predators in a California salt marsh system. M.S. SDSU. chair .