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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
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Research interests:
Insect/plant interactions; effects of food quality on insect population dynamics;
insects as indicators of biodiversity and habitat restoration,
riparian ecology, ecology of cicadas.


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 .
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