Professor and Charles H. Babcock Chair of Botany
B.S. San Diego State University (1967)
M.S. San Diego State University (1971)
Ph.D. University of California at Los Angeles (1977)
132 Winston Hall
(336) 758-5779
smithwk@wfu.edu
Go to my professional/lab page [link]
Areas of Interest
Plant Physiological Ecology and Environmental Biophysics; Photosynthesis, Water and Nutrient relations; Microclimate Measurements in the Field, Natural Isotopes
Research
Plant adaptation to harsh or unusual environments; plant ecophysiology (temperature, water and carbon relations, water use efficiency); environmental biophysics ( microclimate effects on plant growth and distribution); structural/functional relationships of plant leaves; light absorption efficiency of plant crowns and canopies; spectral signatures of plant stress; radiation frosts, low temperature photoinhibition (including UV effects), mechanisms of UV absorption, eddy diffusion and stable isotope analysis of CO2 and H2O exchange from native and crop species, aerial sensing of spectral properties and CO2 exchange of plants.
Representative Publications
(undergraduates and graduate students in bold)
Sanchez A,Hughes NM, Smith WK. 2015. Importance of natural cloud regimes to ecophysiology in the alpine species, Caltha leptosepala and Arnica parryi, Snowy Range Mountains, southeast Wyoming, USA. Functional Plant Biology 42: 186-197.
Sanchez, A and W. K. Smith 2015. No evidence for photoinhibition of photosynthesis in alpine Caltha leptosepala DC. Alpine Botany 125: 41-50
Wieser G, FK Holtmeier, WK Smith. 2015. Treelines in a changing global environment. In Trees in a Changing Environment: Ecophysiology, Adaptation, and Future Survival. (Eds) M Tausz and N Grulke. Ecophysiology Series, Plant Ecophysiology 9: 221-265. Springer, 287 pp.
Feagin, RA, Figlus, J, Zinnert, JC, Sigren, J, Martinez, ML, and WK Smith. 2015. Going with the flow or against the grain? The promise of vegetation for protecting beaches, dunes, and barrier islands from erosion. Frontiers Ecol & Environ 13:203-211..
Sanchez, A, NM Hughes, WK Smith. 2015. Ecophysiological comparisons between two broadleaf and two needle-leaf species under representative cloud regimes at alpine treeline. J Plant Ecology, in press.
Jackson, NL, KF Nordstrom, RA Feagin, WK Smith. 2014. Coastal geomorphology and restoration. Geomorphology 199: 1-7. (Lead article, as well as an invited, organizer)
Berry ZC, JC White, and WK Smith. 2014 Foliar uptake, carbon fluxes, and water status are affected by the timing of daily fog in saplings from a threatened cloud forest. Tree Physiology 34:459-471. DOI 10.1093/treephys/tpu032.
Sanchez A,, NM Hughes, WK Smith. 2014. Importance of natural cloud regimes to ecophysiology in the alpine species, Caltha leptosepala and Arnica parryi, Snowy Range Mountains, southeastern Wyoming, USA. Functional Plant Biology (in press).
Sanchez A, JM. Posada, WK Smith. 2014. Dynamic cloud regimes, incident sunlight, and leaf temperatures in Espeletia grandiflora and Chusquea tessellata, two representative species of the Andean Páramo, Colombia. Artic, Antarctic & Alpine Research 48:371-378. http://dx.doi.org/10.1657/1938-4246-46.2.371
Berry ZC, WK Smith. 2014. Experimental cloud immersion and foliar water uptake in saplings of Abies fraseri and Picea rubens. Trees: Structure and Function 28:115-123. (DOI 10.1007/s00468-013-0934-5
Hughes NM, Carpenter KL, Cook DK, Keidel TS, Miller CN, Neal JL, Sanchez A, WK Smith. 2014. Effects of cumulus clouds on microclimate and shoot-level photosynthetic gas exchange in Picea engelmannii and Abies lasiocarpa at treeline, Medicine Bow Mountains, Wyoming, USA. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 201:26-37.
Wieser G, FK Holtmeier, WK Smith. 2014. Treelines in a changing global environment. In Trees in a Changing Environment: Ecophysiology, Adaptation, and Future Survival. (Eds) M Tausz and N Grulke. Series, Plant Ecophysiology 9: 221-265. Springer, 287 pp.
Carmichael, MJ, ES Bernhardt, SL Bräuer, and WK Smith. 2014. Conduits, stimulants and synthesizers: the role of vegetation in methane flux to the atmosphere. Biogeochemistry 119: 1-24.
Hughes NM, Carpenter KL, Keidel TS, Miller CN, and Smith WK. 2014. Photosynthetic costs and benefits of adaxial versus abaxial anthocyanins in the understory environment. Planta 240: 971-981.
Berry, ZC, NM Hughes, WK Smith. 2013. Cloud immersion: an important water source for spruce and fir saplings in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Oecologia 174: 319-326. DOI 10.1007/s00442-013-2770-0.
Sanchez A, WK Smith. 2013. Plant functional traits: Perspectives from a quantitative literature survey. Current Trends in Ecology 3: 25-51. (Invited review)
White JC and WK Smith. 2013. Water sources in riparian trees of the southern Appalachian foothills, USA: A preliminary study with stable isotope analysis. Riparian Ecology and Conservation 1:46-52. DOI:10.2478/remc-2013-0006
Berry, ZC, NM Hughes, WK Smith. 2013. Cloud immersion: an important water source for spruce and fir saplings in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Oecologia (published on-line Nov 26, 2013). DOI 10.1007/s00442-013-2770-0
Sanchez A,, NM Hughes, WK Smith. 2013. Effects of cloud regime on daily and seasonal microclimate, photosynthesis and water relations in the alpine species, Caltha leptosepala and Arnica parryi, Medicine Bow Mountains, southeastern Wyoming, USA.
Smith WK, ZC Berry. 2013. Sunflecks? Tree Physiology, 33: 233-237. (Invited review)
Berry ZC, JC White, and WK Smith. 2013. Foliar uptake, carbon fluxes, and water status are affected by the timing of daily fog in saplings from a threatened cloud forest. Plant, Cell, & Environment, in review.
Jackson, NL, KF Nordstrom, RA Feagin, WK Smith. 2013. Coastal geomorphology and restoration. Geomorphology 199: 1-7. (Lead article, as well as an invited, organizing editor for this volume)
Smith WK. 2013. A unified paradigm for the climatic elevations of global treelines. Ecology 94:767-778. (invited book review)
Berry, ZC, WK Smith. 2013. Ecophysiological importance of cloud immersion in a relic spruce-fir forest at elevational limits, southern Appalachian Mountains, USA. Oecologia 173: 637-648. DOI 10.1007/s00442-013-2653-4
Sanchez A, JM. Posada, WK Smith. 2013. Dynamic cloud regimes, incident sunlight, and leaf temperatures in Espeletia grandiflora and Chusquea tessellata, two representative species of the Andean Páramo, Colombia. Artic, Antarctic, & Alpine, in press.
Sanchez A, NM Hughes, WK Smith. 2013. Water-use efficiency declines during autumn leaf senescence in three deciduous tree species, North Carolina piedmont, USA. International Journal of Plant Biology4: 16-23..
Berry ZC, WK Smith. 2013. Experimental cloud immersion and foliar water uptake in saplings of Abies fraseri and Picea rubens. Trees: Structure and Function 1-9 (DOI) 10.1007/s00468-013-0934-5
Sanchez A, WK Smith. 2013. Plant functional traits: Perspectives from a quantitative literature survey.Current Trends in Ecology 3: 25-51. (Invited review)
Smith WK. A unified paradigm for the climatic elevations of global treelines. Ecology 94:767-778.
Reed JE, WK Smith. 2013. Stomatal frequency, distribution, and needle hydrophobicity in cloud forest spruce and fir, southern Appalachian Mountains, USA. Review of Undergraduate Research in Agricultural and Life Sciences (RURALS) 7:1-9. (Jennifer Reed, WFU undergraduate).
Wieser G, FK Holtmeier, WK Smith. 2012. Treelines in a changing global environment. Forest Ecology in a Climate-change Future. Springer, in press (Invited chapter, delayed from a promised 2012 publication date)
Carmichael,MJ, ES Bernhardt, SL Bräuer, and WK Smith. 2013. Conduits, stimulants and synthesizers: the role of vegetation in methane flux to the atmosphere. Biogeochemistry http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10533-014-9974-1