Sunil Kumar
Research Scientist, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
Affiliate Faculty, Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability
1499 Campus Delivery, B242 NESB, Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO  80523-1499
Phone:(970) 491-7056, Fax:(970) 491-1965
e-mail: sunil.kumar 'at' colostate.edu
Education:

Current Research Interests:

Landscape ecology, species distribution modeling/Niche modeling, species invasions, pest risk analysis, geospatial analyses, remote sensing, GIS, spatial statistics, community ecology, climate change, public health, and biomass modeling.

PhD Dissertation Title:"Effects of spatial heterogeneity on native and exotic plant and butterfly species richness in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA".(Abstract). Major Advisor: Dr. Thomas J. Stohlgren (other committee members: Dr. Barry Noon, Dr. Michael Lefsky, and Dr. Hari Iyer).

Publications:

Book: Kumar, S. (2008). Effects of Spatial Heterogeneity on Species Richness: Methods to Quantify Spatial Heterogeneity and the Effects of Spatial Scale. 156 pp. VDM Verlag Dr. Muller, Saarbruken, Germany. ISBN: 978-3836488884. Available at Amazon.com

Peer-Reviewed Articles:

2012 - Present

27. Khanum, K., Mumtaz, A.S., and Kumar, S., (2013). Predicting impacts of climate change on medicinal Asclepiads of Pakistan using Maxent Modeling. Acta Oecologica- International Journal of Ecology, 49: 23-31.(PDF)
26. Stohlgren, T.J., and Kumar, S. (2013). Endangered plants. In: Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, 2nd Edition. S. A. Levin (editor), Academic Press, Waltham, MA, Volume 3, pp. 205-215.(PDF)
25. Morain, S.A., Kumar, S., and Stohlgren (2013). Environmental modeling for health. In: Environmental Tracking for Public Health Surveillance, Morain, S.A., and Budge, A.M. (editors), Taylor & Francis Group, Chapter 7, 293-332.(PDF)
24. Flory, A. R., Kumar, S., Stohlgren, T. J., and Cryan, P. M. (2012). Environmental conditions associated with bat White-Nose Syndrome mortality in the north-eastern United States Journal of Applied Ecology, 49: 680-689.(PDF)
23. Nick, Y., Stohlgren, T.J., Evangelista, P.H., Kumar, S., Graham, J., and Newman, G. (2012). Regional data refine local predictions: Modeling the distribution of plant species abundance on a portion of the Central Plains. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 184:5439-5451..(PDF)

2011

22. Evangelista, P.H., Kumar, S., Stohlgren, T. J., and Nick, Y. (2011). Assessing forest vulnerability and the potential distribution of pine beetles under current and future climate scenarios in the Interior West of the U.S. Forest Ecology and Management, 262(3): 307-316.(PDF)
21. Bromberg, J. E., Kumar, S., Brown, C. S., and Stohlgren, T. J. (2011). Distributional changes and range predictions of downy brome in Rocky Mountain National Park. Invasive Plant Science and Management, 4(2): 173-182.(PDF)
20. D'Cruze, N. C., and Kumar, S. (2011). Effects of anthropogenic activities on lizard communities in northern Madagascar. Animal Conservation, 14(5): 542-552.(PDF)
19. Stohlgren, T. J., Kumar, S., Barnett, D., and Evangelista, P.H. (2011). Using maximum entropy modeling for optimal selection of sampling sites at regional scales. Diversity, 3: 252-261.(PDF)
18. York, P., Evangelista, P.H., Kumar, S., Graham, J., Flather, C., and Stohlgren, T.J. (2011). A Habitat Overlap Analysis derived from Maxent for Tamarisk and the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher. Frontiers of Earth Science 5(2): 120-129.(PDF)

2010 - 2005

17. Stohlgren, T. J., Ma, P., Kumar, S., Rocca, M., Morisette, J. T., Jarnevich, C. S., and Benson, N. (2010). Ensemble habitat mapping of invasive plant species. Risk Analysis 30(2): 224-235.(PDF)
16. Lee, A. T. K., Kumar, S., Brightsmith, D. J., and Marsden, S. J. (2010). Parrot claylick distribution in South America: do patterns of "where" help answer the question "why"? Ecography 32: 503-513.(PDF with Appendix)
15.Graham, J., Newman, G., Kumar, S., Jarnevich, C., Nick, Y., Crall, A., Stohlgren, T. J., and Evangelista, P. H. (2010). Bringing modeling to the masses: A web based system to predict potential species distributions. Future Internet, 2: 624-634.(PDF)
14. Evangelista, P. H., Stohlgren, T. J., Morisette, J. T., and Kumar, S. (2009). Mapping invasive tamarisk (Tamarix): a comparison of single-scene and time-series analyses of remotely sensed data. Remote Sensing 1: 519-533.(PDF)
13. Kumar, S., and Stohlgren, T. J.(2009). Maxent modeling for predicting suitable habitat for threatened and endangered tree Canacomyrica monticola in New Caledonia. Journal of Ecology and Natural Environment 1(4): 94-98.(PDF)
12. Kumar, S., Spaulding, S. A., Stohlgren, T. J., Hermann, K. A., Schmidt, T. S., and Bahls, L. L. (2009). Predicting habitat distribution for the freshwater diatom Didymosphenia geminata in the continental US. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 7(8): 415-420. (PDF with Appendix)
11. Kumar, S., Simonson, S. E. and Stohlgren, T. J. (2009). Effects of spatial heterogeneity on butterfly species richness in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. Biodiversity and Conservation 18(3): 739-763. (PDF)
10. D'Cruze, N.C., Sabel, J.A., Dawson, J., Kumar, S. (2009). The influence of habitat type and structure on the abundance of Phelsuma madagascariensis grandis (Gekkonidae) in northern Madagascar. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 4(1): 55-61.(PDF)
9. D'Cruze, N.C., Olsson, A., Henson, D., Kumar, S., and Emmett, D. (2009). The amphibians and reptiles of the Lower Onilahy River Valley, a temporary protected area in southwest Madagascar. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 4(1): 62-79.(PDF)
8. Evangelista, P.H., Kumar, S., Stohlgren, T. J., Jarnevich, C., Crall, A., Norman III, J. B., and Barnett, D. (2008). Modelling invasion for a habitat generalist and a specialist plant species. Diversity and Distributions 14: 808-817.(PDF)
7. Evangelista, P.H., Norman III, J. B., Berhanu, L, Kumar, S., and Alley, N. (2008). Predicting habitat suitability for endemic mountain nyala (Tragelaphus buxtoni) in Ethiopia. Wildlife Research 35: 409-416. (PDF)
6. Li, M.-Y., Ju, Y.-W., Kumar, S., and Stohlgren, T. J. (2008). Modeling potential habitat for Zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha in the continental USA. Acta Ecologica Sinica (Chinese Ecology journal) 28(9): 4253-4258 .
5. Stohlgren, T. J., Jarnevich, C., Kumar, S. (2008). Forest legacies, climate change, altered disturbance regimes, invasive species, and water. Unasylva 229(58): 44-49.(PDF)
4. Evangelista, P.H., Kumar, S., Stohlgren, T. J., Newman, G., and Crall, A. (2007). Modeling aboveground biomass of Tamarix ramosissima in the Arkansas river basin in southeastern Colorado, USA. Western North American Naturalist 67(4): 503-509.(PDF)
3. Kumar, S., Stohlgren, T. J., and Chong, G. W. 2006. Spatial heterogeneity influences native and nonnative plant species richness. Ecology 87(12): 3186-3199.(PDF) (56+ Citations; April 2013).
2. Lauenroth, W. K., Wade, A. A., Williamson, M.A., Ross, B.E., Kumar, S., and Cariveau, D. P. 2006. Uncertainty in calculations of net primary production for grasslands. Ecosystems 9: 843-851.(PDF)
1. Tiwari, A. K., Agarwal, A., Kumar, S., and Tiwari, S. C. 2005. Analysis of land use and biomass in Khanda watershed, Garhwal Himalaya, using satellite remote sensing data. Tropical Ecology 46(2): 253-263. (PDF)

Professional and Community Service:

  • Guest editor, Current Zoology 's Special issue on Invasive Species (2010-2011).
    • (PDF)
  • One of the editors of 'Journal of Ecology and Natural Environment' (April 2009-May 2011).
  • One of the associate editors of 'International Journal of Ecology and Development'.
  • Reviewer (# of proposals reviewed):
  • National Science Foundation (1): 2010
  • US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (1): 2011
  • Panelist USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture: 2011
  • USDA Small Business Innovation Research (1): 2012
  • Reviewer (no. of manuscripts reviewed): Biological Invasions (2), Aquatic Invasions (1), Landscape Ecology (3), Ecological Applications (4), Journal of Ecology (1), Diversity and Distributions (1), Ecological Modelling (1), Global Ecology and Biogeography (1), Forest Ecology and Management (2), Applied Vegetation Science (1), Entropy (1), European Journal of Forest Research (1), Environmental Engineering Science (1), Rangeland Ecology and Management (1), Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology (1), Nordic Journal of Botany (1), Journal of Ecology and Natural Environment (3), Journal of Environmental Biology(1), Tropical Ecology (1), and Agroforestry Systems journals (1).

    • Teaching:

  • ECOL 592: Niche Models (2 credit seminar)- Co-taught with Dr. Barry Noon and Dr. Cameron Aldridge (Fall 2009, Spring 2011, Fall 2012).
  • Teaching Assistant for ECOL592: Exploring Ecological Datasets (Fall 2007).
  • Guest Lecture (ECOL592) Notes:"Incorporating space in Ecological models- a lecutre".(Download PDF).
  • Mathematics Tutor (1994-1996): taught mathematics to 11th and 12th grade students (2-3 batches of 8-12 students per academic year) .

    • Advising/Mentoring:

  • Ms. Jessica A. Schurich (co-advisor), MS, Thesis: Modeling Culex tarsalis Coquillett abundance on the northern Colorado Front Range using a Landscape-level Approach (Completed, Fall 2012). Currently working with Colorado Mosquito Control Inc., Brighton, Colorado.
  • Ms. Amanda M. West (co-advisor), PhD, Started Fall 2011. Thesis: TBD.
  • Mr. Aaron Sidder (co-advisor), MS, Started Fall 2012.
  • Mr. Anthony Vorster (co-advisor), MS, Started Fall 2012.
  • Ms. Jamie Fuller (Committee member), PhD.


    • Curriculum Vitae


    Links
    Created on Septebmber 15, 2002
    Last modified on April 13, 2013, Sunil Kumar