John Stewart, Postdoc Forest population genetics; hybridization; ecological genetics; undergraduate authentic research experiences   Ph.D., 2010, Oklahoma State University Email: john.stewart@okstate.edu

Specific Interests

My past work has focused on the increase of introgression of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) into shortleaf pine (P. echinata) in the American southeast over the second half of the 20th century. I used molecular markers to estimate hybridization levels and explore potential causes of the phenomenon. Most recently colleagues and I uncovered how fire exclusion is an important cause of this potential threat to forest ecosystems, and we estimated the frequency of shortleaf pine x loblolly pine classified as shortleaf pine in state and federal seed orchards. My current work concerns designing biology classroom activities in which undergraduate students have authentic research experiences and helping to facilitate freshman entering OSU faculty laboratories to conduct life sciences research. We seek to give students true understanding of what it means to conduct science and to instill a lifelong desire to research in the life sciences.

Selected Publications

Stewart JF, Will RE, Crane BS, Nelson CD. 2016. Occurrence of shortleaf x loblolly pine hybrids in shortleaf pine seed orchards: implications for ecosystem restoration. Forest Science (In Press).

Stewart JF, Will RE, Crane BS, Nelson CD. 2016. The genetics of shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) with implications for restoration and management. Tree Genetics and Genomes 12: 98. doi:10.1007/s11295-016-1052-5

Will RE, Lilly CJ,Stewart J, Huff S, Tauer CG. 2016. Recovery from topkill of shortleaf pine x loblolly pine hybrids compared to their parent populations. Trees – Structure and Function 27: 1167-1174.

Stewart JF, Will RE, Robertson KM, Nelson CD. 2015. Frequent fire protects shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) from introgression by loblolly pine (P. taeda). Conservation Genetics 15: 491-496.

Stewart JF, Tauer CG, Guldin JM, Nelson CD. 2013. Hybridization in naturally regenerated shortleaf pine near artificially regenerated stands of loblolly pine. Southern Journal of Applied Forestry 37: 102-107.

Will RE, Lilly CJ, Stewart JF, Tauer CG. 2013. Recovery from topkill of shortleaf pine × loblolly pine hybrids compared to their parent populations. Trees: Structure and Function DOI: 10.1007/s00468-013-0866-0

Tauer CG, Stewart JF, Will RE, Lilly CJ, Guldin JM, and Nelson CD. 2012. Hybridization Leads to Loss of Genetic Integrity in Shortleaf Pine: Unexpected Consequences of Pine management and Fire Suppression. Journal of Forestry 110: 216-224

Stewart JF, Tauer CG, Nelson CD. 2012. Bidirectional introgression between loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) and shortleaf pine (P. echinata Mill.) has increased since the 1950s. Tree Genetics and Genomes 8: 725-735.

Stewart JF, Tauer CG, Nelson CD. 2010. The rates of loblolly pine and shortleaf pine hybridization: past and present. Shortleaf Pine Research: Past, Present and Future: A Symposium. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma

Stewart JF, Tauer CG, Nelson CD. 2010. The Caney Creek Wilderness Area: a case study in shortleaf pine x loblolly pine hybridization. Shortleaf Pine Research: Past, Present and Future: A Symposium. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma

Stewart JF, Liu Y, Tauer CG, Nelson CD. 2010. Microsatellite versus AFLP analysis of pre-management introgression levels in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) and shortleaf pine (P. echinata Mill.) Tree Genetics and Genomes 6: 853-862 Tauer CG, Xu S, Stewart J, Nelson CD, Guldin JM. 2009. Shortleaf pine: a species at risk? The Schatz Tree Genetics Colloquium. Penn State Mont Alto.