Tom Veblen

Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography • Biogeography; Conservation • Distinguished Research Lecturer • Arts and Sciences College Professor of Distinction • Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 1975

Physical Geography

veblen@colorado.edu

Research Interests

My main research interests are in forest ecology and vegetation dynamics in relation to natural and anthropogenic disturbances, especially as related to climate variability. I use tree rings to date past disturbance events such as fire and insect outbreaks. For more than 25 years I have been investigating how disturbances such as fire, blow down and bark beetle outbreaks interact in the forested landscapes of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Since the mid-1970s in the southern Andes of Chile and Argentina I have been investigating the effects of disturbances such as mass movements, blow down, fires, and introduced animals on forest dynamics, and increasingly under the effects of climate warming. Both my Colorado and southern Andean work are supported mainly by the National Science Foundation.

Recent Courses Include

Spring 2020 GEOG 5161-001 Research Design in Physical Geography
Spring 2019 GEOG 5161-001 Research Design in Physical Geography
Spring 2018 GEOG 5161-001 Research Design in Physical Geography
Fall 2017 GEOG 5241 Topics/Physical Geography

Honors and Awards

Distinguished Professor University of Colorado, 2017
Distinguished Research Lectureship, University of Colorado Boulder, 2016
Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2008
Faculty Fellowship, University of Colorado Boulder, 2007
Appointed Professor of Distinction by the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, 2006
Henry C. Cowles Award for the Best Publication in Biogeography, Association of American Geographers, 2005
James J. Parsons Distinguished Career Award, Association of American Geographers, 2005
Henry C. Cowles Award for the Best Publication in Biogeography, Association of American Geographers, 2000
Edward J. Taafe Distinguished Lectureship, Ohio State University, 2000
Carl O. Sauer Distinguished Scholarship Award, Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers, 2000
Visiting Distinguished Ecologist, Colorado State University. 1998
Award for Excellence in Research, Boulder Faculty Assembly, University of Colorado Boulder, 1997
Faculty Fellowship, University of Colorado Boulder, 1993
Honors in Research Awarded by the Association of American Geographers, 1992
Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Western Michigan University, 1991
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 1991
Wallace W. Atwood Lecturer, Clark University, 1990
Faculty Fellowship, University of Colorado Boulder, 1985
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, 1985
New Zealand National Research Advisory Council Post‑Doctoral Fellowship, 1979

Recent Publications

Stevens-Rumann, CS, KB Kemp, PE Higuera, BJ Harvey, MR Rother, DC Donato, P Morgan, TT Veblen. 2018. Evidence for declining forest resilience to wildfires under climate change. Ecology Letters 21: 243–252, doi: 10.1111/ele.12889.
Andrus, RA, BJ Harvey, KC Rodman, SJ Hart, TT Veblen. 2018. Moisture availability limits subalpine tree establishment. Ecology 99: 567–575, doi:10.1002/ecy.2134.
Kelly, JJ, QS Latif, VA Saab, TT Veblen. 2018. Spruce Beetle outbreaks guide American Three-toed Woodpecker Picoides dorsalis occupancy patterns in subalpine forests. IBIS, The International Journal of Avian Science. Published online March 17, 2018, doi:10.1111/ibi.12596.
Tepley, AJ, E. Thomann, TT Veblen, GLW Perry, A Holz, J Paritsis, T Kitzberger, KJ Anderson-Teixeira. 2018. Influences of fire–vegetation feedbacks and post-fire recovery rates on the extent and stability of forest cover across landscapes subject to changing fire regimes. Journal of Ecology. Published online March 27, 2018, doi:10.1111/1365-2745.12950.
Treml, V, TT Veblen. 2018. Does tree growth sensitivity to warming trends vary according to treeline form? Journal of Biogeography 44: 1469-1480. doi:10.1111/jbi.12996.
Holz, A, J Paritsis , I Mundo, TT Veblen, T Kitzberger, G Williamson, E Aráoz, C Bustos-Schindler, M González, H Grau, J Quezada. 2017. Southern Annular Mode drives multi-century wildfire activity in southern South America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114:9552-9557, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1705168114.
Hart, SJ, TT Veblen, D Schneider, NP Molotch. 2017. Summer and winter drought drive the initiation and spread of spruce beetle infestation in the Southern Rocky Mountains. Ecology 98:2698-2707, doi: 10.1002/ecy.1963.