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.

Selected Publications

Johnson, DM and WK Smith. 2008. Cloud immersion alters microclimate, photosynthesis and water relations in Rhododendron and Abies seedlings, southern Appalachian Mountains, USA. Tree Physiol. 28: 385-392.

Smith, WK and DM Johnson. 2008. Biophysical effects of altitude on plant gas exchange. In Biophysical Plant Ecology: Perspectives and Trends. Eds. E. De la Barrera and W. K. Smith. Academic Press, Springer, NY (in press).

Barrera, ED and WK Smith (Eds.) 2008. Biophysical Plant Ecology: Perspectives and Trends. Acadeemic Press, Springer, NY, in press

Reinhardt, K and WK Smith. 2008. Leaf gas exchange of understory spruce-fir saplings in relict forests, southern Appalachian Mountains, USA. Tree Physiol. 28:113-122.  

Smith, WK. 2008. C4 leaf curling—coupling incident light, stomatal and photosynthetic asymmetries. New Phytol. 177: 5-8.

Johnson, DM and WK Smith. 2008. Cloud immersion alters microclimate, photosynthesis and water relations in Rhododendron catabiense and Abies fraseri seedlings in the southern Appalachian Mountains, USA. Tree Physiol. 28: 385-392.

Reinhardt, K and WK Smith. 2008. Leaf gas exchange of understory spruce-fir saplings in relict cloud forests, southern Appalachian Mountains, USA. Tree Physiol. 28: 113-122.

Reinhardt, K and WK Smith. 2008. Impacts of cloud immersion on microclimate, photosynthesis and water relations of Abies fraseri (Pursh.) Poiret in a temperate mountain cloud forest. Oecologia, in press.

Smith, WK, MJ Germino, DM Johnson and K Reinhardt. 2008. Progress in understanding alpine treeline altitudes: a bellwether of climate change. Botanical Review, in review.

Hughes, NM and WK Smith. 2007. Seasonal photosynthesis and anthocyanin production in 10 broadleaf evergreen species. Funct. Pl. Biol. 34: 1072-1079.

Johnson, DM and WK Smith. 2007. Limitations to photosynthetic carbon gain in timberline Abies lasiocarpa seedlings during prolonged drought.  Can J For Res,     37: 568-579.

Hughes, NM and WK Smith. 2007. Attenuation of incident light in Galax urceolata (Diapensiaceae): Concerted influence of adaxial and abaxial anthocyanic layers on photoprotection. Amer J Botany 95:784-790.

Smith, WK, DM Johnson and KA Reinhart. 2007. Alpine Forests. In Encyclopedia of Ecology. Elsevier Press, NY.

Hughes, NM, CB Morely and WK Smith. 2007. Coordination of anthocyanin decline and photosynthetic maturation in juvenile leaves of three deciduous tree species. New Phytologist 175: 75-685.

Hughes, NM, TC Vogelmann and WK Smith. 2007. Optical effects of abaxial anthocyanin on absorption of red wavelengths by understory species: revisiting the backscatter hypothesis. J Exp Botany. 59: 3435-3442.

Malanson et al.  (16 authors). 2007. Alpine treelines of western North America: Linking organism-to-landscape dynamics. Physical Geography 28: 378-396.