Biography

Dr. Brian Smithers an Assistant Research Professor at Montana State University after receiving his Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California, Davis and M.S. in Tropical Biology from James Cook University in Cairns, Australia. Dr. Smithers studies forest and alpine plant communities in an effort to better understand how these ecosystems are responding to change. His favorite tree is the limber pine, Pinus flexlis, that is a lesson for all of us in persisting through whatever life throws at us--the key being to stay flexible.

Dr. Smithers also serves as the Director of the non-profit organization GLORIA Great Basin, which supports monitoring and research of alpine plant communities on 29 peaks in 8 regions throughout the intermountain west where we examine the long-term alpine plant community response to climate change as part of the international GLORIA effort.

The Smithers Lab

The Smithers Lab examines the mechanisms of plant species persistence and range shift response to climate change to better inform the current and future management of montane plant species. This research focuses on field work where we sample native species responses to abiotic and biotic influences, natural range expansion, study experimental plots, and monitor important species in North American mountains, especially the iconic Great Basin bristlecone pine, Pinus longaeva, and the federally threatened whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis. We also use growth chambers and greenhouse experiments to better inform specific variables in our models. We work throughout the intermountain west, where dry mountain ranges might be the template for montane ecosystems throughout the continent in the years to come.

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