Jonathan D. Coop

Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and

Biology

BA,  Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, 1995
PhD, Botany, University of Wisconsin Madison, 2005

My teaching and research interests revolve around the ecology, conservation, and restoration of plant communities and landscapes in the southern Rocky Mountains. Themes include how disturbance regimes, climate, and spatially-structured abiotic gradients interact to shape diversity, community composition, and landscape dynamics.   Bristlecone pines, aspens, mountain meadows, burned landscapes, and wetlands are some of the subjects I study. I teach introductory and advanced courses in biology and environmental studies and lead many field trips to wild places near and far. 

As an ecologist and just a guy likes to float a river with my family every now and then, I am deeply concerned about humanity's effects on the biosphere and what kind of future we are leaving the next generations.  Much of my energy these days goes into practical strategies for building sustainable and resilient human and ecological communities.  My ENVS students have developed a working sustainability plan for Western State College.  I also chair Western's "20-by-20" committee to reduce the CO2 footprint of the college 20% by 2020.

Email: jcoop@western.edu

Phone: (970) 943-2565

Office: Kelley Hall 105

Courses Taught

Applied Environmental Studies, Ecology, Environmental Biology, Environmental Biology Lab, Environmental Monitoring, Forest Ecology, Natural History of the Gunnison Basin, Rocky Mountain Flora, Rocky Mountain Natural History, Science Technology & the Environment,  Sustainability, Watersheds of the World, and senior seminars in Ethnobotany, Fire Ecology, and Forest Dynamics.

Recent Publications

Coop, J.D. and A.W. Schoettle.  2011.  Fire and high-elevation, five-needle pine (Pinus aristata and P. flexilis) ecosystems in the southern Rocky Mountains: what do we know?  In: Keane, R.E.; Tomback, D.F.; Murray, M.P.; and Smith, C. M., eds. 2011. The future of high-elevation, five-needle white pines in Western North America: Proceedings of the High Five Symposium. 28-30 June 2010; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-63. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Coop, J.D., Massatti, R.T., and Schoettle, A.W.  2010.  Subalpine vegetation three decades after stand-replacing fire: effects of landscape context and topography on plant community composition, tree regeneration, and diversity.  Journal of Vegetation Science 21: 472-487.

Coop, J.D. and A.W. Schoettle.  2009. Post-wildfire regeneration of Rocky Mountain bristlecone (Pinus aristata) and limber pine (Pinus flexilis). Forest Ecology & Management 257: 893-903.

Coop, J.D. and T.J. Givnish.  2008.  Constraints on tree seedling establishment in montane grasslands of the Valles Caldera, New Mexico.  Ecology 89: 1101-1111.

Coop, J.D. and T.J. Givnish.  2007.  Spatial and temporal patterns of recent forest encroachment in montane grasslands of the Valles Caldera, New Mexico, U.S.A.  Journal of Biogeography  34: 914-927.

Coop, J.D. and T.J. Givnish.  2007.  Gradient analysis of reversed treelines and grasslands of the Valles Caldera, Jemez Mountains, New Mexico.  Journal of Vegetation Science 18: 43-54.

Coop, J.D., C.D. Hibner, A.J. Miller, and G.H. Clark.  2005.  Black bears forage on army cutworm moth aggregations in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico. The Southwestern Naturalist 50: 278-281.

Other Media

"Can We Grow Now?" (article about our research on Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine regeneration for middle-school science students)  Natural Inquirer Wildland Fire Edition.  2010 

Montane Grasslands of the Valles Caldera.  ESA Bulletin Photo Gallery.  April 2008.

NASA Telemark Satellite Image of the Day: outer space viewed from the earth