Daniel Bunker

Assistant Professor, Ecology

Contact Info

Office: 433 Colton Hall (NJIT)
Office Phone: 973-642-7537
Lab: TBA
Lab Phone: TBA
E-mail: dbunker@njit.edu

Personal/Lab Web Sites

http://web.njit.edu/~dbunker

Educational Background

Research Interests

• Species traits and ecoinformatics
• Global change, tree species composition and ecosystem function in tropical forests
• The effects of land-use change on neotropical dung beetle communities and multiple ecosystem services
• "The Ecological and Social implications of Human Impacts on Biodiversity," an edited volume
• Functional diversity quantified by convex hull volume
• Identifying the mechanisms of invasive speices success and biological control
• Modeling competition for light among terrestrial plants.

Global change poses a strong challenge to ecologists, environmental scientists, and conservation biologists: even as our natural and managed ecosystems become more stressed by the forces of global change, humans require that they produce both a greater quantity and variety of ecosystem services. For instance, we may expect a forested ecosystem to produce timber, provide clean water, sequester carbon, support wildlife, and provide recreational opportunities, yet at the same time the forest community is being buffeted by climate change, invasive species, and land-use change. In order to ensure that our ecosystems provide the services society demands, we must be able to predict how ecological communities will respond to these global forces, and in turn how changes in community composition will affect ecosystem services. To develop this predictive framework, I employ a mix of observation, experimentation, modeling and synthesis, within a diverse array of biological communities.

Selected Publications

• Naeem, S., D.E. Bunker, A. Hector, M. Loreau and C. Perrings, editors. In press. 2009. The Ecological and Social Implications of Human Impacts on Biodiversity. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Carson, W. P., Hovick, S. M., Baumert, A. J., Bunker, D. E. and Pendergast, T. H. 2008. Evaluating the post-release efficacy of invasive plant biocontrol by insects: A comprehensive approach. Arthropod-Plant Interactions. 2, 77-86.
• Bunker, D.E., and S. Naeem. 2006. Species diversity and ecosystem functioning. Letter to the editor in Science. 312: 846-847.
• Stark, S.C., D.E. Bunker, and W.P. Carson. 2006. A null model of exotic plant diversity tested with exotic and native species-area relationships. Ecology Letters.
• Bunker, D.E., F. DeClerck, J.C. Bradford, R.K. Colwell, I. Perfecto, O. L. Phillips, M. Sankaran and S. Naeem. 2005. Species Loss and Above-ground Carbon Storage in a Tropical Forest. Science 310:1029-1031.
• Bunker, D.E., and W.P. Carson. 2005. Drought stress and tropical forest woody seedlings: effect on community structure and composition. Journal of Ecology. 93: 794-806.
• Stevens, M.H.H, D.E. Bunker, S. Schnitzer, and W.P. Carson. 2004. Establishment limitation reduces species recruitment and species richness as soil resources rise. Journal of Ecology. 92: 339-347.
• Stevens, M., Z.T. Long, S.A. Schnitzer, D.E. Bunker, R. Collins, A. Bledsoe, W.P. Carson. 2003. Testing Ecological Theory - Lab manual for Ecology Laboratory. University of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, PA.
• D'Arrigo, R.D., C.M. Malmstrom, G.C. Jacoby, S.O. Los and D.E. Bunker. 2001. Correlation between maximum latewood density of annual tree rings and NDVI based estimates of forest productivity. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 21: 2329-2336.
• Yamaguchi, D.K., B.F. Atwater, D.E. Bunker, B.E. Benson, and M.S. Reid. 1997. Tree-ring dating the 1700 Cascadia earthquake. Nature 389: (6654) 922-923.
• Jacoby, G.C., D.E. Bunker, B.E. Benson. 1997. Tree-ring evidence for an AD 1700 Cascadia earthquake in Washington and northern Oregon. Geology 25: (11) 999-1002.