Kalan L. Ickes

Research Assistant Professor



Contact Information

Phone: 864 656-1735
FAX: 864 656-0435
Email: kickes@clemson.edu

Education

  • MBA University of Pittsburgh, 2003
  • Ph.D. Louisiana State University, 2001
  • B.A. Swarthmore College, 1992

Research Interests

  • I study how plants and animals interact in tropical rain forests and how these interactions affect their population dynamics and geographic distributions. In lowland Malaysian rainforest, I have conducted research on the effects of wild, native pigs (Sus scrofa) on the understory plant community and on the foraging habits of woodpeckers. In particular, I studied the effects of logging on woodpecker density and diversity and also examined how niche differentiation among foraging techniques might allow such ecologically similar species to co-exist.
  • My current tropical research is on the island of Dominica in the Eastern Caribbean, where I am working on parrot-plant interactions. There are two endemic, endangered parrots on Dominica that were severely impacted by Hurricane David in 1979. Now, 26 years later, both species have total populations less than half their pre-hurricane levels and one species remains almost entirely confined to the slopes of one mountain in the north of the island. I am investigating the density and distribution across Dominica of nesting cavities and food resources critical to the survival of these two endangered parrots.
  • My temperate research program will focus on the determinants of the abundance and distribution of woody invasive plants in South Carolina. I am particularly interested in the role that animals, both vertebrates and insects, play in determining the abundance and distribution of invasive plants. A better understanding of how animals determine the population dynamics and geographic ranges of plants may contribute to more effective methods for controlling exotic invasive plants

Selected Publications

  • Ickes, K., C.J. Paciorek, and S.C. Thomas. (2005) Impacts of nest construction by native pigs (Sus scrofa) on lowland Malaysian rain forest saplings. Ecology 86:1540-1547.
  • DeWalt, S. J., J. S. Denslow, and K. Ickes. (2004) Natural-enemy release facilitates habitat expansion of an invasive tropical shrub Clidemia hirta. Ecology 85:471-483.
  • Ickes, K., S.J. DeWalt, and S.C. Thomas. (2003) Resprouting of tree and liana saplings following stem removal by wild pigs in a lowland Malaysian rain forest. Journal of Ecology 91:222-233.
  • Styring, A.R. and K. Ickes. (2003) Woodpeckers (Picidae) at Pasoh: foraging ecology, flocking, and the impacts of logging on abundance and diversity. Pages 547-557 in T. Okuda, N. Manokaran, Y. Matsumoto, K. Niiyama, S.C. Thomas, and P.S. Ashton (eds.). Pasoh: Ecology of a lowland rain forest in Southeast Asia. Springer, Tokyo.
  • Ickes, K., S.J. DeWalt, and S. Appanah. (2001) Effects of native pigs (Sus scrofa) on woody understorey vegetation in a Malaysian lowland rain forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 17:191-206.

Recent Courses

  • BIOSCI 490 Section 615 – Tropical Biodiversity