Warren Abrahamson

Biology Department

Contact Information
Biology Building 309
abrahmsn@bucknell.edu
570-577-1155

Links
Abrahamson Web Page

Educational Background
B.S., University of Michigan
M.S., Harvard University
Ph.D., Harvard University

Teaching Interests
Population and Community Biology, Plant-animal interactions, Plant Systematics, Organic Evolution, and Conservation Biology. Population and Community Biology is an introduction to ecology and evolution and is a part of the Biology Department CORE curriculum. The plant-animal interactions course surveys mutualisms, anatagonisms, and commensalisms while stressing field-based, multi-week projects that emphasize pollination biology, herbivore-plant interactions, biotic fruit dispersal, and the ecology of carnivorous plants. The plant systematics course examines systematic theory including cladistics. The laboratory is strongly based in the field and focuses on the Pennsylvania flora. Organic Evolution covers the principles and mechanisms of evolution in plants and animals including population phenomena, speciation, life history strategies, and adaptation. Conservation Biology is a senior capstone course that examines the elements of demography, genetics, economics, and ethics.

Course Web Pages
BIOL 208 Population and Community Biology
BIOL 330 Plant Systematics
ANBE/BIOL 356 Plant-Animal Interactions
BIOL 415 Conservation Biology

Research Interests
Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Biology. Specifically, plant-insect interactions of three trophic-level interactions using goldenrods, ball gall insects, and natural enemies as well as oaks and cynipid gall insects, speciation of phytophagous insects; the ecology of fire in Florida's upland scrub communities; conservation studies of local natural areas.

Selected Publications
(see the Abrahamson web page for a complete listing)

Abrahamson, W. G. and A. E. Weis. 1997. Evolutionary Ecology Across Three Trophic Levels: Goldenrods, Gallmakers, and Natural Enemies. Monographs in Population Biology 29. Princeton University Press. pp 456.

Melika, G. and W. G. Abrahamson. 1997. Descriptions of four new species of cynipid gall wasps of the genus Neurotus (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) with redescriptions of some known species from the eastern United States. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 99:560-573.

Melika, G. and W. G. Abrahamson. 1997. Synonymy of two genera (Eumayria and Trisoleniella) of cynipid gall wasps and description of a new genus, Eumayriella (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 99:665-674.

Weis, A. E. and W. G. Abrahamson. 1998. Just Lookin' for a Home. Natural History 107:60-63.

Abrahamson, W. G., G. Melika, R. Scrafford, and G. Csóka. 1998. Gall-inducing insects provide insights into plant systematic relationships. American Journal of Botany 85:1159-1165.

Abrahamson, W. G. 1999. Episodic reproduction in two fire-prone palms, Serenoa repens and Sabal etonia (Palmae). Ecology 80:100-115.

Sumerford, D. V., W. G. Abrahamson, and A. E. Weis. 2000. The effects of drought in the Solidago altissima - Eurosta solidaginis - natural enemy complex: population dynamics, local extirpations, and measures of selection intensity of gall size. Oecologia122:240-248.

Craig, T. P., J. K. Itami, C. Shantz, W. G. Abrahamson, J. D. Horner, and J. V. Craig. 2000. The influence of host-plant variation and intraspecific competition on oviposition preference and offspring performance in host races of Eurosta solidaginis. Ecological Entomology 25:7-18.

Cronin, J. T., K. Hyland, and W. G. Abrahamson. 2001. The pattern, rate, and range of within-patch movement of a stem-galling fly. Ecological Entomology 26:16-24.

Cronin, J. T. and W. G. Abrahamson. 2001. Goldenrod stem galler preference and performance: effects of multiple herbivores and plant genotypes. Oecologia 127:87-96.

Cronin, J. T., W. G. Abrahamson, and T. P. Craig. 2001. Temporal variation in herbivore host-plant preference and offspring performance: constraints on host-plant adaptation. Oikos 93: 312-320.

Cronin, J. T. and W. G. Abrahamson. 2001. Do parasitoids diversify in response to host-plant shifts by herbivorous insects? Ecological Entomology 26:347-355.

Abrahamson, W. G., M. D. Eubanks, C. P. Blair, and A. V. Whipple. 2001. Gall flies, inquilines, and goldenrods: a model for host-race formation and sympatric speciation. American Zoologist 41:928-938.

Heinrich, P., W. G. Abrahamson, A. V. Whipple, and W. G. Goodenow. 2001. The goldenrod and the gallfly: evolution of an interaction. 35-min video. The Pennsylvania State Media Sales, University Park, PA.

Abrahamson, W. G. and J. N. Layne. 2002. Post-fire recovery of acorn production by four oak species in southern ridge sandhill association in south-central Florida. American Journal of Botany 89:119-123.

Abrahamson, W. G. and J. N. Layne. 2002. Relation of ramet size to acorn production in five oak species of xeric upland habitats in south-central Florida. American Journal of Botany 89: 124-131.

Johnson, A. F. and W. G. Abrahamson. 2002. Stem turnover in the clonal scrub oak, Quercus inopina. American Midland Naturalist 147:237-246.

Abrahamson, W. G. and C. R. Abrahamson. 2002. Persistent palmettos: effects of the 2000-2001 drought on Serenoa repens and Sabal etonia. Florida Scientist 65:281-292.

Melika, G. and W. G. Abrahamson. 2002. Review of the world genera of oak cynipid wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae, Cynipini). In: G. Melika and Cs. Thuróczy, eds. Parasitic Wasps: Evolution, Systematics, Biodiversity and Biological Control. Agroinform, Budapest, pp. 150-190.

Abrahamson, W. G., M. D. Hunter, G. Melika, and P. W. Price. 2003. Cynipid
gall-wasp communities correlate with oak chemistry. Journal of Chemical Ecology 29:209-223.

Eubanks, M. D., C. P. Blair, and W. G. Abrahamson. 2003. One host shift leads to another? Evidence of host-race formation in a predaceous gall-boring beetle. Evolution 57:168-172.

Zawadzkas, P. P. and W. G. Abrahamson. 2003. Forest composition, spatial pattern, and size structure of the Snyder-Middleswarth Natural Area Old-Growth, Snyder County, Pennsylvania. Castanea 68:31-42.

Abrahamson, W. G. and J. N. Layne. 2003. Long-term patterns of acorn production for five oak species in xeric Florida uplands. Ecology 84:2476-2492.

Abrahamson, W. G., C. P. Blair, M. D. Eubanks, and S. A. Morehead. 2003. Sequential radiation: evolutionary diversity within the beetle Mordellistena convicta. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 16:781-789.

Abrahamson, W. G. 2004. Insects raise some galling questions. New England Wild Flower Conservation Notes 8:14-15.

Abrahamson, W. G. and A. C. Gohn. 2004. Classification and successional changes of mixed-oak forests at the Mohn Mill area, Pennsylvania. Castanea 69:194-206.

Layne, J. N. and W. G. Abrahamson. 2004. Long-term trends in annual reproductive output of the scrub hickory: factors influencing variation in size of nut crop. American Journal of Botany 91:1378-1386.

Price, P. W., W. G. Abrahamson, M. D. Hunter, and G. Melika. 2004. Testing broad ecological concepts on a narrow range of species. Conservation Biology 18:1405-1416.

Blair, C. P., W. G. Abrahamson, J. A. Jackman, and L. Tyrrell. 2005. Cryptic speciation and host-race formation in a purportedly generalist tumbling flower beetle. Evolution 59: 304-316.

Wise, M. J. and W. G. Abrahamson. 2005. Beyond the compensatory continuum: environmental resource levels and plant tolerance of herbivory. Oikos 109: 417-428.

Abrahamson, W. G., K. Ball Dobley, H. R. Houseknecht, and C. A. Pecone. 2005. Ecological divergence among five co-occurring species of old-field goldenrods. Plant Ecology 177:43-56.

Abrahamson, W. G. and C. R. Abrahamson. 2006. Post-fire canopy recovery in two fire-adapted palms, Serenoa repens and Sabal etonia (Arecaceae). Florida Scientist 69: 69-79.

Dorchin, N., E. R. Scott, and W. G. Abrahamson. 2006. First record of Macrolabis (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in America: a new inquiline species from Dasineura folliculi galls on goldenrods. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 99: 656-661.

Wise, M. J., R. J. Fox, and W. G. Abrahamson. 2006. Disarming the paradox of sublethal-plant defense against insects: Trirhabda virgata larval development time and leaf tissue loss on Solidago altissima. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 120: 77-87.

Ketterer, E. and W. G. Abrahamson. 2006. Purple loosestrife on the Susquehanna River’s West Branch: distribution and environmental correlates. Northeastern Naturalist 13: 213-234.