Dr. Jon Evans is a Professor of Biology at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. His research in plant ecology focuses on plant population dynamics and the processes that determine the composition and structure of plant communities over time and across landscapes.  He is specifically interested in the role of clonal growth as a mechanism for population persistence in plant communities.  He also studies land-use history and exotic species introductions as drivers of long-term change in forest communities.  Much of his research is conducted within ecosystems of the southern United States, concentrated on the southern Cumberland Plateau and on the coastal barrier islands.

He also leads University efforts to promote landscape–level conservation across the Cumberland Plateau region.  As founding Director of Sewanee‘s Landscape Analysis Laboratory, he led a federally funded, multi-disciplinary project that used GIS and remote sensing to examine the environmental consequences of native hardwood conversion to pine plantations on the Cumberland Plateau.   This research led to fundamental changes in land-use decision-making within the region and helped to catalyze major conservation initiatives.   

Calling all state natural areas professionals and land managers to collaborate with your peers.