Education
B.A. Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia
M.A. in Botany, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1970 (Specimens
deposited at NCU)
Ph.D. in Botany, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1977
Website: http://www.gwu.edu/~clade/faculty/wells/
Research Interests: Native and naturalized alien
vascular plants in eastern North America, biology of harperella
(Ptilimnium nodosum),
endangered plant species and habitats in Mid-Atlantic States, floristics of Mid-Atlantic States, plant community
ecology in undisturbed and disturbed landscapes, vegetation analysis in the
Central Appalachians, wetland vascular plant ecology, early floristics records in eighteenth century Virginia, systematics of Heuchera
(Saxifragaceae).
My research focuses on monitoring native and
alien vascular plant species and their communities in selected sites in the
Mid-Atlantic States, especially Virginia and Maryland. In my newest endeavor , I am studying an endangered species, Harperella (Ptilimnium
nodosum) in the carrot family, in the Potomac
River drainage of western Maryland and adjacent West Virginia. I am
monitoring the known populations, analyzing their habitat, and studying the
reproduction of these plants. My goal is to restore habitat and reintroduce Harperella plants to new sites within its
historical range in western Maryland.
In addition, I am working on several floristic
projects in the Washington area. One is a vegetation study of about 5000
acres of forests and wetlands at Fort Belvoir, Fairfax County, Virginia. The
second is a study of the flood plain and upland communities on Plummers Island in the Potomac River gorge of Montgomery
County, Maryland. The third is a study of the artificial wetlands of the
Dulles Greenway created in 1995 and 1996. In these studies, I am monitoring
native and alien species for presence and analyzing plant communities to
determine the relative importance of native and alien plant species. These
studies will compile information needed by the scientific community, which
aspires to a better understanding of how vegetation varies with respect to
local conditions, and the conservation and natural resource management
community, which requires information on the abundance, conditions, and
threats to conservation of natural ecosystems.
I am also involved in a collaborative project
with Dr. Richard Tollo of the GWU Department of
Earth and Environmental Sciences in field research concerned with
understanding relationships between geological and botanical processes in
natural environments within the central Appalachian Mountains. We are
presently engaged in research projects concerned with investigating the
following field-based topics: (1) the nature of remnant herbaceous plant
communities developed at high altitudes in the central Applachians,
and (2) the sequence of plant succession developed in areas affected by
recent, catastrophic slope failures associated with landslides in the
Virginia Blue Ridge. The high altitude project involves herbaceous plants
that were formerly widespread during cooler Pleistocene climates and that
remain today in the Mid-Atlantic States only at high elevations. The
landslide project involves detailed documentation of the sequence of plant
colonization in areas affected by recent debris slides and is particularly
concerned with investigating the effects of alien plant species and mode of
dispersal in reforestation of the denuded environments resulting from the
landslides.
Selected Publications
Wells, E. F., and R.L. Brown. 2000. An annotated
checklist of the vascular plants in the forest at historic Mount Vernon: a
legacy from the past. Castanea 65 (4): 242-257.
Wells, E. F. and R.L. Brown. 2000. Naturalized
alien plant species at Mount Vernon, Virginia. Huntia
11(1): 31-53.
Turner, C.L., E.J. Bedker,
and E.F. Wells. 1999. Invasive exotic vegetation management plan, Fort
Belvoir. Prepared for U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Belvoir, Directorate of
Installation Support, Environmental and Natural Resource Division. Published
by Paciulli, Simmons, and Associates. 36 pp. with
appendices.
Wells, E.F. 1999. Biogeographical
links between Appalachian and western species of the genus Heuchera (Saxifragaceae).
Pp. 59-71 in Proceedings of the Appalachian Biogeography Symposium, Ralph Eckerlin, editor. Martinsville, Virginia, Virginia Museum
of Natural History.
Shipes, B.G., and E. F. Wells. 1996. Heuchera
micrantha var. macropetala
(Saxifragaceae), a new variety. Rhodora
98: 365-368.
Wells, Elizabeth
Fortson. 1984. The taxonomy of Saxifraga (Saxifragaceae)
section Boraphila subsection Integrifoliae
in western North America / A revision of the genus Heuchera (Saxifragaceae)
in eastern North America. Systematic
Botany Monographs vol. 3: 45-121.
Wells, Elizabeth
Fortson. 1979. Interspecific
hybridization in eastern North American Heuchera (Saxifragaceae). Systematic Botany 4(4): 319-338.
Wells, Elizabeth
Fortson. 1977. A taxonomic study of the genus Heuchera
in eastern North America. Ph.D. Thesis, Botany Department, University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hil.
Wells, Elizabeth Fortson. 1974. A vascular flora of the Uwharrie
Wildlife Management Area Montgomery County, North Carolina. Castanea
39(1): 39-57.
Wells, Elizabeth
Fortson. 1970. A vascular flora of the Uwharrie
Wildlife Management Area, Montgomery County, North Carolina. M.A. Thesis,
Botany Department, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
