Steve Archer

Steve Archer is a professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Arizona with appointments in the Global Change, Arid Lands Resource Sciences, and Remote Sensing & Spatial Analysis Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs. A Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr. Archer has a BA in Liberal Arts from Augustana College (Sioux Falls) and a MS and PhD in Rangeland Ecosystem Science from Colorado State University. Trained as a plant ecologist and ecosystem scientist, Dr. Archer has worked in Arctic Tundra, Great Plains and Southwestern Desert ecosystems. His research has centered around plant-animal interactions with a focus on grazing impacts on ecosystem structure and function. Population, transition probability and dynamic ecosystem simulation models are used in conjunction with remote sensing, dendrochronology and stable isotope chemistry to reconstruct vegetation history and to project the consequences of vegetation change on the sustainability of grazing systems, ecosystem biogeochemistry and land surface-atmosphere interactions. Field and laboratory experiments on the population biology of grasses and shrub growth forms are emphasized in the context of landscape ecology, succession and historical land–use practices. Research support includes major funding from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the US Department of Agriculture.

Degrees

• BA in Liberal Arts from Augustana College (Sioux Falls)
• MS and PhD in Rangeland Ecosystem Science from Colorado State University