Dr. Jennifer L. Hollander, Assistant Professor

Instructor: Desert and Montane Ecosystems, Anatomy and Physiology, Dissection Team

WiSE Faculty Mentor
     

University of Utah
BS Human Biology 1996

University of Nevada, Reno
MS Biology 2002
Ph.D Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology 2007

Contact Information

University of Nevada, Reno
Department of Biology, Mailstop 314
Reno, NV 89557

jhollander@unr.edu

Phone:  775-784-1793
Fax:      775-784-1302 

Research Interests

My primary research interests are in community and chemical ecology, specifically plant-animal interactions. I focus on the dispersal of seeds (piñon pine, Ephedra) by animals in the North American deserts.  I have studied the dispersal of piñon pine seeds by rodents, and the differences in their effectiveness as dispersers.  If rodents or jays place caches in microhabitats and at depths conducive to seedling establishment, and the caches are not recovered, the probability of effective dispersal is increased.

More recently I have focused on the dispersal of the twelve North American species of Ephedra. The 12 North American members of the genus Ephedra are dispersed by one of three mechanisms: wind, frugivorous birds, and/or seed-caching rodents. Although the genus is comprised of ~50 species worldwide and is found in arid regions on five continents, seed morphologies indicative of dispersal by seed-caching rodents have only evolved in North America. The presence of these different dispersal mechanisms within one genus in one geographical location (North American arid lands) makes Ephedra an ideal candidate for studying the evolutionary molding of dispersal adaptations.

I am also interested in the role of olfaction in rodents locating cached seeds, and whether some seeds have evolved traits to avoid detection by foragers once they have been cached. North American Ephedra species serve as an ideal study system to address the question of determining if seeds with increased secondary metabolites are less likely to be recovered by either the cacher or a pilferer. 

Publications

Hollander, J. L., S. B. Vander Wall, and J. G. Baguley. 2010. Evolution of seed dispersal in North American Ephedra. Evolutionary Ecology 24:333-345.

Hollander, J. L., and S. B. Vander Wall. 2009. Dispersal syndromes in North American Ephedra. International Journal of Plant Sciences 170(3):323-330.

Hollander, J. L., and S. B. Vander Wall. 2004. Effectiveness of six species of rodents as dispersers of singleleaf piñon pine (Pinus monophylla). Oecologia 138:57-65.

Vander Wall, S. B., M. J. Beck, J. S. Briggs, J. K. Roth, T. C. Thayer, J. L. Hollander, and J. M. Armstrong. 2003. Interspecific variation in the olfactory abilities of granivorous rodents. Journal of Mammalogy 84:159-168.

Submitted Manuscripts

Hollander, J. L., S. B. Vander Wall, and W. S. Longland. Olfactory detection of caches containing wildland versus cultivated seeds by granivorous rodents. Oecologia. Submitted.

Manuscripts in Preparation

Hollander, J. L., and S. B. Vander Wall. Predation of Ephedra seeds by harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex sp.) and the interaction of these ants with the rodent dispersers of Ephedra