Dr. Stephen B. Vander Wall
Associate Professor
Evolutionary ecology, community ecology, animal behavior, plant-animal interactions involving seed dispersal by seed-caching birds and mammals

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona
1971, B.S., Biology
1974, M.S., Zoology
Utah State University, Logan, Utah
1980, Ph.D., Biology

Current Projects / Research Interests
My graduate students and I study plant-animal interactions. We are currently conducting research on the dispersal of pine (Jeffrey, sugar, ponderosa, pinon, and others) and shrub (bitterbrush, chinquapin) seeds by rodents and jays in the Sierra Nevada of western Nevada. These animals, primarily yellow pine chipmunks, cache seeds in shallow, scattered sites in the soil. Seeds that are not retrieved by spring germinate, resulting in plant establishment. The relationships between these plants and animals are mutualistic; the rodents receive a nutritious food supply and the plants are disseminated throughout the region. These plant-animal interactions are excellent model systems for studying the process of plant dispersal by food-hoarding animals. We are also studying how rodents use spatial memory and olfaction to recover cached food.

Selected Publications
Vander Wall, S. B. 2002. Secondary dispersal of Jeffrey pine seeds by rodent scatter hoarders: the roles of pilfering, recaching, and a variable environment. Pages 193-208 In Levey, D. J., Silva, W. R., and M. Galetti. Seed Dispersal and Frugivory: Ecology, Evolution and Conservation. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK.

Longland, W. S., S. H. Jenkins, S. B. Vander Wall, J. A. Veech, and S. Pyare. 2001. Seedling recruitment in Oryzopsis hymenoides: are desert granivores mutualists or predators? Ecology 82:3131-3148.

Vander Wall, S. B. 2001. The evolutionary ecology of nut dispersal. Botanical Review 67: 74-117.

Forget, P.-M., and S. B. Vander Wall. 2001. Scatter-hoarding rodents and marsupials: convergent evolution on diverging continents. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16:65-67.

Vander Wall, S. B., T. C. Thayer, J. S. Hodge, M. J. Beck, J. K. Roth. 2001. Scatter-hoarding behavior of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). Western North American Naturalist 61:109-113.

Vander Wall, S. B. 2000. The influence of environmental conditions on cache recovery and cache pilferage by yellow pine chipmunks (Tamias amoenus) and deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). Behavioral Ecology 11:544-549.

Chambers, J. C., S. B. Vander Wall, and E. W. Schupp. 1999. Seed and seedling ecology of piñon and juniper species in the pygmy woodlands of western North America. Botanical Review 65:1-38

Schupp, E. W., J. C. Chambers, S. B. Vander Wall, J. M. Gomez, and M. Fuentes. 1999. Pinon and juniper seed dispersal and seedling recruitment at woodland ecotones. Proceedings: Shrubland Ecotones, August 12-14, 1998, Ephraim, Utah. RMRS-P-11:66-70. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Vander Wall, S. B. 1998. Foraging success of granivorous rodents: effects of variation in seed and soil water content on olfaction. Ecology 79:233-241.

Vander Wall, S. B., W. Longland, S. Pyare., and J. A. Veech. 1998. Cheek pouch capacities and loading rates of heteromyid rodents. Oecologia 113:21-28.

Vander Wall, S. B., and J. W. Joyner. 1998. Recaching of Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi) seeds by yellow pine chipmunks (Tamias amoenus): potential effects on plant reproductive success. Canadian Journal of Zoology 76:154-162.

Vander Wall, S. B., and J. W. Joyner. 1998. Secondary wind dispersal of winged pine seeds. American Midland Naturalist 139:365-373.

Chambers, J. C., E. W Schupp, and S. B. Vander Wall. 1998. Seed dispersal and seedling establishment of piñon and juniper species within the piñon-juniper woodland. In: Monsen, S. B., R. Stevens, R. J. Tausch, R. Miller, and S. Goodrich. Proceedings: Ecology and Management of Pinyon-juniper Communities within the Interior West. September 15-18, Provo, Utah. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-1-6, Ogden, Utah. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Vander Wall, S. B., and W. Longland. 1998. Cheek pouch capacities and loading rates of of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). Great Basin Naturalist 59:278-280.

Vander Wall, S. B. 1997. Dispersal of singleleaf piñon pine (Pinus monophylla) by seed-caching rodents. Journal of Mammalogy 78:181-191.

Additional Links
Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Program

Vander Wall Lab Info, students, etc.

University of Nevada Reno
Biology Department m/s 314
Reno, NV 89557

email Dr. Stephen B. Vander Wall

Office phone
775-784-6188
FAX number
775-784-1302