Bryan Foster

Professor, Department of Plant Biology
W.K. Kellogg Biological Station
Michigan State University
Hickory Corners, MI 49060
Email: fosterb2@msu.edu

Curriculum vitae

Research interests

My research explores how biotic interactions, resource conditions, and species pools interact to regulate the structure and function of plant communities. I am also interested in understanding the impacts of human-induced global changes (habitat fragmentation, nutrient enrichment, exotic species, disturbances) on biodiversity and applying this understanding to the conservation and restoration of native plant communities.

Select publications

Podzikowski, L. Y., Burrill, H. M., Wang, G., Mecke, K. L., Hawkins, J. H., Wagner, M. R., Foster, B. L., Schulz, P. A., Bever, J. D. 2025. Pathogen dilution, resource partitioning, and precipitation generate productivity benefits from plant diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 122.

Guangzhou, W., Koziol L., B. L. Foster, J. D. Bever. 2022. Microbial mediators of plant community response to long-term N and P fertilization: Evidence of a role of plant responsiveness to mycorrhizal fungi. Global Change Biology 28.

Avolio, M. L., Komatsu, K. J., Collins, S. L., Grman, E., Koerner, S. E., Tredennick, A.T., Wilcox, K.R., Baer, S., Boughton, E. H., Britton, A. J., Foster, B., Gough, L., Hovenden, M., Isbell, F., Jentsch, A., Johnson, D. S., Knapp, A. K., Kreyling, J., Langley, J. A., Lortie, C., McCulley, R. L., McLaren, J. R., Reich, P. B., Seabloom, E. W., Smith, M. D., Suding, K. N., Suttle, K. B., Tognetti, P. M. 2021 Determinants of community compositional change are equally affected by global change. Ecology Letters 24: 1892-1904.

Langley, J. A., S. K.  Chapman, M. Avolio, W. D. Bowman, D. S. Johnson, K. J. La Pierre, F. Isbell, K. R. Wilcox, B. L. Foster, M. J. Hovenden, A. K. Knapp, S. Koerner, C. Lortie, J. P. Megonigal, P. Newton, P. B. Reich, M. D. Smith, B. Suttle and D. Tilman.  2018. Ambient changes exceed treatment effects on plant species abundance in global change experiments. Global Change Biology 24: 5668-5679.

Denning, K. R. and B. L. Foster. 2018. Flower visitor communities are similar on remnant and reconstructed tallgrass prairies despite forb community differences. Restoration Ecology 26:751-759.

Foster, B. L.,G. R. Houseman, D. R. Hall and S.E. Hinman. 2015. Does tallgrass prairie restoration enhance the invasion resistance of post-agricultural lands? Biological Invasions 17: 3579-3590. 

Dickson, T. L. and B. L. Foster 2011. Fertilization decreases plant biodiversity even when light is not limiting. Ecology Letters 14:380-388.

Foster B. L., E. J. Questad, C. D. Collins, C. A. Murphy, T. L. Dickson and V. H. Smith. 2011. Seed availability constrains plant species sorting along a soil fertility gradient. Journal of Ecology 99:473-481.

Collins, C. D., B. L. Foster and R. D. Holt. 2009. Patch size effects on plant species decline in an experimentally fragmented landscape. Ecology 90:2577-2588.

Questad, E. J. and B. L. Foster. 2008. Coexistence through spatio-temporal heterogeneity and species sorting in grassland plant communities. Ecology Letters 11:717–726.

Foster, B. L., C.A. Murphy, K. Keller, T. Aschenbach, E. J. Questad and K. Kindscher. 2007. Restoration of prairie community structure and ecosystem function in an abandoned hayfield: a sowing experiment. Restoration Ecology 15:652-661.

Cook,W. M., J. Yao, B. L. Foster,R. D. Holt  and L. B. Patrick^. 2005. Secondary succession in an experimentally fragmented landscape: community patterns across space and time. Ecology 86:1267-1279.

Smith, V. H., B. L. Foster, J. P. Grover, R. D. Holt, M. A. Leibold, F. de Noyelles. 2005. Phytoplankton species richness scales consistently from laboratory microcosms to the world’s oceans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102:4393-4396.

Foster, B. L., T. L. Dickson, C. A. Murphy, I. S. Karel and V. H. Smith. 2004. Propagule pools mediate community assembly and diversity-ecosystem regulation along a grassland productivity gradient. Journal of Ecology 92: 435-449.

Foster, B. L. and D. Tilman 2003. Seed limitation and the regulation of community structure in Oak Savanna grassland. Journal of Ecology 91:999-1007.

Cook, W. M., K. T. Lane, B. L. Foster and R. D. Holt. 2002. Island theory, matrix effects, and species richness patterns in habitat fragments. Ecology Letters 5:619-623.

Foster, B. L. 2001. Constraints on colonization and species richness along a grassland productivity gradient: the role of propagule availability.  Ecology Letters 4:530-535.

Foster, B. L. and D. Tilman. 2000. Dynamic and static views of succession: testing the descriptive power of the chronosequence approach. Plant Ecology 146:1-10.

Foster, B. L. and K. L. Gross. 1998. Species richness in a successional grassland: effects of nitrogen enrichment and plant litter. Ecology 79:2593-2602.