Biological Sciences

Eric Ribbens, Associate Professor

Plant Ecology & Taxonomy, Distribution of Native Illinois Cacti

R.M. Myers Herbarium Curator

Contact Information:Eric Ribbens
309/298-2580
Waggoner Hall 294
E-Ribbens@wiu.edu

Personal Homepage: www.wiu.edu/users/mfer1/

Degree:
Ph.D. University of Connecticut, 1995

Courses Taught:

Research Interests:
Spatial ecology; plant recruitment limitation; patterns of seed production, seed dispersal, and seedling dispersion; ecology of rare plants: Asimina triloba, Castanea dentata, Guaiacum genus, and Opuntia fragilis; tropical ecology.

Recent Publications:
Ribbens, E. 2008. Treating Ed: A medical ethics case. Published in The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Case Study Collection.

Ribbens, E. 2007. Why I won’t give up my clickers. Journal of the College Science Teacher 37(11):60-62.

Ribbens, E. 2007. Label Libel. The Vasculum, July 2007.

Ribbens, E. 2006. Teaching with jazz. Journal of the College Science Teacher 36(10):10-15.

Ribbens, E. 2006. Chemical Eric: Dealing with the disintegration of central control. Published in The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Case Study Collection.

Ribbens, E. 2005. Riding the Slinky: Science and Service Learning. pp. 97-106 in Bellner, M., and J.G. Pomery, eds., Service-Learning: Intercommunity and Interdisciplinary Explorations, The University of Indianapolis Press.

Camarero, J.J., Gutiérrez, E., Fortin, M.-J., Ribbens, E. 2005. Spatial patterns of tree recruitment in a relict population of Pinus uncinata: forest expansion through stratified-diffusion. Journal of Biogeography 32:1979-1992.

Ribbens, E. 2005. The Ecology of Opuntia fragilis (Nuttall) Haworth: A case study. Published in The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Case Study Collection.

Wagner, S, Wälder, K., Ribbens, E., Zeibig, A. 2004. Directionality in fruit dispersal models for anemochorous forest trees. Ecological Modelling 179:487-498.

Higgins, S.I., Clark, J.S., Nathan, R., Hovestadt, T., Schurr, F., Fragoso, J.M.V., Aguiar, M.R., Ribbens, E., Lavorel, S. 2003. Forecasting plant migration rates: managing uncertainty for risk assessment. Journal of Ecology 91:341-347.

Ribbens, E., Burdett, B., Green, A. 2003. Does Guaiacum sanctum contain a chemical effective against arthritis? An ethnobotany case. Published in The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Case Study Collection.

Ribbens, E. 2002. Bt corn has a higher lignin content than non-Bt corn: a teaching case. In The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Case Study Collection.

Ribbens, E. 2001. Eating PCBs from Lake Ontario: Is there an effect or not? A news release case. In The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Case Study Collection.

Ribbens, E. 2001. Too many deer! A case study in managing urban deer herds. In The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Case Study Collection.

Graduate Student Research:
 Davis, Diana. In progress. Ecology of Guaiacum in Puerto Rico.

Undergraduate Student Research:
 Johnathan Martin: Johnathan is an honor's student who is investigating the floristics and ecology of several bogs in Gogebic County, Michigan.

Former Students:
Katie Pickford: Katie is an honor's student who is investigating the native flora of a natural area adjacent to the Niabi Zoo.

Christine Weddell: Christine is an honor's student who is investigating prairie ecology and floristics in Kane County, Illinois.

Anderson, Barbara. MS. 2006. Ecology of Opuntia fragilis at Lost Mound, Illinois.

Debbie Themas: Debbie was an undergraduate student who collected more than 500 plant specimens from Warren County and adjacent counties, including more than 70 new county records for the R.M. Myers Herbarium.

Joanne Rousseau: Joanne was an undergraduate student who found that crickets will not eat Guaiacum sanctum leaves, and also showed that there appears to be a large protein in Guaiacum sanctum extract that acts as an actibacterial chemical.

Lisa Corradin: Lisa was an honor's student who investigated physiological integration in strawberry begonias. She showed that parents contribute more to their offspring's welfare than do offspring to parent's.

Margaret Abts: Margaret was an undergraduate student who investigated the treatment of mutualism in a variety of college-level textbooks. She showed that mutualism is often conflated with symbiosis, although the two are separate concepts.