|
Education and Scholarly Interests
Dr. Forman is the PAES Professor of Advanced Environmental
Studies in Landscape Ecology at Harvard University. He received
the bachelors degree at Haverford College and Ph.D. at the
University of Pennsylvania. His primary scholarly interests
are landscape ecology, road ecology, and urban-region ecology
and planning, and more broadly, linking science with spatial
pattern to mesh nature and people. Specific research also
includes landscape change, the patch-corridor-matrix model,
conservation, and land-use planning.
Teaching
Forman taught at the Escuela Agricolæ Panamericana (Honduras),
University of Wisconsin, Rutegers University, and several
field stations. At
Harvard, he teaches graduate courses (landscape ecology,
urban and suburban ecology, advanced topics in landscape ecology)
at the Graduate School of Design, and a junior-senior course
(ecology and land-use planning) in the Environmental Science
and Public Policy Program of Harvard College. These courses
explore ecological principles and applications for the
understanding, conservation, design, policy, and planning
of land. Dr. Forman received the Lindback Foundation
Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Honors Internationally
Professor Forman has served as a Fulbright
Scholar in Colombia, CNRS Chercheur in France, Miegunyah
Fellow at the University of Melbourne (Australia), CRES Fellow
at Australian National University, and Vice President of
the International Association for Landscape Ecology. He
received medals from the Faculty of Science of Charles University
(Prague) and the Faculty of Architecture of the University
of Florence (Italy). He served as Consultant to the President
of Costa Rica and Minister of Natural Resources and Energy,
and to the Mayor and Chief Architect/Planner of Barcelona.
He is a Member of Clare Hall (University of Cambridge), an
Honorary Member of the Italian Society of Landscape Ecology,
and an Honorary Professor in the Academia Sinica in China.
Honors in the United States
Dr. Forman served as President
of the Torrey Botanical Society and Vice President of the Ecological
Society of America. He has been a member of the Editorial
Board of six scientific journals, has served on three National
Research Council/TRB committees, and has written the Foreword
for ten published books. His board membership includes The
Trustees of Reservations and The Nature Conservancy, Massachusetts
Chapter. He was named Distinguished Landscape Ecologist
in 1992 and serves as Associate of the Harvard Forest. He
is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science.
Early Career
Professor Forman’s scholarly roots are in ecology,
especially of plants and forests. Early research included
experimentally explaining (pre-phyto/biotron) a hierarchical
species distribution (Forman 1964), moss ecology (Forman
1969), and community structure (Forman 1975, Allen and Forman
1976). In an era before ecologists focused on spatial pattern
and landscapes with a heavy human imprint, he launched into
basically the first rigorously designed test of the effect
of patch size on species number on land, using old-growth
woods in an agricultural landscape (Forman and Elfstrom
1975, Forman et al. 1976, Galli et al. 1976). Immediately
thereafter he spearheaded a rare multidimensional analysis
and book for an entire landscape (Forman 1979).
Emergence of Landscape Ecology
These two steps galvanized the
idea of landscape ecology (the ecology of large heterogeneous
areas, such as seen from an airplane window), and with colleagues
from several fields began to build the groundwork for a potential
field, including some foundation publications (Forman 1979,
Forman and Godron 1981, Forman 1983, Risser et al. 1983,
Franklin and Forman 1987). His 1986 book with M. Godron
was the first synthesis of modern landscape ecology, and
elaborated the patch-corridor-matrix model for understanding,
conserving, managing, designing and planning land-use pattern.
In 1995 he published the more definitive book on the subject,
and extended the vision to include regions. He continues
active contributions in landscape ecology (Forman and Collinge
1995, Collinge and Forman 1998, Hersperger and Forman 2003).
Emergence of Road Ecology
Again in 1995, challenged by the paradox
of prominent road systems in the landscape and the near-absence
of ecological understanding of them, he began collaborating
with the transportation community and wildlife biologists
to build foundations for a potential field of road ecology.
His early articles provided syntheses and ideas (Forman and
Hersperger 1996, Forman and Alexander 1998, Forman and Deblinger
2000, Forman 2000, Forman et al. 2002). This effort culminated
in the spearheading of a multi-author volume by 14 ecologists,
hydrologist, and transportation experts (Forman et al.
2003), the first comprehensive book on the ecology of
roads and vehicles. This has effectively jump-started
the field into rapid coalescence. He continues publishing
in road ecology, both its intellectual development and
its solutions for transportation, the land, and society
(Forman 2004, 2006, Forman and McDonald 2007).
Urban Region Ecology and Planning
Finally, the roots of Professor
Forman’s emergent interest in urban region ecology and planning
are evident in an early small co-authored book (Dramstad
et al. 1996). His interest later gelled while undertaking
an ambitious planning project and book for Barcelona that
highlighted the importance of natural systems and their uses
in an urban region (Forman 2004). Concurrently ecology and
planning work for a suburban town highlighted the important local
dimension (Forman et al. 2004). These foundations, along
with a spatial environmental analysis of thirty-eight urban
regions, large to small, worldwide, coalesced in a new book
highlighting this challenging frontier, urban region ecology
and planning (Forman 2007).
Primary Books
Forman, R. T. T., editor. 1979. Pine Barrens:
Ecosystem and Landscape. Academic Press,
New York. 601 pages. [1998 edition, Rutgers University
Press, New Brunswick, New
Jersey].
Forman, R. T. T. and M. Godron. 1986. Landscape Ecology.
John Wiley, New York.
619 pages. [Chinese editions, 1990 and 1994; Czech edition,
1993].
Zonneveld, I. S. and R. T. T. Forman, editors. 1990. Changing
Landscapes: An Ecological Perspective. Springer-Verlag,
New York. 286 pages.
Forman, R. T. T. 1995. Land Mosaics: The
Ecology of Landscapes and Regions.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New York. 632
pages.
Dramstad, W., J. D. Olson, and R. T. T. Forman. 1996. Landscape
Ecology Principles in Landscape Architecture and
Land-use Planning.
Published by Harvard University
Graduate School of Design, American Society of Landscape
Architects, and Island Press,
Washington, D.C. 80 pages. [Chinese edition; 2005,
Spanish edition].
Forman, R. T. T., D. Sperling, J. A. Bissonette, A.
P. Clevenger, C. D. Cutshall, V. H. Dale,
L. Fahrig, R. France, C. R. Goldman, K. Heanue, J. A.
Jones, F. J. Swanson, T. Turrentine,
and T. C. Winter. 2003. Road Ecology: Science and Solutions.
Island Press, Washington,
D.C. 481 pages.
Forman, R. T. T. 2004. Mosaico territorial para la
region metropolitana de Barcelona (Land Mosaic for
the Greater Barcelona Region: Planning
a Future). Editorial Gustavo Gili,
Barcelona. 150 pages.
Forman, R. T. T. 2007. Urban Regions: Ecology and Planning
Beyond the City.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New York. In press.
Selections from Forman’s Numerous Scholarly Articles:
Forman, R. T. T. 1964. Growth under controlled conditions
to explain the hierarchical distributions of a moss, Tetraphis
pellucida. Ecological Monographs 34: 1-25.
Forman, R. T. T. 1969. Comparison of coverage,
biomass, and energy as measures of standing crop
of bryophytes in various ecosystems. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 96:
582-591.
Forman, R. T. T. 1975. Canopy lichens with blue-green
algae: a nitrogen source in a Colombian rainforest. Ecology 56:
1176-1184.
Forman, R. T. T. and B. A. Elfstrom. 1975. Forest
structure comparison of Hutcheson Memorial Forest
and eight old woods on the New Jersey Piedmont. Hutcheson Memoria
lForest Bulletin (Rutgers
University) 3: 44-51.
Forman, R. T. T., A. E. Galli, and C. F. Leck. 1976.
Forest size and avian diversity in New Jersey woodlots
with some land-use implications. Oecologia 26: 1-8.
Galli, A. E., C. F. Leck, and R. T. T. Forman. 1976.
Avian distribution patterns in forest islands of
different sizes in Central New Jersey. Auk 93: 356-364.
Allen, E. B. and R. T. T. Forman. 1976. Plant species
removals and old-field community structure and stability. Ecology 57:
1233-1243.
Forman, R. T. T. 1979. The Pine Barrens of New
Jersey: an ecological mosaic. In Pine Barrens: Ecosystem
and Landscape. R. T. T. Forman, editor. Academic Press,
New York. Pages 569-585.
Forman, R. T. T. and D. C. Hahn. 1980. Spatial
patterns of trees in a Caribbean semi-evergreen forest. Ecology 61:
1267-1274.
Forman, R.T.T. and M. Godron. 1981. Patches and structural
components for a landscape ecology. BioScience 31:733-740.
Forman, R. T. T. and R. E. J. Boerner. 1981. Fire frequency
and the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Bulletin
of the Torrey Botanical Club 108: 34-50.
Risser, P. G., J. R. Karr, and R. T. T. Forman.
1983. Landscape
Ecology: Directions and Approaches. Special Publication
2, Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, Illinois.
18 pages.
Forman, R. T. T. 1983. Corridors in a landscape:
their ecological structure and function. Ekologia (Czechoslovakia)
2: 375-387.
Maguire, D. A. and R. T. T. Forman. 1983. Herb
cover effects on tree seedling patterns in a mature
hemlock-hardwood forest. Ecology 64:
1367-1380.
Forman, R. T. T. and J. Baudry. 1984. Hedgerows
and hedgerow networks in landscape ecology. Environmental Management 8:
495-510.
Milne, B. T. and R. T. T. Forman. 1986. Peninsulas
in Maine: woody plant diversity, distance, and environmental
patterns. Ecology 67:
967-974.
Franklin, J. F. and R. T. T. Forman. 1987.
Creating landscape patterns by forest cutting: ecological
consequences and principles. Landscape
Ecology 1: 5-18.
Hardt, R. A. and R. T. T. Forman. 1989. Boundary
form effects on woody colonization of reclaimed surface
mines. Ecology 70:
1252-1260.
Forman, R. T. T. and P. N. Moore. 1992. Theoretical
foundations for understanding boundaries in landscape
mosaics. In Landscape
Boundaries: Consequences for Biotic Diversity and Ecological
Flows. A. J. Hansen and F. di Castri, editors. Springer-Verlag,
New York. Pages 236-258.
Cantwell, M. D. and R. T. T. Forman. 1994. Landscape
graphs: ecological modeling with graph theory to
detect configurations common to diverse landscapes. Landscape Ecology 8:
239-255.
Forman, R. T. T. and S. K. Collinge. 1995. The
“spatial solution” to conserving biodiversity in
landscapes and regions. In Conservation of Faunal
Diversity in Forested Landscapes. R. M. DeGraaf
and R. I. Miller, eds. Chapman & Hall,
London. Pages 537-568.
Forman, R. T. T. and A. M. Hersperger. 1996. Road
ecology and road density in different landscapes,
with international planning and mitigation solutions.
In Trends in Addressing
Transportation Related Wildlife Mortality. G. L. Evink,
P. Garrett, D. Zeigler, and J. Berry, editors. Publication
FL-ER-58-96, Florida Department of Transportation,
Tallahassee, Florida. Pages 1-22.
Forman, R. T. T. and A. M. Hersperger. 1997. Ecologia
del paesaggio e pianificazione: una potente combinazione.
(Landscape ecology and planning: a powerful combination). Urbanistica 108:
61-66.
Forman, R. T. T. and L. E. Alexander. 1998. Roads
and their major ecological effects. Annual Review of Ecology
and Systematics 29:
207-231.
Collinge, S. K. and R. T. T. Forman. 1998.
A conceptual model of land conversion processes:
predictions and evidence from a microlandscape experiment with
grassland insects. Oikos 82:
66-84.
Forman, R. T. T. and R. D. Deblinger. 2000. The
ecological road-effect zone of a Massachusetts (USA)
suburban highway. Conservation
Biology 14: 36-46.
Forman, R. T. T. 2000. Estimate of the area
affected ecologically by the road system in the United
States. Conservation Biology 14:
31-35.
Forman, R. T. T. 2002. The missing catalyst: design
and planning with ecology roots. In Ecology and Design:
Frameworks for Learning. B. R. Johnson and K. Hill, editors.
Island Press, Washington, D.C. Pages 85-109.
Forman, R. T.
T., B. Reineking, and A. M. Hersperger. 2002. Road
traffic and nearby grassland bird patterns in a suburbanizing
landscape. Environmental
Management 29:
782-800.
Hersperger, A. M. and R. T. T. Forman. 2003. Adjacency
arrangement effects on plant diversity and composition
in woodland patches. Oikos 101: 279-290.
Forman, R. T. T. 2004. Road ecology’s promise:
What’s around the bend? Environment 46: 8-21.
Forman, R. T. T., P. L. Reeve, H. Beyer, J. Bolduc,
J. Ferguson, R. Johnson, A. Lukens, A.
Proulx, P. Siebert, B. Stokey, M. Thornton, and K.
Edwards. 2004. Highlights of Concord’s
Open Space and Recreation Plan 2004.
Natural Resources Commission,
Concord, Massachusetts. 82 pp.
Forman, R. T. T. 2006. Good and bad places for
roads: effects of varying road and natural patterns
on habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation.
In Proceedings of the 2005 International
Conference on Ecology and Transportation. Center for
Transportation and the Environment, North Carolina
State University, Raleigh, North Carolina. Pp. 164-174.
Forman, R. T. T. and R. I. McDonald. 2007. A massive
increase in roadside woody vegetation: goals, pros,
and cons. In International
Conference on Ecology and Transportation 2007
Proceedings,
Center for Transportation and the Environment, North
Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina.
In press.
McDonald, R. I., P. Kareiva, and R. T. T. Forman.
2007. Urbanization and its effect on global protected
areas and biodiversity conservation. In review.
|