Department of Biological Science

Biological Science Faculty Member

Lab web page

Professor
Ph.D., Duke University, 1997 (she/her)
Graduate Faculty Status

Research and Professional Interests:

I am a population biologist interested in the ecology and evolution of plant-insect interactions. My primary focus is on how genotypic and phenotypic variation among individuals affects the long-term spatial and temporal dynamics of populations. I work on interactions between plants and their insect herbivores because plants and insects are amenable to experimentation and play important roles in both natural and agricultural communities. Because the questions that I ask span levels of organization from characteristics of individuals to populations, and encompass both long and short time frames, I use a combination of greenhouse and field experiments with mathematical modeling in my research.   Some of the recent projects in the lab include:

1. How the composition of plants in the neighborhood around a particular plant influences herbivore damage, pollinator visitation and thus plant competition and evolution (associational effects; Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory and N. Florida)
2. Effects of climate change on wildflower and pollinator phenology and relative abundance (Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory)
3. Causes and consequences of group size in an herbivorous insect (N. Florida)
4. Effects of patch size and shape, and of natal host on herbivore movement (North Florida Research and Education Center, and FSU Mission Road field station)
5. Effects of fire on plants and insects in Long Leaf Pine forest (Tall Timbers Research Station, Apalachicola National Forest)
6. The effects of insect herbivores on growth and regulation of a weedy plant population (North Florida Research and Education center, N. Florida).
7. The evolution of plasticity in plant resistance to herbivores (N. Florida)

Selected Publications:

Robinson, M., Hahn, P., Inouye, B. D., Underwood, N., Whitehead, S., Abbott, K., Bruna, E., Caho, I., Dyer, L., The HerbVar Contributors, & Wetzel, W. (in press). Plant size, latitude, and phylogeny explain variability in global herbivory. Science.

Feller, D. S., Halpern, S. L., & Underwood, N. (in press). Garden variety: Flexible lessons for exploring ideas about  biological variation using indoor and outdoor gardens (Part  1). Science and Children, 27
 
Feller, D. S., Halpern, S. L., & Underwood, N. (in press). Garden variety: Flexible lessons for exploring ideas about  biological variation using indoor and outdoor gardens (Part  2). Science and Children

Wetzel, W., Inouye, B. D., Hahn, P., Whitehead, S., & Underwood, N. (2023). Variability in plant-herbivore interactions. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 54(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102221-045015

Prather, R., Underwood, N., Dalton, R. M., barr, B., & Inouye, B. D. (2023). Climate data from the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (1975-2022). Ecology, in press.

Dalton, R.M., N. Underwood, D.W. Inouye, M.E. Soulé, and Inouye, B.D. 2023. Long-term declines in insect biomass and abundance in a montane habitat.  Ecosphere 14: e4620

Prather, R. M., Dalton, R. M., barr, B., Blumstein, D. T., Boggs, C. L., Brody, A. K., Inouye, D. W., Irwin, R. E., Martin, J. G. A., Smith, R. J., Van Vuren, D. H., Wells, C. P., Whiteman, H. H., Inouye, B. D., & Underwood, N. (2023). Current and lagged climate affects phenology across diverse taxonomic groups. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 290: 2022218138

Stemkovski, M., Dickson, R. G., Griffin, S. R., Inouye, B. D., Inouye, D. W., Pardee, G. L., Underwood, N., & Irwin, R. E. (2022). Skewness in bee and flower phenological distributions. Ecology. doi:10.1002/ecy.3890

Mutz, J., Heiling, J., Paniagua-Montoya, M., Halpern, S. L., Inouye, B. D., & Underwood, N. (2022). Some neighbors are better than others: variation in associational effects among plants in an old field community. Journal of Ecology, 110, 2118-2131.

Halpern, S.L., J. Mutz, B.D. Inouye and. N. Underwood. 2021. Lessons learned from adapting professional development to fit a remote academic year REU. Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research 4:60 

Mutz, J., Underwood, N and Inouye, B.D.  2020. Integrating top-down and bottom-up effects of local density across scales and a complex life cycle. Ecology 101: e03118.

Merwin, A.C., Inouye, B.D., and N. Underwood. 2020. Natal-habitat experience mediates the relationship between insect and hostplant densities. Oecologia 193:261–271.70.
 
Inouye, D.W., N. Underwood, B.D. Inouye and R.E. Irwin. 2020. Support early-career field researchers (Letter). Science 368: 724-725
 
Stemkovski, M., W.D. Pearse, S.R. Griffin, G.L. Pardee, J. Gibbs, T. Griswold, J.L. Neff, R. Oram, M.G. Rightmyer, C.S. Sheffield, K. Wright, B.D. Inouye, D.W. Inouye, R.E. Irwin 2020. Bee phenology is predicted by climatic variation and functional traits. Ecology Letters, in press.
 
Underwood, N., P.A. Hambäck and B.D. Inouye. 2020. Pollinators, herbivores and neighborhood effects. Quarterly Review of Biology  95: 35-57.

Inouye, B.D., J. Ehrlen and N. Underwood. 2019. Phenology as a process rather than an event: from individual reaction norms to community metrics. Ecological Monographs in press.

Hakes, A.S., N. Underwood and S.L. Halpern. 2018. Insect herbivores increase the spatial aggregation of a clonal plant. International Journal of Plant Science. 179: 209-216

Mutz, J., N. Underwood and B.D. Inouye. 2017. Time since disturbance affects colonization dynamics in a metapopulation. Journal of Animal Ecology in press. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12689

Underwood, N. and B.D. Inouye. 2017. Pathways for effects of small-scale disturbance on a rare plant: how Mimulus angustatus benefits from gopher mounds. Ecosphere 8(6):e01838. 10.1002/ecs2.1838.

McNutt, D.W. and N. Underwood. 2016. Variation in plant-mediated intra- and interspecific interactions among insect herbivores: effects of host genotype. Ecosphere 7(10): e01520. 10.1002/ecs.1520

McNutt, D.W., Samuelson, K., N. Underwood. 2016. Pathways fo plant-mediated negative feedback to insect herbivores: accounting for non-linear effects of larval density on plant quality and quantity. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 162: 93-104.

Anderson, K.E., B.D. Inouye, N. Underwood. 2015. Can inducible resistance in plants cause herbivore aggregations? Spatial patterns in an inducible plant/herbivore model. Ecology 96: 2758-2770.

Grinath, J.B., B.D. Inouye and N. Underwood. 2015. Bears benefit plants via a cascade with both antagonistic and mutualistic interactions. Ecology Letters 18:164-173.

Kim, T.N., B.J. Spiesman, A.L. Buchanan, A.S. Hakes, S.L. Halpern, B.D. Inouye, A.L. Kilanowski, N. Kortessis, D.W. McNutt, A.C. Merwin and N. Underwood. 2015. Selective manipulation of a non-dominant plant and its herbivores affects an old-field community. Plant Ecology 216: 1029-1045

Kim, T.N. and N. Underwood. 2015. Plant neighborhood effects on herbivory: Damage is both density and frequency dependent. Ecology 96(5): 1431-1437

Buchanan, A. L. 2015. Effects of damage and pollination on sexual and asexual reproduction in a flowering clonal plant. Plant Ecology, 216, 273-282.

Underwood, N., B.D. Inouye and P.A. Hambäck. 2014. A conceptual framework for associational effects: when do neighbors matter and how would we know? Quarterly Review of Biology 89(1): 1-19.

Hambäck, P.A., B.D. Inouye, P. Andersson and N. Underwood. 2014. Effects of plant neighborhoods on plant-insect interations: resource dilution and associational effects. Ecology 95: 1370-1383.

Halpern, S.L., D. Bednar, A. Chisholm and N Underwood. 2014. Plant-mediated effects of host plant density on a specialist herbivore of Solanum carolinense. Ecological Entomology 39: 2017-2025.

Kim, T.N., Underwood, N., and B.D. Inouye. 2013. Insect herbivores change the outcome of plant competition through both inter- and intraspecific processes. Ecology 94(8): 1753-1763.

Buchanan, A.L. and N. Underwood. 2013. Attracting pollinators and avoiding herbivores: insect influence on plant traits within and across years. Oecologia 173: 473-482.

Underwood, N. 2012. When herbivores come back: effects of repeated damage on induced resistance. Functional Ecology 26: 1441-1449.

McNutt, D.W., S. Halpern, K. Barrows and N. Underwood. 2012. Intraspecific competition facilitates the evolution of tolerance to insect damage in the perennial plant Solanum carolinense. Oecologia 17: 1033-1044. DOI 10.1007/s00442-012-2377-x

Underwood, N. and S. Halpern. 2012. Insect herbivores, density dependence, and the performance of the perennial herb Solanum carolinense. Ecology 93(5): 1026-1035.

Grinath, J., B. Inouye, N. Underwood and I. Billick. 2012. The indirect consequences of a mutualism: comparing positive and negative components of the net interaction between honeydew-tending ants and host plants. Journal of Animal Ecology 81(2): 494-502.

Underwood, N., S. Halpern, and C. Klein. 2011. Effect of host-plant genotype and neighboring plants on strawberry aphid movement in the greenhouse and field. American Midland Naturalist 165:38-49.

Underwood, N. 2010. Density dependence in insect performance within individual plants: induced resistance to Spodoptera exigua in tomato. Oikos 119:1993-1999.

Underwood, N. 2009. Effect of genetic variance in plant quality on the population dynamics of an herbivorous insect. Journal of Animal Ecology 78:839-847.

Anderson, K. E., B. D. Inouye. and N. Underwood. 2009. Modeling herbivore competition mediated by inducible changes in plant quality. Oikos 118:1633-1646.

Hughes, A. R., B. D. Inouye, M. T. Johnson, N. Underwood, and M. Vellend. 2008. Ecological consequences of genetic diversity. Ecology Letters 11:609-623.

Underwood, N. 2007. Variation in and correlation between rate of increase and carrying capacity. American Naturalist 169:136-141.

Halpern, S., and N. Underwood. 2006. Approaches for testing herbivore effects on plant population dynamics. Journal of Applied Ecology 43:922-929.

Underwood, N., K. Anderson, and B. Inouye. 2005. Induced versus constitutive resistance and the spatial distribution of insect herbivores among plants. Ecology 86:594-602.

Underwood, N., and M. D. Rausher. 2002. Comparing the consequences of induced and constitutive resistance for herbivore population dynamics. American Naturalist 160:20-30.

Underwood, N., M. Rausher and C. W. Cook. 2002. Bioassay versus chemical assay: Measuring the impact of induced and constitutive resistance on herbivores in the field. Oecologia 131:211-219.

Underwood, N., and M. D. Rausher. 2000. The effects of host-plant genotype on herbivore population dynamics in a model system. Ecology 81:1565-1576.

Underwood, N. 2000. Density dependence in induced plant resistance to herbivore damage: threshold, strength and genetic variation. Oikos 89:295-300.

Underwood, N., W. F. Morris, J. R. Lockwood, and K. Gross. 2000. Induced resistance to Mexican bean beetles in soybean: variation among genotypes and lack of correlation with constitutive resistance. Oecologia 122:83-89.

Underwood, N. 1999. The influence of plant and herbivore characteristics on the interaction between induced resistance and herbivore population dynamics. American Naturalist 153:282-294.

Underwood, N. 1998. The timing of induced resistance and induced susceptibility in the soybean–Mexican bean beetle system. Oecologia 114:376-381.

Postdoctoral Associates:

Graduate Students: