Travis Belote, PhD

Ecologist
Northern Rockies Regional Office

Office: 406-586-1600 x 110 Email

Travis joined TWS in 2009 as an ecologist in the Northern Rockies office. His research focuses on questions related to how ecological communities are structured and their response to land use change, natural resource management, and aspects of global change (including biological invasions and increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide). A primary goal of his research is to increase understanding of ecosystems to guide conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of natural resources.

Before moving to Montana, he conducted research in diverse ecosystems from hardwood forests of Appalachia to semiarid rangelands of the Colorado Plateau. He received his MS from the University of Tennessee, PhD from Virginia Tech, and served as a postdoctoral research ecologist with the USGS in Flagstaff, AZ.

Travis enjoys hiking, discussing science, paddling mellow rivers, running slowly, old-time music, and spending time with family.

Recent Publications

• Belote, R.T., N.J. Sanders, and R.H. Jones. 2009. Disturbance alters local-regional richness relationships in Appalachian forests. Ecology 90: 2940-2947
• Belote, R.T. and R.H. Jones. 2009. Tree leaf litter composition and nonnative earthworms influence plant invasion in experimental forest floor mesocosms. Biological Invasions 11: 1045-1052.
• Belote, R.T., R.H. Jones, S.M. Hood, and B.W. Wender. 2008. Diversity-invasibility along a disturbance gradient in Appalachian forests. Ecology 89: 183-192
• Belote, R.T. and J.F. Weltzin. 2006. Interactions between two co-dominant, invasive plants in a temperate deciduous forest. Biological Invasions 8: 1629-1641
• Weltzin, J.F., R.T. Belote, L.M. Thomas, J.K. Keller, C.E. Engel. 2006. Authorship in ecology: attribution, accountability, and responsibility. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4: 435-441
• Belote, R.T., J.F. Weltzin, and R.J. Norby. 2004. Response of an understory plant community to elevated [CO2] depends on differential responses of dominant invasive species and is mediated by soil water availability. New Phytologist 161: 827-835.
• Sanders, N.J., R.T. Belote, and J.F. Weltzin. 2004. Multi-trophic effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on understory plant and arthropod communities. Environmental Entomology 33: 1609-1616.
• Weltzin, J.F., R.T. Belote, N.J. Sanders. 2003. Biological invaders in a greenhouse world: will elevated CO2 fuel plant invasions? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 1:146-153.