College

Natural Sciences

Department

Biology

Category

Environment

Areas of Expertise

Plant ecology and evolution

Alan Knapp

A University Distinguished Professor, Knapp studies ecological processes, such as leaf-level gas exchange, plant water relations and energy balance, that drive evolutionary change in plants.

Knapp works with the Konza Prairie Long-Term Ecological Research program in the grasslands of northeastern Kansas, one of the top sites for the study of how prairie fires and bison grazing impact grasslands. Knapp added grassland studies at Kruger Park in South Africa and in the steppes of Mongolia to view grassland impacts in different geographical areas.

Knapp is involved in several professional societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the Botanical Society of America and the Ecological Society of America. In 2013, Knapp chaired an expert panel review at the Institute of Applied Ecology in China.

Knapp received his B.Sc. in biology from Idaho State University in 1978. He then studied botany at the University of Wyoming, earning his M.Sc. in 1981 and his Ph.D. in 1988.

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