Skip to main content
uri icon
  • Websites

Wright, S. Joseph

Senior Scientist, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Ecology of tropical forests; community ecology

Geographic Focus

Professional Biography

  • I study plant biology in tropical forests. My interests include plant demography, interactions among plants and animals, and relationships between plants, climate and other physical environmental factors. My approaches include forest experiments, comparative studies over natural and artificial gradients, and long-term observational studies coupled with meteorological monitoring. Key questions include how tropical plants time important events such as flowering, leaf development and leaf fall in response to environmental cues and how hundreds of species coexist in small areas of humid tropical forest.

Public Biography

  • I study plant biology in tropical forests. My interests include plant demography, interactions among plants and animals, and relationships between plants, climate and other physical environmental factors. My approaches include forest experiments, comparative studies over natural and artificial gradients, and long-term observational studies coupled with meteorological monitoring. Key questions include how tropical plants time important events such as flowering, leaf development and leaf fall in response to environmental cues and how hundreds of species coexist in small areas of humid tropical forest.