Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Earth & Marine Sciences A308
Phone: 831.459.5358
Fax: 831.459.5353
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JEAN H. LANGENHEIM Professor Emerita of  Biology Research Professor in EE Biology B.S. University of Tulsa M.S., Ph.D. University of Minnesota Bunting Institute Scholar; Research Fellow, Harvard University

Earth & Marine Sciences C206 University of California Santa Cruz, CA 95064 Phone: 831.459.2918 Fax: 831-459-5353 lang@biology.ucsc.edu office hours

Chemical Plant Ecology & Evolution, Ethnobotany, History of Ecology

My research interest in chemical ecology has centered around the role that secondary compounds, especially variation in terpenoids, may play for the plant in various interactions in ecosystems. An evolutionary perspective was developed for tropical resins from our discovery that New World amber was derived from the leguminous tree Hymenaea. We studied the defensive role of leaf resin variation against lepidopteran insects and fungi in species of Hymenaea and its close relative Copaifera throughout their New World and African distribution. To our interest in the value of resins to the plants producing them, we added their value to humans--especially how resins could increasingly be used as non-timber resources as part of conserving biodiversity in tropical forests. We also have analyzed the geographic and developmental variation of terpenoids in several native trees and herbaceous plants along the Pacific Coast, and their effects on leaf endophytic fungi, nitrifying bacteria in the soil and deer herbivory. In crop plants we have particularly evaluated allelopathic effects on weeds as well on soil fungi and nitrifying bacteria.

Moreover, I have been interested in the history of ecology and especially in the progress of women’s contribution to research in the field. Recently, I have become involved in the use of molecular techniques in studying wetwood, a tree bacterial disease, and the phylogeograhy of the symbiotic relationship of a widespread lichen.

Selected publications

Nissenbaum, A,Yakir,D. and Langenheim, J.H. 2004. Bulk carbon, oxygen and hydrogen stable isotope composition of recent resins from amber-producing Hymenaea. Naturwissenschaften 92:26-29.

Langenheim, J.H. 2003. Plant Resins: Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology and Ethnobotany. Timber Press, Portland, Or. 586 pp

Langenheim, J.H. 2002. Amber. Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 9th Edition, McGraw-Hill Book Co., NY.

Langenheim, J.H. 2001. Contribuciones de los estudios de largo plaza a la Theoría de la Defensa Química: perspectivas con arboles resinosas de zonas templadas y tropicales. In Relaciones Quimicas Entre Organismos:Aspectos Basicos y Perspectivas de su Aplicacion .eds A.L.Anaya, F. J. Espinosa-Garcia and R. Cruz-Ortega ,pp  251-304. Instiuto de Ecologia,UNAM &  Plaza y Valdes Editores.

Fujiyoshi, P.T., Gliessman, S.R. and Langenheim, J.H. 2001. The inhibitory potential of compounds released by squash (Cucurbita spp) in an ecologically significant manner. Allelopathy, 9:1-8.

Peer, W.A., Briggs, W.R., and Langenheim, J.H. 1999. Shade avoidance responses in two common coastal redwood forest species, Sequoia sempervirens (Taxodiaceae) and Satureja douglasii (Lamiaceae), occurring in various light environments. American Journal of Botany, 86:640-645.

Ward, B.B., Courtney, K.J., and Langenheim, J.H. 1997. Inhibition of Nitrosomas europea by monoterpenes from coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervierns) in whole cell cultures. J. Chem. Ecol. 23:2583-2598.

Langenheim, J.H. 1996. The early history and progress of women ecologists: emphasis on research contributions. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 27:1-53.

Goralka, R.J. and Langenheim, J.H. 1996. Comparison of foliar monoterpenoids among ontogenetic stages of The California Bay Tree, Umbellularia californica, in relation to deer herbivory. Biochem. Syst. Ecol. 24:13-23.

Langenheim, J.H. 1995. Biology of Amber-producing trees: focus on case studies of Hymenaea and Agathis., In: Amber, Resinite and Fossil Resins . eds. K.B. Anderson and C.J. Krelling, pp. 1-30. Amer. Chem. Soc. Symposium Series, No. 617.

Langenheim, J.H. 1994. Higher Plant Terpenoids: Phytocentric overview of their ecological roles. J. Chem. Ecol. 20:1223-1280.