Kevin J. Rice
Professor Emeritus
Department of Plant Sciences and
The Center for Population Biology
EDUCATION:
B.S.
Biology
M.S.
Biological Oceanography
Ph.D.
Ecology
Telephone
FAX
e-mail
(530) 752-8529
(530) 752-4361
kjrice@ucdavis.edu
University of Miami
University of Miami
University of California - Davis
1975
1978
1984
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
1998-2014
2010-2013
1999-2002
1992-1998
1986-1992
Professor - University of California-Davis
Section Chair, Plant Sciences – University of California-Davis
Chair, Ecology Graduate Group
Associate Professor - University of California-Davis
Assistant Professor - University of California-Davis
CURRENT AND RECENT EXTRAMURAL RESEARCH SUPPORT
National Science Foundation (2008-2013) IGERT “REACH: Responding to Rapid Environmental
Change: From genes to ecosystems, science to society”
National Science Foundation (2007-2008) “SGER Grant: Rapid evolution of invasive species to elevated
atmospheric CO2”
U.S.D.A. National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (2006-2010) “Controlling
invasive rangeland weeds that exploit and expand phenological niches: Influences of grazing and
burning on rangeland productivity”
U.S.D.A. National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (2004-2008) “After the
bottleneck: The role of quantitative trait mutation and environmental maternal effects on the
adaptive spread of an invasive plant”
National Science Foundation (2001-2009) IGERT “Biological Invasions: From Genes to Ecosystems,
From Science to Society”
PUBLICATIONS (Last 5 years)
Heger, T., Jacobs, B.S., Latimer, A.M., Kollmann, J., and K.J. Rice. 2014. Does experience with
competition matter? Effects of source competitive environment on mean and plastic trait
expression in Erodium cicutarium. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 16:
236-246.
Grossman, J. D. and K. J. Rice. 2014. Contemporary evolution of an invasive grass in response to elevated
atmospheric CO2 at a Mojave Desert FACE site. Ecology Letters 17: 710-716.
Rice, K. J., Gerlach, J. D., Dyer, A. R. and J. K. McKay. 2013. Evolutionary ecology along invasion
fronts of the annual grass Aegilops triuncialis. Biological Invasions 15: 2531-2545.
Peterson, M. L., Rice, K. J., and J. P. Sexton. 2013. Niche partitioning between close relatives suggests
trade-offs between adaptation to local environments and competition. Ecology and Evolution 3:
512-522.
Porter, S. S. and K. J. Rice. 2013. Trade-offs, spatial heterogeneity, and the maintenance of microbial
diversity. Evolution 67: 599-608.
Espeland, E.K. and K.J. Rice. 2012. Within- and trans-generational plasticity affects the opportunity for
selection in barbed goatgrass (Aegilops triuncialis). American Journal of Botany 99: 2058-2062.
Grossman, J.D. and K.J. Rice. 2012. Evolution of root plasticity responses to variation in soil nutrient
distribution and concentration. Evolutionary Applications 5: 850-857.
Roche, L.M., Rice, K.J, and K.W. Tate. 2012. Oak conservation maintains native grass stands in an oak
woodland-annual grassland system. Biodiversity and Conservation 21: 2555-2568.
Dyer, A.R., Hardison, J.L., and K.J. Rice. 2012. Phenology constrains opportunistic growth response in
Bromus tectorum L.. Plant Ecology 213: 103-112.
Porter, S.S., Stanton, M.L., and K.J. Rice. 2011. Mutualism and adaptive divergence: co-invasion of a
heterogeneous grassland by an exotic legume-rhizobium symbiosis. PLOS ONE 6, Issue: 12,
Article Number: e27935.
Sexton, J.W., Strauss, S.S., and K. J. Rice. 2011. Gene flow increases fitness at the warm edge of a
species’ range. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 108: 11704-11709.
Knapp, E. E. and K. J. Rice. 2011. Effects of competition and temporal variation on the evolutionary
potential of two native bunchgrass species. Restoration Ecology 19: 407-417.
Emery, N.C., Rice, K.J. and M.L. Stanton. 2011. Fitness variation and local distribution limits in an annual
plant population. Evolution 65: 1011-1020.
Robison, R.A., Kyser, G.B., Rice, K.J., and J.M DiTomaso. 2011. Light intensity is a limiting factor to the
inland expansion of Cape ivy (Delairea odorata). Biological Invasions 13: 35-44.
Thomson, D.M., Baythavong, B.S., and K.J. Rice. 2011. Invasions and the evolution of range limits. In:
Serpentine: The Evolution and Ecology of a Model System. S. Harrison and N. Rajakaruna eds.
University of California Press, Berkeley CA
Meimberg, H., Milan, N.F., Karatassiou, M., Espeland, E.K., McKay, J.K., and K.J. Rice. 2010. Patterns
of introduction and adaptation during the invasion of Aegilops triuncialis (Poaceae) into
Californian serpentine soils. Molecular Ecology 19: 5308-5319.
Espeland, E. K., and K. J. Rice. 2010. Ecological effects on estimates of effective population size in an
annual plant. Biological Conservation 143: 946-951.
Dyer, A. R., Brown, C. S., Espeland, E. K., McKay, J. K., Meimberg, H., and K. J. Rice. 2010. The role
of adaptive trans-generational plasticity in biological invasions of plants. Evolutionary
Applications 3:179-192.
Brown, C. S. and K.J. Rice. 2010. Effects of belowground resource use complementarity on invasion of
constructed grassland plant communities. Biological Invasions 12:1319-1334.
Sexton, J.P., McIntyre, P.J., Angert, A.L., and K.J. Rice. 2009. Evolution and ecology of species range
limits. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 40: 415-436.
Burt, J.W. and K.J. Rice. 2009. Not all ski slopes are created equal: disturbance intensity affects
ecosystem functions. Ecological Applications19: 2242–2253.
Emery N.C., M.L. Stanton, and K.J. Rice. 2009. Factors driving distribution limits in an annual plant
community. New Phytologist 181: 734-747.
Baythavong, B. Stanton, M.L. and K.J. Rice. 2009. Understanding the consequences of seed dispersal in a
heterogeneous environment. Ecology 90: 2118-2128.
Meimberg H., Rice K.J., Milan N.F., Njoku C.C., and J.K. McKay. 2009. Multiple origins promote the
ecological amplitude of allopolyploid Aegilops (Poaceae). American Journal of Botany 96: 12621273.