Professor of Biology & Environmental Studies
Director of Environmental Initiatives
Ph.D., University of Sydney
M.Sc., University of Aberdeen
B.A., Williams College

Professor Lowman specializes in canopy ecology, science education, and conservation biology. Her research on tropical rain forests spans over 30 years in Australia, Peru, Africa, the Americas, and the South Pacific. She has written over 95 peer-reviewed publications. In the treetops, she pioneered work on plant-insect interactions as well as to develop new methods of canopy access. These techniques have included ropes, walkways, hot air balloons, construction cranes, and ladders. She co-edited the definitive textbook, Canopy Biology (second edition published in 2004), and chaired the first two international canopy conferences in 1994 and 1998.

She continues to combine research and education with student outreach projects both in southwest Florida and in tropical countries around the world.  She is working with Sarasota County to develop a biological field station for scientists and New College students and a Center for Progressive Land Use as a collaborative Florida-wide institution.

Lowman, M. D. (2000). Heat futures in Australia's rain forests. (pp. 25-37) Earthwatch Institute.

Lowman, M. D. (2001). Curator of a botanical garden. In R. Robison (Ed.), Plant Sciences (pp. 35-36)

Lowman, M. D. (2001). Epiphytes. In R. Robinson (Ed.), Plant Sciences. (pp. 113-115). New York: MacMillan Reference USA.

Lowman, M. D. (2001). Plants in the forest canopy: Some reflections on current research and future direction. In K. E. Linsenmair, A. J. Davis, B. Fiala & M. R. Speight (Eds.), Tropical Forest Canopies: Ecology and Management. (pp. 39-50).

Lowman, M. D. (2001). Plants in the forest canopy: Some reflections on current research and future direction. Plant Ecology, 153(1-2), 39-50. Retrieved April 1, 2007, from SpringerLink database.

Lowman, M. D. (2004). Canopy conservation initiatives. Plant Talk, 35, 45.

Lowman, M. D. (2004). Ecotourism and the treetops. Forest Canopies (pp. 475-486) San Diego, CA: Elsevier Press.

Lowman, M. D. (2004). Tarzan or Jane? A Short history of canopy Biology. Forest Canopies (pp. 453-465). San Diego, CA: Elsevier Press.

Lowman, M. D. (2005- ). Nature's secrets. [Electronic version]. Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Lowman, M. D. (2005-2006). Out on a limb. Explorers Club Journal, 24-30.

Lowman, M. D. (2006). Fostering partnerships between regional government and ecology. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 4(10), 473-481.

Lowman, M. D. (2006). National Ecological Observatory Network ISEP (planning document).

Lowman, M. D. (2006). No child left indoors. Frontier in Ecology and the Environment, 4(10), 1.

Lowman, M. D. (2007). Ecotourism and its impact on forest conservation. Retrieved March 30, 2007, from http://www.actionbioscience.org/environment/lowman.html

Lowman, M. D., Brewer, C., & Huenneke, L. (2006). NEON - A Plan to transform Science Education at a national level. Science Magazine.

Lowman, M. D., Burgess, E. A., & Burgess, J. B. (2006). Growing up in the treetops. Natural History 115(2), 80.

Lowman, M. D., Burgess, E. A., & Burgess, J. B. (2006). It's a jungle up there: More tales from the treetops. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Lowman, M. D., Burgess, J. B., Burgess, E. A., & Randle, D. C. (2002). Water pollution in bromeliad tanks - an experimental approach. Journal of the Bromeliad Society, 52(2), 58-62.

Lowman, M. D., Burgess, J. B., Burgess, E. A., & thousands of Jason X school students. (2003). Observations of a Coleopteran Herbivore on a bromeliad in the Peruvian Amazon. Journal of the Bromeliad Society, 53, 221-224.

Lowman, M. D., Hunter, M., Rinker, B., Schowalter, T., & Conte, S. (2002). Canopy walkways - highways in the sky. In A. W. Mitchell, K. Secoy & K. Jackson (Eds.), Global canopy handbook. Techniques of access and study in the forest roof. (pp. 35-40).

Lowman, M. D., Nkongmeneck, B., & Atwood, J. T. (2002). Epiphyte diversity in primary and fragmented forests of Cameroon, Central Africa: A Preliminary survey. Selbyana, 23(1), 121-130.

Lowman, M. D., & Rinker, H. B. (2004). Forest canopies (2nd ed.). Boston: Elsevier Academic Press.

Lowman, M. D., & Rinker, H. B. (2004). Insect herbivory in tropical forests.. Forest Canopies (pp. 359-387). San Diego, CA: Elsevier Press.

Lowman, M. D., Rinker, H. B., Hunter, M. D., Schowalter, T. D., & Fonte, S. (2001). Canopy herbivory and soil processes in temperate and tropical forests. In K. N. Gaenshaiah, R. U. Shaanker & K. S. Bawa (Eds.), Tropical Ecosystems (pp. 433)

Lowman, M. D., Rinker, H. B., Shaw, D. C., & Ernest, K. A. (2006). Development of a novel method for assessing stand-level herbivory in forests. Newsletter of the International Canopy Network, 12(2), 4-6.

Lowman, M. D., Shaw, D. C., Ernest, K. A., & Rinker, H. B. (2006). Protocols for measuring herbivory. Northwest Natural History.

Rinker, H. B., Lowman, M. D., Hunter, M. D., Schowalter, T. D., & Fonte, S. (2001). Canopy herbivory and soil ecology - The Top-down impact of forest processes. Selbyana, 22(2), 225-231.

Shaw, D. C., Ernest, K. A., Rinker, H. B., Lowman, M. D. (2006) Stand-level herbivory in an old-growth conifer forest canopy. Western North American Naturalist, 66(4): 473-481.