Professor of Biology
Ph.D., Duke University, 1976

Plant population biology; impact of climate change on flowering times; tropical forests; conservation biology; rare plant species

Biological communities are currently being transformed by human activities.   The current focus of my research is to determine the impact of climate change on the flowering times of plants and the spring arrival of birds in Massachusetts.   Flowering times are one of the most sensitive indicators of climate change, and flowering times are correlated with other plant characteristics.   As the timing of plant flowering, bud burst, fruiting, and leaf drop change, time-sensitive community interactions, such as pollination, herbivory, and seed dispersal, will also change.   The main geographical focus is Concord, Massachusetts, due to the availability of extensive flowering records kept by Henry David Thoreau and later naturalists.  
We are also using Concord as a living laboratory to determine which species are the most sensitive indicators of climate change, how invasive species are affecting plant communities, and the population dynamics of native plant species.   A second long-term interest is tropical rain forests; comparisons across continents and the consequences of human impacts. An ongoing activity involves producing conservation biology textbooks and allied materials in English,   and working with co-authors to produce textbooks in other languages.

For more information on the Conservation Biology Translation Project, please visit http://people.bu.edu/primack .

Recent outside activities include:   President of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (2003-2004); Editor-in-Chief for the journal Biological Conservation (2008); Guggenheim Fellowship (2006-2007); Putnam Fellow at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University (2006-2007); Visiting Professor, Zoology Department, Tokyo University (2006-2007).

For a complete list of publications, view the PDF file.

To view a PDF file of Dr. Primack's CV, click here.

Miller-Rushing, A. J., and R. Primack. Global warming and flowering times in Thoreau's Concord; A community perspective. Ecology, in press.

Miller-Rushing, A. J., R. B. Primack, and R. Stymeist. Interpreting variation in bird migration times as observed by volunteers. Auk, in press.

Miller-Rushing, A. J. and R. B. Primack. A comparison of the impacts of winter temperatures on two birch (Betula) species. Tree Physiology, in press.

Miller-Rushing, A. J., T. Katsuki, R. Primack, H. Higuchi, Y. Ishii, S. D. Lee, and H. Higuchi. 2007. Impact of global warming on a group of related species and their hybrids; cherry tree flowering at Mt. Takao,
Japan. American Journal of Botany 94: 1470-1478.

Miller-Rushing, A. J., R. Primack, D. Primack, and S. Mukunda. 2006. Photographs and herbarium specimens as tools to document phenological changes in response to global warming. American Journal of Botany 93: 1667-1674.

Corlett, R. and R. Primack. 2006.   Tropical rainforests and the need for cross-continental comparisons. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21: 104-110.

Primack, R. 2006. Essentials of Conservation Biology, Fourth Edition. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA..

Primack, R. and R. Corlett.   2005 . Tropical Rainforests:   An Ecological and Biogeographical Comparison.   Blackwell Publishing, 319 pages .

Ledneva, A., A. J. Miller-Rushing, R. Primack and C. Imbres. 2004. Climate change as reflected in a naturalist's diary, Middleborough, Massachusetts. The Wilson Bulletin 116: 224-231.

Miller-Rushing, A. J. and R. Primack. 2004. Climate change and plant conservation. Plant Talk 35: 34-38.

Primack, D., C. Imbres, R. Primack, A. Miller-Rushing, and P. Del Tredici. 2004. Herbarium specimens demonstrate earlier flowering times in response to climate change. American Journal of Botany, 63 2: 26-32 .  

Primack, R. 2004. A Primer of Conservation Biology , Third Edition . Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA  

Bhattacharya, M.   R. Primack, and J. Gerwein.   2003.   Are roads and railroads barriers to bumblebee movement in a temperate suburban conservation area?   Biological Conservation 109: 37-45.

Kobori, H. and R. Primack.   2003.    Participatory conservation approaches for satoyama , the traditional forest and agricultural landscape of Japan. Ambio 32: 307-311.

Pomeroy, M., R. Primack, and S.N. Rai.   2003.    Changes in four rain forest plots of the Western Ghats, India, 1939-93.   Conservation and Society 1:113-135.    

Delissio, L., R. Primack, P. Hall, and H.S. Lee. 2002.    A decade of canopy-tree seedling survival and growth in two Bornean rain forests: persistence and recovery from suppression.   Journal of Tropical Ecology 18: 645-658.

Primack, R., R. Rozzi, P. Feinsinger, R. Dirzo, and F. Massardo. 2001. Elementos de Conservation Biologica: Perspectivas Latin americanas . Fundo de Cultura Economica, Mexico City. 797 pages.

Primack, R. 2001. Publish again in another language. Conservation Biology 15:290-291.

Primack, R., H. Kobori and S. Mori. 2000. Dragonfly pond restoration promotes conservation awareness in Japan. Conservation Biology 14:1553-1554.

Dayanandan, S., P. Ashton, S. Williams and R. Primack. 1999. Phylogeny of the tropical tree family Dipterocarpaceae based on nucleotide sequences of the chloroplast rbcL gene. American Journal of Botany 286:1182-1190 .

Drayton, B. and R. Primack. 1999. Experimental extinction of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) populations: Implications for weed science and conservation biology. Biological Invasions 1: 159-167.

Primack, R., D. Bray, H. Galletti and I. Ponciano, editors. 1998. Timber, Tourists and Temples: Conservation and Development in the Maya Forest of Belize, Guatemala and Mexico . Island Press, Washington, D.C. 426 pp.

Primack, R. and E. Stacy. 1998. Costs of reproduction in the pink lady's slipper orchid (Cypripedium acaule): an eleven-year experimental study of the three populations. American Journal of Botany 85: 1672-1679.

Primack, R. and E. Stacy. 1997. Women ecologists catching up in scientific productivity, but only when they join the race. BioScience 47:169-174.

Primack, R. and T. Lovejoy, editors. 1995. Ecology, Conservation and Management of Southeast Asian Forests . Yale University Press, New Haven. 304 pages.