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William F. Morris

Professor of Biology
Biology
Duke Box 90325, Durham, NC 27708-0325
104 Bio Sci Bldg, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


Bill Morris studies the population ecology of plants and insects (both herbivores and pollinators). Current projects include: the population dynamic consequences of constitutive and inducible resistance in plants, the maintenance of mutualistic interactions between flowering plants and nectar-robbing pollinators, the use of population-level attributes to detect biotic responses to ongoing environmental changes, and the use of mathematical models to assess viability of threatened and endangered populations. The common thread uniting these projects is that they combine field experiments and mathematical models to study population dynamics in natural and managed systems.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Professor of Biology · 2006 - Present Biology, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Recent Publications


What Is Demographic Lability and When Might We Expect to See It?

Journal Article The American naturalist · December 2025 AbstractWhen vital rates are convex functions of environmental drivers, temporal variation in those vital rates could increase long-term stochastic fitness (so-called demographic lability). Yet no empirical cases of this phenomenon have yet been documented ... Full text Cite

Climatic versus biotic drivers' effect on fitness varies with range size but not position within range in terrestrial plants

Journal Article Ecological Monographs · February 1, 2025 All populations are affected by multiple environmental drivers, including climatic drivers such as temperature or precipitation and biotic drivers such as herbivory or mutualisms. The relative response of a population to each driver is critical to prioriti ... Full text Cite

Local Adaptation Is Highest in Populations With Stable Long-Term Growth.

Journal Article Ecology letters · February 2025 Theory suggests that the drivers of demographic variation and local adaptation are shared and may feedback on one other. Despite some evidence for these links in controlled settings, the relationship between local adaptation and demography remains largely ... Full text Cite
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Education, Training & Certifications


University of Washington · 1990 Ph.D.
Cornell University · 1983 B.S.