JeriLynn E. Peck (Jeri Peck), Ph.D.

JeriLynn E. Peck (Jeri Peck), Ph.D.

  • Research Associate
  • Forest Community and Disturbance Ecology
I am usually out of the office, but when on campus I'm at:
316 Forest Resources Building

University Park, PA 16802

Education

  • Ph.D. 2007 Forest and Disturbance Ecology, University of Minnesota
  • M.S. 1996 Nonvascular Community Ecology, Oregon State University
  • B.S. 1992 Environmental Economics, Linfield College

My background is in plant community ecology, forest structure, and the multivariate analyses used on such data.  At the moment, I provide trainings to ecologists in the art of Multivariate Data Analysis and collaborate with the Silviculture & Applied Forest Ecology Lab here at Penn State.

Interests

I teach short-courses on the appropriate use of multivariate data analysis in community ecology, specifically using the PC-ORD software.  These trainings are intended to introduce multivariate statistical concepts,  describe the classification, ordination, and other available tools, and train users in a defensible data analysis approach and process.  The 2016 second edition of my book Multivariate Analysis for Ecologists:  Step-by-Step is meant to supplement these trainings or serve as a stand-alone tool for self-guidance.

I also collaborate with the Silviculture & Applied Forest Ecology Lab here at Penn State and consult on data analysis and scientific manuscript preparation and editing.

Between 1990 and 2010, I was immersed in field research on all aspects of commercial moss harvest.  This included assessing species composition, biomass distribution, cover and biomass growth rates, post-harvest recovery dynamics, and alternative management approaches, mostly in western Oregon.  Oregon State University now maintains the website on this topic.

Selected Annual Publications

Peck, J.E. and E.K. Zenner.  2022.  Sub-stand diameter distribution types vary along an old-growth Douglas-fir chronosequence into the horizontal diversification development stage.  Journal of Forestry Research, in press.

Peck, J.E. and E.K. Zenner.  2021.  Structure area curves in Eastern Hardwoods: implications for minimum plot sizes to capture spatially explicit structure indices.  Annals of Forest Science, 78(1), pp.1-11.

Zenner, E.K., J.E. Peck, and M.L. Hobi.  2020.  Development phase convergence across scale in a primeval European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forest.  Forest Ecology and Management 460:117889 9 p.

Peck, J.E. & E.K. Zenner.  2019.  Common ground among beech forest development stages: Matrix versus stage‐typical live tree structure.  Journal of Vegetation Science 30:893-904.

Zenner, E.K., J.E. Peck, & K. Sagheb-Talebi.  2018.  One shape fits all, but only in the aggregate:  Diversity in sub-stand scale diameter distributions.  Journal of Vegetation Science 29:501-510.

Zenner, E.K., J.E. Peck, M.L. Hobi, & B. Commarmot.  2016.  Validation of a classification protocol: meeting the prospect requirement and ensuring distinctiveness when assigning forest development phases.  Applied Vegetation Science 19:541-552.

Zenner, E.K., J.E. Peck, M.L. Hobi, & B. Commarmot.  2015.  The dynamics of structure across scale in a primeval European beech stand.  Forestry 88:180-189.

Peck, J.E., E.K. Zenner, P. Brang, and A. Zingg.  2014.  Tree size distribution and abundance explain structural complexity differentially within stands of even- and uneven-aged structure types.  European Journal of Forest Research 133:335-346.

Zenner, E.K., Y.L. Dickinson, and J.E. Peck.  2013.  Recovery of forest structure and composition to harvesting in different strata of mixed even-aged central Appalachian hardwoods. Annals of Forest Science, 70:151-159.

Peck, J.E., E.K. Zenner, & B. Palik.  2012.  Variation in microclimate and early growth of planted pines under dispersed and aggregated overstory retention in mature managed red pine in Minnesota.  Canadian Journal of Forest Research 42(2):279-290.

Peck, J.E. & E.K. Zenner.  2011.  Site Classification Systems could link social and ecological management constraints.  The Journal of Forestry 109(2):95-100.

Peck, J.E. & A.R. Moldenke.  2010.  Invertebrate communities of subcanopy epiphyte mats subject to commercial moss harvest.  Journal of Insect Conservation 15(4):733-742.

Zenner, E.K. & J.E. Peck.  2009.  Characterizing structural conditions in mature managed red pine:  Spatial dependency of metrics and adequacy of plot size.  Forest Ecology and Management 257:311-320.

Peck, J.E. & L.E. Frelich.  2008.  Commercial moss harvest does not disrupt successional development of understory epiphytic bryophytes in the Pacific Northwest.  Ecological Applications 18(1):146-158.

Peck, J.E. & P.S. Muir.  2007.  Are they harvesting what we think they're harvesting?  Comparing field data to commercially sold forest moss.  Biodiversity and Conservation 16(7):2031-2043.

Peck, J.E. 2006.  Regrowth dynamics of understory epiphytic bryophytes 10 years after simulated commercial moss harvest.  Canadian Journal of Forest Research 36:1749-1757.

Peck, J.E., J. Grabner, D. Ladd, & D. Larsen.  2004.  Microhabitat affinities of Missouri Ozarks lichens.  The Bryologist 107(1):47-61.

Peck, J.E. & P.S. Muir.  2001.  Estimating the biomass of harvestable epiphytic moss in Central Western Oregon.  Northwest Science 75(2):99-106.

Peck, J.E., B. Daly, B. McCune, & J. Ford.  2000.  Tethered transplants for estimating biomass growth rates of the arctic lichen Masonhalea richardsonii.  The Bryologist 103(3):449-454.

Peck, J.E. & B. McCune.  1998.  Commercial moss harvest in northwestern Oregon:  biomass & accumulation.  Biological Conservation 86:299-305.

Peck, J.E. & B. McCune.  1997.  Effects of green tree retention on epiphytic lichen communities:  A retrospective approach.  Ecological Applications 7(4):1181-1187.

Peck, J.E., W. Hong, & B. McCune.  1995. Diversity of bryophytes on four host tree species on Thermal Island, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada.  The Bryologist 98(1):123-128.