Robyn Burnham - Associate Professor, Adjunct Associate Curator












email: rburnham@umich.edu | phone: 734-647-2585

Academic Background
 University of Washington, Ph.D.
University of Washington, M.S.
University of California, Berkeley, B.S.

Web site
Reserach Interests
Professor Burnham is currently involved in research on climbing plants of the Amazon Basin, especially in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia on the lower flanks of the Andes Mountains. Her interests are in the community structure and species composition of Amazonian forests, as viewed via the lianas and vines that inhabit these forests. Particular interest has recently been focused on the impacts of human intervention in Amazonian forests from oil exploration, agriculture and gold mining. Continuing work on the paleontological history of the forests of Northern South America is carried out in her lab as well, with on-going research in the intermontane basins of Ecuador and the eastern basins of Bolivia.

Recent Publications

Fine, P.A.V., Ree, R. and Burnham, R.J. 2008. The Disparity in Tree Species Richness among Tropical, Temperate and Boreal Biomes: The Geographic Area and Age Hypothesis. Pp. 31-45 in Tropical Forest Community Ecology, W.P. Carson and S.A. Schnitzer (eds.), Blackwell Scientific.

Burnham, R.J. 2008. Hide and Go Seek: What does presence mean in the fossil record? Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 95(1):51-71.

Gerwing,J.J., S.A. Schnitzer, R.J. Burnham, F. Bongers, J. Chave, S.J. DeWalt, C. E.N. Ewango, R.B. Foster, David Kenfack, M. Martinez-Ramos, M. Parren, N. Parthasarathy, D.R. Pérez-Salicrup, F. E. Putz, and D.W. Thomas. 2006 A Standard Protocol for Liana Censuses. 2006. Biotropica 38(2): 256-261.

Burnham, R.J., K. R. Johnson, and B. Ellis. 2005. Modern tropical forest taphonomy: Does high biodiversity affect paleoclimatic interpretations?  Palaios 20:439-451.

Burnham, R.J. and N.L. Carranco. 2004. Miocene winged fruits of Loxopterygium (Anacardiaceae) from the Ecuadorian Andes. American Journal of Botany 91(11): 1767-1773.

Burnham, R.J. and K.R. Johnson. 2004. South American paleobotany and the origins of neotropical rainforests. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, series B. on line October 2004.

Burnham, R.J. 2004. Alpha and Beta Diversity of Lianas in Yasuní National Park, Ecuador. Forest Ecology and Management 190:43-55.

Burnham, R.J. 2002. Dominance, diversity and distribution of lianas in Yasuní, Ecuador: who is on top? Journal of Tropical Ecology 18:845-864.

Burnham, R.J. 2002. Climbers of Yasuní National Park, Ecuador and their importance in tropical forests. Memorias del Tercer Congreso Botanico del Ecuador. Editores; A. Freire-Fiero y D. Neill. Pp.181-210.

Burnham, R.J. 2001. Is Conservation Biology a Paleontological Pursuit? Palaios 16(5):423-424.

Burnham, R.J., N. C. A. Pitman, K. R. Johnson and P. Wilf. 2001. Habitat-related error in estimating temperatures from leaf margins in a humid tropical forest. American Journal of Botany, 88(6): 1096-1102.

Burnham, R.J. and A. Graham 1999. The History of Neotropical vegetation: new developments and status. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 86:546-589.

Mirle, C. and R.J. Burnham. 1999. A Key to Asymmetrically Winged Fruits from the Western Hemisphere. Brittonia 51:1-14.

Burnham, R.J. 1997. Stand characteristics and leaf litter species composition of a dry forest hectare in Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica. Biotropica 29(4): 384-395.