Phyllis Dewing Coley is a Biology professor currently teaching at the University of Utah.
and doctorate were completed at the University of Chicago by studying resource availability theory, including the effects of leaf age and plant life history patterns on herbivory, and patterns of plant defenses.
[3] Throughout her academic career, Coley has received multiple honors and awards.
She received the National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Advancement Award in 1994[4] and in 2002 was named an ISI highly cited researcher in Ecology/Environment.
[5] Since 2006, Coley has been a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS).
[6] Coley's research interests include bioprospecting and plant defenses and herbivory in tropical forests.
Additional emphasis of research includes the study of conservation of tropical rainforests and how tropical herbivores are regulated by the third trophic level[3] Current attentions in her research are focused on chemical defenses and linking these to other plant traits, within a phylogenetic context.
This research is primarily based on the tropical plants part of the family Fabaceae as a model to understand how herbivores may be driving rapid evolution of defenses and how this might contribute to community assembly and speciation in the genus[3] Her research has implications in understanding multi-species comparisons and interactions in tropical communities.
Effects of leaf age and plant life history patterns on herbivory.
In: The Ecology of a Tropical Forest: Seasonal Rhythms and Long-term Changes, E.G. Leigh, A.S. Rand and D.M.
Herbivory and defensive characteristics of tree species in a lowland tropical forest.
Uprooting and snapping of trees: Structural determinants and ecological consequences.
Guía de los Árboles Comunes del Parque Nacional Soberanía, Panamá.
In: Fourth Annual Wildland Shrup Symposium on Plant-Herbivore Interactions.
Interspecific variation in plant anti-herbivore properties: The role of habitat quality and rate of disturbance.
Effects of plant growth rate and leaf lifetime on the amount and type of anti-herbivore defense.
Red coloration of tropical young leaves: A possible antifungal defense.
Dioecy and herbivory: the effect of growth rate on plant defense in Acer negundo.
Comparison of herbivory and plant defenses in temperate and tropical broad-leaved forests.
In: Plant-Animal Interactions: Evolutionary Ecology in Tropical and Temperate Regions, edited by PW Price, TM Lewinsohn, GW Fernandes and WW Benson, Wiley & Sons, NY.
Nitrogen content and expansion rate of young leaves of rainforest species: Implications for herbivory.
Delayed development of the photosynthetic apparatus in tropical rainforest species.