Science

Andrea T. Kramer, Ph.D.

Senior Director of Restoration, Associate Conservation Scientist, and David Byron Smith Family Curator of Natural Areas
Phone:
(847) 835-6971
Curriculum Vitae:
Teaching and Research Affiliations:

Adjunct Associate Professor, Northwestern University ()

Selected Professional Associations:

Society for Ecological Restoration, Natural Areas Association, Botanical Society of America, Illinois Native Plant Society

Research Interests:
  • I conduct research in partnership with natural areas stewards to inform how we care for and understand our natural areas.In particular, I am interested in understanding how natural areas can best be stewarded to support species diversity of plants and all of the other species that depend on them. This includes informing work to produce and use seeds of native species to support the restoration of diverse and resilient habitat.
Statement:

As Senior Director of Restoration, I am the team leader for the Garden's natural areas team (including the skilled team of ecologists who manage the Garden's amazing natural areas). I work collaboratively with land managers to harness the Garden's research capacity to address priority management needs. Ultimately, our goal is to play a leading role in supporting the conservation, management, and restoration of native plant diversity in the Chicago region that serves as a model for work in the United States and globally.

I am excited to be a part of the New Roots for Restoration Biology Integration Institute, which focuses on the overarching theme of how plant organismal systems (plant roots and shoots) relate to one another (1) and how those relationships influence and are influenced by plant communities (2) and the soil ecosphere (3). Coordinated projects and an Institute-wide training network bridge among disciplines to inform restoration of natural and agricultural ecosystems and to train the next generation of scientists.

Much of my research is carried out with students as part of the Garden’s and In 2023 we were also excited to launch the new Stewardship and Ecology of Natural Areas (SENA) Internship program to provide more folks paid opportunities to learn how to care for and understand natural areas.

Our natural areas team is working to make natural history data on Mary Mix McDonald Woods available - the following datasets are available uponrequest:

Bramstedt, M. W., and R. D. Windhorn. 2006. Soil Survey Mary Mix McDonald Woods èèɫ. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Sorenson, J., S. Lorig, and J. Steffen. 1993. Point Quarter Tree Data for the èèɫ.

Selected Publications:

De Vitis M., Havens K., Barak R.S., Egerton-Warburton L., Ernst A.R.*, Evans M., Fant J.B., Foxx A.J., Hadley K.**, Jabcon J., O’shaughnessey J., Ramakrishna S., Sollenberger D., Taddeo S., Urbina-Casanova R., Woolridge C., Xu L., Zeldin J., Kramer A.T. 2022. . Frontiers in Conservation Science 3

Finch, J.*, Seglias, A.E.*, Kramer, A.T., Havens, K. 2022. . Restoration Ecology,e13725

Woolridge*, C.B., Fant, J.B., Flores, A.I**., Schultz, K., Kramer, A.T. 2022. . Restoration Ecology,e13717

Kilgore, S.*, Havens, K., Kramer, A.T, Lythgoe, A.**, Mackechnie, L., De Vitis, M. 2022 . Native Plants Journal 23(1):40-55

Lamb, N.*, Havens, K., Holloway, J.**, Steffen, J.F., Zeldin, J. & Kramer, A.T. 2022. Restoration Ecology. 30(4),e13568.

Shackelford, N., G. Paterno, K. Suding, and 74 others, including A.T. Kramer. 2021. . Nature Ecology and Evolution. 5:1283–1290

Spence, E.S., J. B. Fant, O. Gailing, M.P. Griffith, K. Havens, A.L. Hipp, P. Kadav, A. Kramer, P. Thompson, R. Toppila, M. Westwood, J. Wood*, B.A. Zumwalde, S. Hoban. 2021. Kucera, KF*, Fant, JB, Jensen, S, Landeen, M, Orr, E**, Kramer, AT. 2021. . Restoration Ecology

Wood, J.*, J. D. Ballou, T. Callicrate, J. B. Fant, M. P. Griffith, A. T. Kramer, R. C. Lacy, A. Meyer, S. Sullivan, K. Traylor-Holzer, S. K. Walsh, and K. Havens. 2020. . Conservation Biology. Online early. DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13503

St. Clair, A.B.*, Dunwiddie, P.W., Fant, J.B., Kaye, T.N., Kramer, A.T. 2020. . Restoration Ecology. 28(3): 583-593.

Zeldin, J., T. Lichtenberger*, A. Foxx*, E. R. Williams, and A. T. Kramer. 2020. . Journal of Applied Ecology. 57(5): 864-874.

Kramer, A. T., B. Crane, J. Downing, J. L. Hamrick, K. Havens, A. Highland, S. Jacobi, T. N. Kaye, E. Lonsdorf, J. Ramp, A. Novy, P. E. Smouse, D. W. Tallamy, A. White, and J. Zeldin. 2019. Restoration Ecology.

White, A.*, J. B. Fant, M. Skinner, K. Havens, and A. T. Kramer. 2018. Restoration Ecology 26:605-611.

Seglias, A.*, A. Bilge, E. Williams, and A. T. Kramer. 2018. . PLoS ONE online Feb 5, 2018.

Kramer, A. T., T. E. Wood, S. Frischie*, and K. Havens. 2018. Restoration Ecology 26:13-19.

Fant, J. B., K. Havens, A. T. Kramer, S. K. Walsh, T. Callicrate, R. C. Lacy, M. Maunder, A. H. Meyer, and P. P. Smith. 2016. . American Journal of Botany 10.3732/ajb.1600247 DOI.

Larkin, D. J., S. K. Jacobi, A. L. Hipp, and A. T. Kramer. 2016. PLoS ONE 11: e0156973.

Riebkes, J. L.**, R. S. Barak*, and A. T. Kramer. 2015. Native Plants Journal 16(2):96-106.

Basey, A. C., J. B. Fant, and A. T. Kramer. 2015. . Native Plants Journal 16:37-53.

Kramer, A., D. Larkin, and J. B. Fant. 2015. Assessing potential seed transfer zones for five forb species in the Great Basin. Natural Areas Journal 35:174-189.

Barak, R. S., J. B. Fant, A. T. Kramer, and K. A. Skogen. 2015. Assessing the value of potential “native winners” for restoration of cheatgrass-invaded habitat. Western North American Naturalist.

Havens, K., A. Kramer, E. Guerrant. 2013. Getting Plant Conservation Right (Or Not): The Case of the United States. International Journal of Plant Sciences. 175: 3-10.

Kramer, A.T., J. Fant, and M.V. Ashley. 2011. . American Journal of Botany. 98: 109-121.

Kramer, A.T. and K. Havens. 2009. . Trends in Plant Science 14(11):599-607.

Kramer, A.T., J.L. Ison, M.V. Ashley, and H.F. Howe. 2008. . Conservation Biology 22(4):878-885.

Graduate Students:
Rafael Urbina-Casanova (co-advised w/ Jeremie Fant)
Erin Snyder (co-advised w/ Becky Barak)
Angela McEnerney (co-advised w/ Louise Egerton-Warburton)
Emma Fetterly (co-advised w/ Jeremie Fant)
Melissa Duda (co-advised w/ Jeremie Fant)
Jacob Zeldin
Websites:

Find out more about collaborators, staff, students, and research underway in the Kramer lab here.

to learn more about this exciting collaborative effort led by the Danforth Plant Science Center, with University of Kansas, The Land Institute, and numerous other collaborators.

The Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA) is a public-private partnership of organizations that share the same goal: to protect native plants by ensuring that native plant populations and their communities are maintained, enhanced, and restored. PCA Non-Federal Cooperators include state agencies and private organizations interested in native plant conservation in the United States. The PCA Non-Federal Cooperator Committee (NFCC) partners with the PCA Federal Committee and others to advance plant conservation, promote native plant community restoration, and conduct plant conservation research. It represents the interests and ideas of Cooperator organizations and agencies, including botanic gardens, universities, educational groups, state agencies, businesses, professional societies, trade associations, native plant societies, and garden clubs. This Committee is chaired by the èèɫ. The NFCC works to advance plant conservation, native plant community restoration, and plant conservation research and advocacy at local, state, and national levels.

Botanic Gardens Conservation International maintains information on plant conservation and education around the world, highlighting the important work of botanic gardens and partners in achieving the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. From 2008 - 2013 I was Executive Director of and helped develop numerous projects in support of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, including ex situ conservation of exceptional species, botanical capacity in the United States, a North American collections, and developing for public gardens.

The national Seeds of Success program, established in 2001 by the Bureau of Land Management and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Millennium Seed Bank, is working to collect, conserve, and develop native plant materials for stabilizing, rehabilitating and restoring lands in the United States. Many botanic gardens, including the èèɫ, are partners on this nationwide project. I learned a lot about the power of partnership from this program, and am proud that my research helps inform its work.

Center for Plant Conservation's National Collection of Endangered Plants
As an endangered plant specialist, I managed a two-year, collaborative project (funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, or IMLS) to create CPC's National Collection of Endangered Plants website. This site outlines what the network of CPC-member botanic gardens are doing to help conserve more than 575 threatened and endangered plants in the United States, and details each species' current status, as well as management and research needs. This project was completed in December 2002, and the site is now hosted and continually updated on the . This project allowed me to interact with the wonderful network of researchers at botanic gardens around the country who are working to conserve the nation's imperiled plants, and also showed me the significant need for more research to help guide management decisions for these rarest of plants. This experience strongly influenced my decision to pursue my Ph.D. and conduct research with real on-the-ground applications.

As a Garden intern, I worked with Garden scientists on research aimed at understanding the population biology of threatened/endangered plant species in the Midwest (including Viola conspersa, Platanthera leucophaea, and Lespedeza leptostachya). This research helped form the basis for long-term monitoring protocols on rare species in the Chicago region, in what is now the Garden's Plants of Concern program.