J. Alan Yeakley

Research Interests

Ecosystem Ecology, Watershed Hydrology, Urban Ecology, Riparian Ecosystems, Watershed Biogeochemistry, Socio-Ecological Systems

Selected Funded Research Activities

• • Urban ecology and water resources management (ULTRA-Ex; NSF funded)
  • Ecosystem services and urban ecosystem dynamics (IGERT; NSF funded)
  • Hydrological management of wetland plant ecology (Portland Metro funded)
  • Urban flooding science and management (NSF, EPSRC funded)
  • Urban riparian plant and amphibian ecology (USFS funded)
  • Urban salmonid science and management (State of Oregon funded)

Recent Publications

Daniels, B.J., Yeakley, J.A. 2024. Catchment-Scale Hydrologic Effectiveness of Residential Rain Gardens: A Case Study in Columbia, Maryland, USA. Water (in press).

Yeakley, J.A. Urban soils. 2021. In: Douglas, I., Anderson, P.M., Goode, D.A., Houck, M.E., Maddox, D., Nagendra, H. and Tan, P.Y. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Urban Ecology (Second Edition), London: Routledge (Chapter 17)

O’Donnell, E., Thorne, C., Yeakley, J.A., Chan, F.K.S. 2020. Sustainable Flood Risk and Stormwater Management in Blue-Green Cities; an Interdisciplinary Case Study in Portland, Oregon. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 56(5): 757-775; https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12854

von Behren, C., Yeakley, J.A. 2020. Hydrochorous seed dispersal in riparian forests altered by urbanization. Ecosphere 11(2): 1-17; https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3049

Chang, H., Granek, E.F., Ervin, D., Yeakley, A., Dujon, V., Shandas, V. 2020. A community-engaged approach to transdisciplinary doctoral training in urban ecosystem services. Sustainability Science 15: 699-715; https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00785-y

Johnson, A.C., Yeakley, J.A. 2019. Microsites and climate zones: seedling regeneration in the alpine treeline ecotone worldwide. Forests 10, 864; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10100864

O’Donnell, E.C., Thorne, C.R., Yeakley, J.A. 2018. Managing urban flood risk in Blue-Green cities: The Clean Water for All initiative.  Journal of Flood Risk Management, 5 pp.  [online] https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12513

Jarrad, M., Netusil, N.R., Moeltner, K., Morzillo, A.T., Yeakley, J.A. 2018. Urban Stream Restoration Projects: Does Project Phase, Distance, and Type Affect Nearby Property Sale Prices? Land Economics 94(3): 368-385.

Johnson, A., Yeakley, A. 2016. Seedling regeneration in the alpine treeline ecotone: comparison of wood microsites and adjacent soil substrates.  Mountain Research and Development 36(4):443-451.

Yeakley, J.A., Ervin, D., Chang H., Granek, E., Dujon, V., Shandas, V., Brown, D. 2016. Ecosystem services of streams and rivers. In: D. Gilvear, M. Greenwood, M. Thoms, P. Wood (eds.) River Science: Research & Applications for the 21^st Century, Wiley, UK., pp 335-352.

Morzillo, A. T., B. J. Kreakie, N. R. Netusil, J. Alan Yeakley, C. P. Ozawa and S. L. Duncan. 2016. Resident perceptions of natural resources between cities and across scales in the Pacific Northwest. Ecology and Society 21 (3):14. [online] URL http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol21/iss3/art14/ 

Maas-Hebner, K.G., Schreck, C.S., Hughes, R.M., Yeakley, J.A., Molina, N. 2016. Scientifically defensible fish conservation and recovery plans: addressing emerging threats. Fisheries 41(6): 276-285.

Kidd, S.A., Yeakley, J.A. 2015. Riparian wetland plant response to livestock exclusion in the lower Columbia River basin. Natural Areas Journal 35(4): 504-514.

Maas-Hebner, K.G., Harte, M.J., Molina, N., Hughes, R.M., Schreck, C. and Yeakley, J.A. 2015. Combining and aggregating environmental data for status and trends assessments: challenges and approaches. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 187(5): 278-295.

Yeakley, J.A., Hughes, R.M. and Maas-Hebner, K.G. (eds.) 2014. Wild Salmonids in the Urbanizing Pacific Northwest. Springer, New York. 271 pp.

Kline, J., Thiers, P., Ozawa, C., Yeakley, A., Gordon, S. 2014. How well has land-use planning worked under different governance regimes? A case study in the Portland, OR-Vancouver, WA metropolitan area, USA. Landscape and Urban Planning 131: 51-63.

 Chang, H., Thiers, P., Netusil, N.R., Yeakley, J.A., Rollwagen-Bollens, G., Bollens, S.M., Singh, S. 2014. Relationships between environmental governance and water quality in growing metropolitan areas: A synthetic view through the coupled natural and human system lens. Hydrology and Earth System Science 18: 1383-1395.

Hughes, R.M., Dunham, S., Maas-Hebner, K.G., Yeakley, J.A., Schreck, C., Harte, M., Molina, N., Shock, C.C., Kaczynski, V.W., Schaeffer, J. 2014. Review of urban water body challenges and approaches: (1) Rehabilitation and remediation. Fisheries 39(1): 18-29. DOI:10.1080/03632415.2013.836500

Hughes, R.M., Dunham, S., Maas-Hebner, K.G., Yeakley, J.A., C., Harte, M., Molina, N., Shock, C.C., Kaczynski, V.W. 2014. Review of urban water body challenges and approaches: (2) Mitigating effects of future urbanization. Fisheries 39(1): 30-40. DOI:10.1080/03632415.2014.866507

Shandas V, Yeakley A, Granek E, Ervin D, Dujon V, and Chang H. 2014. Characterizing urban ecosystem services: integrating the biophysical and social dimensions of human-dominated landscapes. In: K Ninan (ed), Valuing Ecosystem Services: Methodological issues and Case Studies. Edward Elgar Press, Cheltenham, U.K., pp 295-312.

Yeakley, J.A. 2014. Introduction to Wild Salmonids in the Urbanizing Pacific Northwest. In: J.A. Yeakley, K.G. Mass-Hebner, R.M. Hughes (eds.) Wild Salmonids in the Urbanizing Pacific Northwest. Springer, New York., pp 1-10.

Yeakley, J.A. and R.M. Hughes. 2014. Global and Regional Context of Salmonids and Urban Areas. In: J.A. Yeakley, K.G. Mass-Hebner, R.M. Hughes (eds.) Wild Salmonids in the Urbanizing Pacific Northwest. Springer, New York, pp 11-29.

Yeakley, J.A. 2014. Urban Hydrology in the Pacific Northwest. In: J.A. Yeakley, K.G. Mass-Hebner, R.M. Hughes (eds.) Wild Salmonids in the Urbanizing Pacific Northwest. Springer, New York, pp 59-74.

Yeakley, J.A. 2014. Water Quality in Pacific Northwest Urban and Urbanizing Aquatic Ecosystems. In: J.A. Yeakley, K.G. Mass-Hebner, R.M. Hughes (eds.) Wild Salmonids in the Urbanizing Pacific Northwest. Springer, New York, pp 101-121.

Yeakley, J.A. and Dunham, S. 2014. Watershed and Landscape Actions for Mitigating Impacts on Urban Salmonids. In: J.A. Yeakley, K.G. Mass-Hebner, R.M. Hughes (eds.) Wild Salmonids in the Urbanizing Pacific Northwest. Springer, New York, pp 227-241.

Hughes, R.M. and Yeakley, J.A. 2014. Major research and monitoring needs for urban streams and watersheds. In: J.A. Yeakley, K.G. Mass-Hebner, R.M. Hughes (eds.) Wild Salmonids in the Urbanizing Pacific Northwest. Springer, New York, pp 243-252.

Yeakley, J.A., Mass-Hebner, K.G., and Hughes, R.M. 2014. Summary of Salmonid Rehabilitation Lessons from the Pacific Northwest. In: J.A. Yeakley, K.G. Mass-Hebner, R.M. Hughes (eds.) Wild Salmonids in the Urbanizing Pacific Northwest. Springer, New York, pp 253-262.

Recent Presentations

Yeakley, J.A. 2023. Rainwater detention by vegetated planter boxes during wet and dry seasons in the Pacific Northwest USA. Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA (contributed poster presentation).

Yeakley, J.A. 2022. Portland: Explorations on the Green Edge. 20th Annual Meeting of the Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland-Vancouver, Portland, OR (invited keynote).

Yeakley, J.A. Nov 2019. Plant community responses to hydrologic changes in Pacific Northwest urban and coastal ecosystems. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR (invited seminar).

Yeakley, J.A. Jun 2019. Urban riparian areas – can municipal governance stem the losses and degradation of these valuable greenspaces as cities grow? City Futures IV (EURA – UAA conference), Dublin, Ireland (contributed oral presentation).

Yeakley, J.A. April 2017. Strengthening Urban Ecosystem Resilience: Examples of Success from Portland Oregon. Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, Boston, MA (contributed oral presentation).

Yeakley, J.A. June 2015. Research findings from the ULTRA-Ex and Clean Water for All programs. Blue-Green Cities: Integrated Approaches to Urban Water and Flood Risk Management Symposium, Ningbo, China (keynote).

Yeakley, J.A. June 2015. Urban riparian areas – can effective municipal governance stem the losses and degradation of these valuable greenspaces as cities grow? Blue-Green Cities: Integrated Approaches to Urban Water and Flood Risk Management Symposium, Ningbo, China (contributed oral presentation).

Yeakley, J.A. April 2015. Governance and environmental quality in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region. Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers, Chicago, IL (invited oral presentation).

Yeakley, J.A. March 2015. Bio-retention performance of green infrastructure facilities in Portland, Oregon. American Water Works Association Annual Meeting. Portland, OR (invited panel participant and presenter).

Yeakley, J.A. May 2014. Portland-Vancouver Ultra-Ex: Governance and Environmental Quality in Urban Ecosystems. Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting. Portland, OR (invited presentation).

Yeakley, J.A. Apr 2014. Is there hope for wild salmonids in the city? Portland State University, ESM Alumni Symposium (invited keynote), Portland, OR.

Yeakley, J.A. Mar 2014. Changes in vegetated urban riparian areas in Portland-Vancouver over an 18-year period of growth. Newcastle University, U.K. (collaborative Blue-Green Cities/ULTRA-Ex workshop presentation).

Current Graduate Student(s)

 

(from left, Ben Daniels, Josh Caplan, Spring 2019)

• • Ben Daniels (PhD student, UMBC)
  • Ethan Crookshank (MS student, UMBC)

Former Graduate Students (at Portland State University, Oregon)

 

 

 

 

 

(from left, Denisse Fisher de Leon, Sarah Kidd, Ted Hart, Christa von Behren, Alan Yeakley, Spring 2015)

• • Nicholas Kurtz (MS 2022, @Maryland Dept of Transportation)
  • Christa von Behren (PhD 2018, @City of Portland)
  • Robbie Lascheck (MEM 2017, @Curry Water and Soil Conservation District, Gold Beach OR)
  • Sarah Kidd (PhD 2017, @Lower Columbia Ecosystem Partnership)
  • Ted Hart (PhD 2016, @City of Corvallis)
  • Adelaide Johnson (PhD 2013, @USFS)
  • Andrew Dietrich (MS 2012, @USGS)
  • Tina Farrelly (MS 2012)
  • Tess Chadil (MEM 2011)
  • Sarah (Holmen) Kidd (MS 2011, @Lower Columbia Ecosystem Partnership)
  • Mitch Bixby (MS 2011, @City of Portland)
  • Benjamin Johnson (MS 2009, @Anchor Environmental)
  • Josh Caplan (PhD 2009, @Temple University)
  • Kate Norton (MS 2010, @USGS)
  • Robin Leferink (MEM 2007, deceased)
  • Noah Jenkins (MS 2005, @Johnson Creek Watershed Council)
  • Rebecca (Gloss) Brosnan (MS 2004)
  • Aaron Hook (MS 2004)
  • Willis (Chip) McConnaha (PhD 2003, @ICF International)
  • Kazuhiro Sonoda (PhD 2002, @Heritage University)
  • Jessica Youngman (MS 2002)
  • Melanie Sharp (MS 2002)
  • Jacqueline Fern (MS 2001)
  • Sabra Comins (MEM 2000)
  • Margaretta (Peggy) O’Neill (MS 1999, @CH2M)
  • Julie (Lou) Clark (MS 1999)

Courses Taught

(Urban Ecology class on field trip, Spring 2019)

at University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC):

• • Physical Geography
  • Urban Ecology
  • Watershed Biogeochemistry

at Portland State University (PSU):

• • Urban Ecology
  • Watershed Hydrology
  • Watershed Biogeochemistry
  • Ecosystem Services
  • Riparian Ecology & Management
  • Ecological Modelling
  • Environmental Systems I, II with labs
  • Environmental Sustainability
  • Urban Salmonid Ecology