St. Clair, Larry

M. L. Bean Museum

290 MLBM
Provo, UT 84602
(801) 422-6211

Professor

Biography

My professional training is in the field of botany. I have always loved plants, a gift given to me by my mother. My undergraduate training and part of my graduate education was received here at BYU in the Department of Botany and Range Science. I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. I have taught more than 15 different courses at BYU including Biology 100 and 130. Over my 36 years of teaching at BYU I have taught more than 60,000 students in Biology 100 alone. My first love has and always will be teaching. I have conducted research in the general area of cryptogamic botany with an emphasis on algae, cyanobacteria, and lichens. Currently, I am curator of the Herbarium of Non-Vascular Cryptogams in the M.L. Bean Life Science Museum. This collection contains more than 100,000 specimens. My research efforts involve the use of lichens as bio-monitors of air quality and the ecology and restoration of soil crust communities. I have published more than 70 papers in scientific journals and authored/edited 4 books including “A Color Guidebook to Common Rocky Mountain Lichens” which was published in 1999. Currently, I serve as director of the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum and professor of biology.

Teaching Interests

I have taught more than 20 courses during my career at BYU including more than 60,000 student in Biology 100. I enjoy teaching general biology at both the GE and majors' level as well as field botany, plant kingdom, plant morphology, and a graduate course in lichenology.

Research Interests

My primary research interests have focused on the use of lichens as bio-monitors of air quality as well as the ecology and restoration of soil crust communities.

Courses Taught

Fall 2012

BIO 799R: Dissertation Section 005

Summer 2012

BIO 799R: Dissertation Section 006

Spring 2012

BIO 100: Principles of Biology Section 001
BIO 494R: Mentored Research Section 011
BIO 799R: Dissertation Section 006

Winter 2012

BIO 494R: Mentored Research Section 015

Selected Publications

Journal Article

Graham CR, Burgoyne N, Cantrell PP, Smith LK, StClair LL, Harris RA. TPACK development in science teaching: Measuring the TPACK confidence of inservice science teachers. TechTrends. 2009 Oct;53(5):70-79.

Book

A Color Guidebook to Common Rocky Mountain Lichens. Provo, Utah: M.L. Bean Life Science Museum and Brigham Young University Press Publishers; 1999. 243 p.

Conference Proceedings

Pendleton RL, Pendlenton BK, Johansen JR. Soil microorganisms affects, survival, and growth of shrubs grown in competition with cheatgrass. 2003.

Knight KB. The lichen symbiosis: Evidence of mutualism. 2003.

Mangelson NF, Rees LB, Argyle DC, Kelly R, Morin WD, Washburn SM, Clark BM, Grant PG, Bench GS. Elemental analysis of lichens: A large data set for establishing an air quality biomonitoring baseline in the western United States. 2002.

Knight KB. The lichen symbiosis: Evidence of mutualism. 2002.

Lichen biodeterioration: progress and problems. 2001.

Lichen mediated degradation of historic and prehistoric panels at El Morro National Monument, New Mexico. 2001.

Burnham J, Anderson VJ. The effects of soil crust communities on cheatgrass invasion in Utah's west desert. 2001.

St. Clair S, Mangelson N, Weber D, Whalon A. Using Cu/Zn ratios in lichens to determine anthropomorphic sources of copper pollution. 2001.

The influence of substrate and growth form on accumulation of elements by lichens. 2000.