Ben Lockwood, Ph.D.

I'm an ecologist, a geographer, and a writer. My work focuses on the dynamics of how forests work, how society defines and relates to nature, and trying to figure out just what exactly is going on in general. I'm only partially succeeding.

Research

I'm currently a postdoctoral scholar at Penn State University. My academic research focuses primarily on the ecological dynamics of tree growth and carbon storage in eastern U.S. forests. I also have interests in the application of geographic theory to nature-society relations, and the use of literary theory to explore fictional representations of nature. Below is a list of my academic publications.

[10] Harley, G.L., Maxwell, J.T., King, K.E., Rayback, S.A., Cook, E.R., Hansen, C., Maxwell, R.S., Reinig,F., Esper, J., Au, T.F., Bergan, E.V., Brings, K.E., Koenig, N., Lockwood, B., Thaxton, R.D. (2024). A 561-yr (1461–2022 CE) summer temperature reconstruction for Mid-Atlantic-Northeast USA shows connections to volcanic forcing and atmospheric circulation. Climatic Change 177 (144), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-024-03798-z[9] Maxwell, J. T., Au, T. F., Kannenberg, S. A., Harley, G. L., Dannenberg, M. P., Ficklin, D. L., Robeson, S.M., Ferriz, M., Benson, M.C., Lockwood, B., Novick, K.A., Phillips, R.P., Rochner, M., Pederson, N. (2024). Asymmetric effects of hydroclimate extremes on eastern US tree growth: Implications on current demographic shifts and climate variability. Global change biology, 30(8), e17474.[8] Lockwood, B. (2023). Ecological and Climatological Tree Growth Dynamics in Eastern North American Deciduous Forests (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University).[7] Lockwood, B., Heiderscheidt, D. (2023). Place(making) for Conservation Activism: Materiality, Non-human Agency, Ethics, and Interaction in Indianapolis, IN. Area.[6] Lockwood, B., Maxwell, J., Robeson, S., Denham, S., LeBlanc, D., Pederson, N., Au, T., Novick, K. (2023). Interspecific differences in drought and pluvial responses for Quercus alba and Quercus rubra across the eastern United States. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology[5] Maxwell, J.T., Harley, G.L., Tucker, C.S., Galuska, T., Ficklin, D.L., Bregy, J.C., Heeter, K.J., Au, T.F., Lockwood, B., King, D.J. and Maxwell, R.S., (2022). 1,100-Year Reconstruction of Baseflow for the Santee River, South Carolina, USA Reveals Connection to the North Atlantic Subtropical High. Geophysical Research Letters, p.e2022GL100742.[4] Lockwood, B. R., Maxwell, J. T., Robeson, S. M., & Au, T. F. (2021). Assessing bias in diameter at breast height estimated from tree rings and its effects on basal area increment and biomass. Dendrochronologia, 67, 125844.[3] Au, T., Maxwell, J., Novick, K., Robeson, S. Warner, S., Lockwood, B., Phillips, B., Harley, G., Telewski, F., Therrell, M., Pederson, N. (2020). Demographic shifts in eastern US forests increase the impact of late-season drought on forest growth. Ecography.[2] Lockwood, B., & Berland, A. (2019). Socioeconomic Factors Associated with Increasing Street Tree Density and Diversity in Central Indianapolis. Cities and the Environment (CATE), 12(1), 6.Available at:[1] Lockwood, B. R., & LeBlanc, D. C. (2017). Radial growth-climate relationships of white ash (Fraxinus americana L. Oleaceae) in the eastern United States. The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society, 144(3), 267–279.

Writing

My fiction writing falls in both literary and genre camps, and the places between. I like to write about how people try to make sense of the world, but I've also written stories about horrific shrines on the moon, birds flying around, and what if Lyndon B. Johnson was super weird. So, I'm a bit all over the map. I also write some critical analysis essays about pieces of fiction I find interesting. You'll find a list of my publications below.

Fiction2024"Am I the Asshole for Sacrificing My Friend to the Bloodmoth? (Short story). foofaraw. December 2024."No Time Like the Horizon" (Flash). Pulp Asylum. November, 2024."Corporeal Abandon" (Flash). ergot. October 2024.“Power Surge” (Flash). The Kafka Protocol. Jayhenge Publishing. July, 2024“The Last Albatross of Greywater”. (Flash). Intrepidus Ink. May, 2024“About Face And” (Flash). ergot. May, 20242023“Moonblood”(Short story). Lovecraftiana, Vol.8 (1). Oct. 2023“Sunburn” (Flash). Vast Chasm Magazine, Oct. 2023.“Returnal” (Short story). Little Blue Marble, Sept. 2023.“Haunterspecting”. (Short story). Creepy Podcast, July 2023.“Apocryphal Herbaria” (Flash, reprint). MetaStellar, June 2023.“The Facility'' (Micro). Shacklebound Book of Drabbles, June 2023.“Blood Stone” (Flash). Tree and Stone Magazine, June 2023.“Appalachia Deluge” (Short story). The Nameless Songs of Zadok Allen: & Other Things that Should Not Be, Jayhenge Publishing, April 2023.“Harmony, Like A Song I’ve Heard” (Short story). Black Hare Press, Feb. 2023Non-fiction2024Lockwood, B. (2024). Eeriecology: What Nature Remembers and What It Tells Us. Clarkesworld Magazine (Issue 209). Feb. 2024Lockwood, B. (2024). The Nature of Alex Garland’s Ex Machina and Its Immoral Philosophy of A.I.. Seize The Press (Issue 9). Jan. 2024

Fall 2024In September I was awarded a $200,000 USDA-NIFA grant, which will fund research on long-term carbon sequestration dynamics in managed forests, in central PA. We're hoping to learn more about how different forest management approaches influence carbon uptake.Summer 2024I've had a few co-authored papers published recently. The first is an analysis of the effects of hydroclimatic extremes on eastern US growth, published in Global Change Biology that you can read here.I also co-authored a paper that reconstructed summer temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern US going back over 500 years. This was published in Climatic Change and is available hereMy short story "The Last Albatross of Grey Water" was published in Intrepidus Ink, which you can read for free here