TEACHING:

• BIOL 3253, Environment and Society, every spring.  This is an environmental issues course primarily for nonmajors; we cover topics such as global climate change, biodiversity, air and water pollution, solid waste, energy issues, resource depletion, environmental economics and politics, etc. Uses the WebCT interface. Prerequisite: BIOL 1114 or equivalent
  
• BOT 4214/5214, Botanical Limnology, fall of even numbered years; a graduate/advanced undergraduate course emphasizing the ecology, physiology and morphology of phytoplankton and macrophytes in lakes and ponds. Lab involves both field trips and laboratory experiments. Uses the WebCT interface. Prerequisites: graduate or advanced undergraduate standing; BOT 1404 (Plant Biology); some limnology and botany background would be helpful.
  
• BOT 5110, Professional Development in Botany, every fall (tentative). This course for first year graduate students and senior undergraduates covers (1) what graduate degree programs in Botany and related life sciences are all about, (2) the skills required and responsibilities of graduate students and professional scientists, and (3) the career opportunities and appropriate skills and knowledge required for each career track related to Botany/Plant Science.

RESEARCH:

• My core interests are in the area of algal stress physiology.


• Current research focuses on the phylogeny and physiological ecology of broadly halotolerant algae and cyanobacteria from the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge near Cherokee in northwestern Oklahoma.  This work comprises two NSF-funded projects:


• Collaborative Research: Salt Plains Microbial Observatory (MCB-0132097).


• LExEn: Response of photosynthetic microbes of the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge to dynamic extreme conditions (MCB-9978203).


• I also have a secondary interest in ecology of aquatic plants and phytoplankton in local lakes, particularly Boomer Lake.

I am interested in mentoring M.S. and Ph.D. students in any of these (or closely related) areas.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS :

• Henley , W.J., Y. Yin. 1998. Growth and photosynthesis of marine Synechococcus (Cyanophyceae) under iron-stress. J. Phycol. 34:94-103.

• Henley , W.J. 1998. Baseline limnology of Boomer Lake , Oklahoma , a recently reexcavated urban reservoir. J. Freshwater Ecol. 13:235-247.

• Matlock, M.D., M.E. Matlock, D.E. Storm, M.D. Smolen & W.J. Henley. 1998. Limiting nutrient determination in lotic ecosystems using a quantitative nutrient enrichment periphytometer. J. Amer. Water Res. Assoc. 34:1141-1147.

• Eladel, H.M., W.J. Henley & I.A. Kobbia. 1999. Effect of thiobencarb on growth and photosynthesis of the soil alga Protosiphon botryoides (Chlorophyta). J. Appl. Phycol. 10:547-553.

• Yin, Y. & W.J. Henley. 1999. Iron-limited semicontinuous culture studies of marine Synechococcus. In: L. Charpy & T. Larkum (Eds.) Marine Cyanobacteria, Bulletin de l'Institut Océanographique de Monaco, special issue 19:365-368.

• Henley, W.J. 2001. Algae and cyanobacteria under desiccation and ionic stress. Nova Hedwigia 123:443-452.

• Henley, W.J., K.M. Major & J.L. Hironaka. 2002.  Response to salinity and heat stress in two halotolerant chlorophyte algae.  J. Phycol. 38:757-766.

• Henley, W.J., J.L. Hironaka, M.A. Buchheim, J.A. Buchheim, M.W. Fawley & K.P. Fawley. 2004. Phylogenetic analysis of the “Nannochloris-like” algae and diagnoses of Picochlorum oklahomensis gen. et sp. nov. (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta). Phycologia 43:641-652.

• Kvíderová, J. & W.J. Henley. 2005. The effect of ampicillin plus streptomycin on growth and photosynthesis of two halotolerant chlorophyte algae. J. Appl. Phycol. 17:301-307.

• Major, K.M., A.E. Kirkwood, C.S. Major, J.W. McCreadie and W. J. Henley. 2005. In situ studies of algal biomass in relation to physicochemical characteristics of the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma, USA. Saline Systems 1:11.

• Kirkwood, A.E. and W. J. Henley. 2006. Algal community dynamics and halotolerance in a terrestrial, hypersaline environment. J. Phycol. 42:537-547.

• Potter, A.T., M.W. Palmer and W.J. Henley. 2006.  Diatom genus diversity and assemblage structure in relation to salinity at the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Alfalfa County, Oklahoma.  Amer. Midl. Nat. 156:65-74.

• Kirkwood, A.E., J.A. Buchheim, M.A. Buchheim & W.J. Henley. 2007.  Cyanobacterial diversity and halotolerance in a variable hypersaline environment.  Microb. Ecol., online first.