Assistant Research Professor
Contact Information
Office: Traphagen Hall #202
Phone (office): (406) 994-6915
Fax: (406) 994-6923
Email: dmcwethy@montana.edu
Website: www.montana.edu/mcwethy
Office Hour: Spring 2013
Education
Ph.D., Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 2007
M.S., University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 1998
B.A., St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, 1992
Research Interests
My research centers on drivers of ecosystem diversity and change across large spatial and temporal scales. I am particularly interested in how the interaction between climate and humans act as important controls on fire and vegetation in different settings. My research aims to develop a framework for understanding the natural resilience of ecosystems to both natural and human caused disturbance in different settings and how human activities and a changing climate might impact ecosystems in the future.
Courses Taught
ERTH 303 Weather and Climate
GPHY 441 Mountain Geography
GPHY 302 Biogeography
Selected Publications
McWethy, D.B., C. Whitlock, J.M. Wilmshurst, M.S. McGlone, X. Li, M. Fromont, A. Dieffenbacher-Krall, W.O. Hobbs, S. Fritz and E.R. Cook. 2010. Rapid landscape transformation in South Island, New Zealand following initial Polynesian settlement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107:21343-21348.
McWethy, D.B., S.T. Gray, P.E. Higuera, J.S. Littell, G.T. Pederson, A.J. Ray, and C. Whitlock. 2010. Climate and terrestrial ecosystem change in the U.S. Rocky Mountains and Upper Columbia Basin: Historic and future perspectives for resource management. Natural Resource Report NPS/GRYN/NRR-2010/260. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. 79 p.
Marlon, J.R., Q. Cui, M.-J. Gaillard, McWethy, D., and M. Walsh. 2010. Humans and fire: Consequences of anthropogenic burning during the past 2 ka. Past Global Changes (PAGES). 18:80-82.
Whitlock, C., P.E. Higuera, D.B. McWethy, and C. Briles. 2010. Paleoecological perspective on fire ecology: revisiting the fire regime concept. The Open Ecology Journal. 3:6-23.
McWethy, D.B., A.J. Hansen and J.P. Verschuyl. 2010. Bird response to disturbance varies with forest productivity in the Pacific Northwest. Landscape Ecology. 25:533-549.
McWethy, D.B., C. Whitlock, J.M. Wilmshurst, M.S. McGlone, and X. Li. 2009. Rapid deforestation of South Island, New Zealand by early Polynesian fires. The Holocene. 19:883-897.
Verschuyl, J.P., A.J. Hansen, and D.B. McWethy. 2009. Assessing species-energy relationships at multiple scales. Letter to the Editor. Ecological Applications. 19:1963-1965.
McWethy, D.B., A.J. Hansen and J.P. Verschuyl. 2009. Edge effects for songbirds vary with forest productivity. Forest Ecology and Management. 257:665-678.
McWethy, D.B. and J.E. Austin. 2009. Nesting Ecology of Greater Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis tabida) in Riparian and Palustrine Wetlands of the Henry’s Fork Watershed in Eastern Idaho. Waterbirds. 32:106-115.
Verschuyl, J.P., A.J. Hansen, D.B. McWethy, R. Sallabanks, and R.L. Hutto. 2008. Is the effect of forest structure on bird diversity modified by forest productivity? Ecological Applications. 18:1155-1170.
McWethy, D.B. 2007. Bird response to landscape pattern and disturbance across productivity gradients in forests of the Pacific Northwest. Dissertation, Montana State University, 2007. 196 p.
Waring, R.H., K.S. Milner, W.M. Jolly, L. Phillips and D. McWethy. 2006. Assessment of site index and forest growth capacity across the Pacific and Inland Northwest U.S.A. with a MODIS satellite-derived vegetation index. Forest Ecology and Management. 228:285-291.
