Contact Information Office:   218 Traphagen Hall Phone (office):   (406) 994-6915 Fax:  (406) 994-6923 Email:   dmcwethy(AT)montana.edu Website:  www.montana.edu/mcwethy 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

Seleced Plublications

McWethy, D.B., A.J. Hansen and J.P. Verschuyl. Bird response to disturbance varies with forest productivity in the Pacific Northwest. Landscape Ecology. In review

McWethy, D.B., and C. Whitlock. The impact of prehistoric fires on closed-forest ecosystems in the northwestern US and South Island, New Zealand. In preparation for PLoSOne

Whitlock, C., P.E. Higuera, D.B. McWethy, and C. Briles. Paleoecological perspective on fire ecology: revisiting the fire-regime concept. The Open Ecology Journal. In review

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. In press

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 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.

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.

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