David R. Foster

Harvard Forest and
Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Harvard University

Petersham, MA 01366
978- 724-3302
978-724-3595
drfoster@fas.harvard.edu

EDUCATION

B.A. 1977 Connecticut College, Magna cum Laude (Botany and Religious Studies)
M.S. and Ph.D. 1983 University of Minnesota (Ecology)

POSITIONS

1983 - 1990 Professor, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
1990 - Director of the Harvard Forest, Harvard University

HONORS AND AWARDS

• Phi Beta Kappa; Thomson Award for Excellence in Botany, Connecticut College
• Thord-Gray Memorial Fellowship, American Scandinavian Foundation
• Fulbright-Hays Award, Fulbright Commission, 1982
• Swedish National Research Council Fellowship, 1983, 1987
• Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Fellowship, 1983
• Connecticut College Medal, 1993; Goodwin-Niering Environmental Achievement Award, 2002

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY

• Editorial Boards:
  Ecosystems (1997-); Northeastern Naturalist (1997-); Progress in Physical Geography 1997-); Journal of Ecology (1991-94); Ecology and Ecological Monographs)
• DOE National Institute for Global Environmental Change - Exec. Committee (1992-)
• Harvard Forest LTER Program - Principal Investigator (1988-)
• Bullard Fellowship Committee Harvard University - Executive Director (1990-)
• David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies - Board of Advisors (2002-)
• Conservation and Research Foundation - Board of Trustees (1994 -)
• Harvard Medical School Center for Health and the Global Environment - Faculty Advisor (2000-)
• Trustees of Reservations - Trustee (2002-); Conservation Institute Advisory Board
  
  

BOOKS

Foster, D. R. 1999. Thoreau's Country. Journey Through a Transformed Landscape. Harvard University Press.

Foster, D. and J. O'Keefe. 2000. New England Forests Through Time. Harvard University Press.

Turner, B. L., J. Geoghegan, and D. R. Foster, eds. 2003. Final Frontiers: Integrated Land Change Science and Tropical Deforestation in Southern Yucatan. Oxford University Press.

Foster, D.R. and J. Aber, eds. 2004. Forest In Time. Ecosystem Structure and Function as a Consequence of 1000 Years of Change. Yale University Press.

SELECTED ARTICLES (From 100+)

Foster, D. R. 1983. The history and pattern of fire in the boreal forest of southeastern Labrador. Canadian Journal of Botany 61: 2459-2471.

Foster, D. R., G. A. King, P. H. Glaser and H. E. Wright, Jr. 1983. Origin of string patterns in boreal peatlands. Nature 306: 256-257.

Foster, D. R. 1985. Vegetation development following fire in Picea mariana (black spruce) Pleurozium forests of south-eastern Labrador, Canada. Journal of Ecology 73: 517-534.

Foster, D. R. and P. H. Glaser. 1986. The raised bogs of south-eastern Labrador, Canada: classification, distribution, vegetation and recent dynamics. Journal of Ecology 74: 47-71.

Foster, D. R. and G. A. King. 1986. Vegetation pattern and diversity in S.E. Labrador,Canada: Betula papyrifera (birch) forest development in relation to fire history and physiography. Journal of Ecology 74: 465-483.

Foster, D. R. and S. C. Fritz. 1987. Mire development, pool formation and landscape processes on patterned fens in Dalarna, central Sweden. Journal of Ecology 75: 409-437.

Foster, D. R. 1988. Disturbance history, community organization and vegetation dynamics of the old growth Pisgah forest, south western New Hampshire, U.S.A. Journal of Ecology 76: 105-134.

Foster, D. R. 1988. Species and stand response to catastrophic wind in central New England, U.S.A. Journal of Ecology 76: 135-151.

Foster, D. R. and H. E. Wright, Jr. 1990. Role of ecosystem development and climate change in bog formation in central Sweden. Ecology 71: 450-463.

Foster, D. R., P. K. Schoonmaker and S. T. A. Pickett. 1990. Insights from paleoecology to community ecology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 5: 119-122.

Foster, D. R. 1992. Land-use history (1730-1990) and vegetation dynamics in central New England, USA. Journal of Ecology 80: 753-772.

Foster, D. R. and T. M. Zebryk. 1993. Long-term vegetation dynamics and disturbance history of a Tsuga-dominated forest in New England. Ecology 74: 982-998.

Foster, D. R., D. A. Orwig and J. McLachlan. 1996. Ecological and conservation insights from retrospective studies of temperate old-growth forests. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 11: 419-424.

Foster, D. R., J. Aber, R. Bowden, J. Melillo, and F. Bazzaz. 1997. Forest response to disturbance and anthropogenic stress. BioScience 47: 437-445.

Foster, D. R., G. Motzkin and B. Slater. 1998. Land-use history as long-term broad-scale disturbance: regional forest dynamics in central New England. Ecosystems 1: 96-119.

Foster, D. R. and G. Motzkin. 1998. Ecology and conservation in the cultural landscape of New England: lessons from nature's history. Northeastern Naturalist 5: 111-126.

Foster, D. R., D. Knight and J. Franklin. 1998. Landscape patterns and legacies resulting from large infrequent forest disturbance. Ecosystems 1: 497-510.

Foster, D. R., M. Fluet and E. R. Boose. 1999. Human or natural disturbance: landscape dynamics of the tropical forests of Puerto Rico. Ecological Applications 9: 555-572.

Foster, D. R. 2000b. From bobolinks to bears: interjecting geographical history into ecological studies, environmental interpretation, and conservation planning. Journal of Biogeography 27: 27-30.

Foster, D. R. 2000e. Conservation lessons and challenges from ecological history. Forest History Today. Fall: 2-11.

Foster, D. R. 2002a. Insights from historical geography to ecology and conservation: lessons from the New England landscape. Journal of Biogeography 29: 1269-1275.

Foster, D. R. 2002c. Thoreau's country: a historical-ecological approach to conservation of the New England landscape. Journal of Biogeography 29: 1537-1555.

Foster, D. R., B. Hall, S. Barry, S. Clayden, and T. Parshall. 2002. Cultural, environmental, and historical controls of vegetation patterns and the modern conservation setting on the island of Martha's Vineyard, U.S.A. Journal of Biogeography 29: 1381-1400.

Foster, D. R., G. Motzkin, D. Bernardos, and J. Cardoza. 2002. Wildlife dynamics in the changing New England landscape. Journal of Biogeography 29: 1337-1357.

Foster, D.R., F. Swanson, J. Aber, I. Burke, N. Brokaw, D. Tilman and A. Knapp. 2003. The importance of land-use and its legacies to ecology and environmental management. BioScience 53: 77-88.