David A. Orwig is Senior Ecologist at the Harvard Forest. His research interests encompass various aspects of forest ecology and ecosystem science, with particular emphasis on dendroecology and the role of land use history and disturbance on forest composition and structure. His doctoral dissertation focused on the responses of co‑occurring tree species to various disturbances and included studies of radial growth, ecophysiology, canopy recruitment, and successional dynamics of oak‑pine forests in Virginia. He has examined the composition, structure, and radial growth dynamics in many old-growth forests, including northwestern and southeastern Pennsylvania, the southern Appalachians, the Shawangunk Mountains of New York, and Wachusett Mountain in Massachusetts.
More recently, Orwig has integrated stand, community, landscape, and ecosystem approaches in examining the ecological consequences of invasive insect pests in forests of southern New England. In addition, he has been the principal investigator of a large 35 ha plot at Harvard Forest, where every woody stem over 1 cm diameter at breast height, has been tagged, mapped, and measured twice (> 120,000 stems). With these studies, he expects to increase the understanding of forest dynamics and life history strategies in relation to natural and anthropogenic disturbances.
In addition to various research projects and advisory roles, Orwig teaches Research at the Harvard Forest: Global Change Ecology-Forests, Ecosystem Function, the Future, a Harvard University First-Year Seminar that occurs each fall. For over twenty years he has enjoyed empowering students in this immersive course.