Daniel Donato

CV (pdf)

Position

Postdoctoral Research Associate, 2010-

Research Interests

My research examines disturbance responses as a means to refine and advance forest successional theory. I strive to keep my boots muddy as a field biologist, and my studies are therefore heavily empirical and field-based. I am particularly interested in testing ecological theory by forcing it to solve real-world conservation and management issues, most of which are ultimately aimed at directing disturbance or succession in some way. Specific topic areas include:

• vegetation responses and fuel dynamics following wildfires, insect outbreaks, and volcanic eruptions
• pattern and process in mixed-severity fire regimes
• early-successional forest structural development
• disturbance and land-use impacts on carbon dynamics
• disturbance interactions - e.g., insects/pathogens and fire

Current Projects

Among other things, I'm the proud flag-bearer for Douglas-fir in the Turner lab.

• Effects of bark beetle outbreak and post-outbreak management on fuel dynamics in Douglas-fir forests of Greater Yellowstone
• Long-term vegetation responses to Douglas-fir beetle outbreaks near the lower treeline of Greater Yellowstone
• Patterns and drivers of tree regeneration in Douglas-fir forests burned by the 1988 Yellowstone Fires
• Using tree rings and historic photographs to examine Douglas-fir encroachment and fire history in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Selected Publications

Donato, D.C., J.L. Campbell, J.F. Franklin. 2012. Multiple successional pathways and precocity in forest development: Can some forests be born complex? J. Vegetation Science 23: 576-584. (pdf)

Turner, M.G., D.C. Donato, W.H. Romme. 2012. Consequences of spatial heterogeneity for ecosystem services in changing forest landscapes: Priorities for future research. Landscape Ecology in press.

Donato, D.C., J.B. Kauffman, S. Kurnianto, M. Stidham, D. Murdiyarso. 2011. Mangroves among the most carbon-rich forests in the tropics. Nature Geoscience 4: 293-297. (pdf)

Halofsky, J.E., D.C. Donato, D.E. Hibbs, J.L. Campbell, M. Cannon, J.B. Fontaine, J.R. Thompson, R.G. Anthony, B.T. Bormann, L.J. Kayes, B.E. Law, D.L. Peterson, T.A. Spies. 2011. Mixed-severity fire regimes: lessons from the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion. Ecosphere 2(4): 40. (pdf)

Donato, D.C., J.B. Fontaine, W.D. Robinson, J.B. Kauffman, B.E. Law. 2009. Vegetation response to a short interval between high-severity wildfires in a mixed-evergreen forest. J. Ecology 97: 142-154. (pdf)

Donato, D.C., J.B. Fontaine, J.L. Campbell, W.D. Robinson, J.B. Kauffman, B.E. Law. 2009. Conifer regeneration in stand-replacement portions of a large mixed-severity wildfire in the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains. Canadian J. Forest Research 39: 823-838. (pdf)

Campbell, J.L., D.C. Donato, D. Azuma, B.E. Law. 2007. Pyrogenic carbon emissions from a large wildfire in Oregon, USA. J. Geophysical Research 112: G04014. (pdf)

Personal Interests

The real. The now.

Contact Information

Ecosystem & Landscape Ecology Lab
Zoology Department
University of Wisconsin
430 Birge Hall
Madison, WI 53706
Daniel.Donato @ dnr.wa.gov
1-608-265-8001