Rob McDonald, Vanguard Scientist, Nature Conservancy

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Robert McDonald

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Rob McDonald, Vanguard Scientist, Nature Conservancy

Rob McDonald, Vanguard Scientist, The Nature Conservancy Courtesy Rob McDonald.

Robert McDonald

Senior Scientist, Sustainable Land Use

Contact Information

E-mail: rob_mcdonald@tnc.org

Brief Biography

Robert works for the Conservancy’s Analysis Unit, working on issues related to energy, agriculture, and ecosystem services. He conducted a global review of threats to Conservancy projects from agriculture and strategies used by the Conservancy to respond to them, and now leads the Conservancy’s global agriculture strategic planning. He also researched the effect of U.S. climate policy on natural habitat impacts from energy development, including biofuels. Prior to joining the Conservancy, he was a Smith Conservation Biology Fellow at Harvard University, studying the impact global urban growth will have on biodiversity and conservation. Robert has also taught landscape ecology at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, helping architects and planners incorporate ecological principles into their projects. He earned a B.S. degree in biology from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and then defected down the road to earn a Ph.D in ecology from the Duke University. He currently is based at the Conservancy’s Worldwide Office in Arlington, VA.

Key Papers

McDonald, R.I., and T. Boucher. 2011. Global development and the future of the protected area strategy. Biological Conservation 144: 383-392.

McDonald, R. I., and D. L. Urban. 2004. Forest edges and tree growth rates in the North Carolina Piedmont. Ecology 85(8): 2258-2266.

McDonald, R.I., J. Fargione, J. Kiesecker, W. Miller, and J. Powell. 2009. Energy sprawl or energy efficiency: climate policy impacts on natural habitat for the United States of America. PLoS One 4(8):e6802. Media coverage: New York Times, NPR, Bloomberg News. The term was picked up in the Congressional debate on climate change, and was the subject of an editorial in the Wall Street Journal.

McDonald, R.I., P. Kareiva, and R.T.T. Forman. 2008. The Implications of Current and Future Urbanization for Global Protected Areas and Biodiversity Conservation. Biological Conservation 141:1695-1703.

McDonald, R.I., G. Motzkin, and D.R. Foster. 2008. Assessing the influence of historical factors, contemporary processes, and environmental conditions on the distribution of invasive species. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 135(2):259-270.

McDonald, R.I., C. Yuan-Farrell, C. Fievet, M. Moeller, P. Kareiva, D. Foster, T. Gragson, A. Kinzig, L. Kuby, and C. Redman. 2007. Estimating the effect of protected lands on the development and conservation of their surroundings. Conservation Biology 21 (6): 1526-1536.

Kareiva, P., S. Watts, R.I. McDonald, and T. Boucher. 2007. Domesticated Nature: Shaping Landscapes and Ecosystems for Human Welfare. Science 316: 1866-1869. Referenced in the New York Times.

Soininen, J., R.I. McDonald, and H. Hillebrand. 2007. The distance decay of similarity in ecological communities. Ecography 30: 3-12.

McDonald, R.I., M.S. Bank, D.B. Kittredge, G. Motzkin, and D.R. Foster. 2006. Forest Harvesting and Deforestation Relationships over Two Decades in Massachusetts. Forest Ecology and Management 227:31-41.