H Brian Underwood, Ph.D.
I collaborate with DOI partners, USGS and academic colleagues on mission-critical problems or emerging issues. I conduct research primarily through graduate student mentoring and advising. Secondarily, I provide technical assistance to partners that often lead to interesting research questions and products.
Biography
Professional Experience
- Research Wildlife Biologist, 1990-present.
Education
- BS (1982); Wildlife Resources Management, West Virginia University, Morgantown.
- MS (1986); Wildlife Ecology, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse.
- PhD (1990); Wildlife Ecology, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse.
Current Research Emphasis
- applied population biology, ecology and demography
- natural resource conservation and management
- systems modeling and simulation
- trophic dynamics of plant-herbivore, prey-predator systems
- numerical ecology and applied statistics
Honors, Awards and Recognition
- Patuxent Scientific Achievement Award, 3/00
- Service Appreciation, Bureau of Land Management, 5/99
- Regional Director’s Award (Northeast Region) for Natural Resource Research, National Park Service, 5/98
- Merit Award for Scientific Contributions, Fire Island National Seashore, 2/98
Professional Society Affiliations
- The Wildlife Society, Northeast Section, New York Chapter
TECHNICAL TRAININGRECEIVED.
- Cooperative Agreements Training, 1991
- Population Dynamics Workshop, SREL, 1991
- The Role and Responsibilities of Those Using Animals in Research and Teaching, 1994
- The Internet as a Faculty Tool, Syracuse University, 1995
- Making a Syllabus Page for the WWW, Syracuse University, 1995
- ArcView II Short‑course, SUNY- ESF Continuing Education, 1995
- Capture and Chemical Anesthesia of Wildlife, 1996
- AAA Driver Improvement Program, 2005
- USGS Field Employee Safety Orientation, 2005
Science and Products
Conservation of Rare Vegetation Communities of the Atlantic Coastal Barrier Islands
The Challenge: A synthesis of the role of disturbance, in all of its manifestations, on the establishment and development of the American Holly forest is required to guide future conservation measures. Because many forest fragments have already endured >30 years of chronic deer herbivory, a legitimate question of how much more impact by deer can be tolerated and still conserve the essential...
Post-Hurricane Sandy Vegetation Recovery in the Presence of a Hyper-abundant Deer Population
The Challenge: The primary dune along barrier island beaches protects leeward vegetation from tidal fluctuation, salt spray and storm surge. However, storm surges like those experienced during Hurricane Sandy can obliterate the primary dune, transporting sand inland and burying existing vegetation. The dune rebuilds naturally as recovering vegetation traps wind-blown and waterborne sand. ...
Estimation of Density and Abundance of Biological Populations on National Parks and Wildlife Refuges Through Distance Sampling
The Challenge: Assessing the status and trends of populations of biological organisms is an important management goal and a recurrent theme in USGS research. Often, the most basic question of “how many are there?” remains elusive, thus making management decisions more difficult. This study continues a long-term commitment of technical support for the use of distance sampling for wildlife...
Latitudinal variation in snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) body mass: A test of Bergmann’s Rule
The relationship between body size and latitude have been the focus of dozens of studies across many species. However, results of testing Bergmann’s Rule – that organisms in colder climates or at higher latitudes possess larger body sizes – have been inconsistent across studies. We investigated whether snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) follow the...
Gigliotti, Laura C. ; Berg, Nathan D. ; Boonstra, Rudy ; Cleveland, Shawn M.; Diefenbach, Duane R.; Gese, Eric M. ; Ivan, Jacob S. ; Kielland, Knut; Krebs, Charles J. ; Kumar, Alexander V. ; Mills, L. Scott; Pauli, Jonathan N.; Underwood, H. Brian; Wilson, Evan; Sheriff, M.J.
Evaluating legacy effects of hyperabundant white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in forested stands of Harriman and Bear Mountain State Parks, New York
Executive SummaryWhite-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are among the most impactful herbivores in the eastern United States. Legacy forest effects, those accrued from intense herbivory over time, manifest as low seedling regeneration, high cover of plant species that are infrequently browsed by deer, presence or expansion of nonnative or...
Kilheffer, Chellby R.; Underwood, H. Brian; Donald J. Leopold; Rachel Guerrieri A rapid assessment method for ground layer coastal vegetation
We aim to test a rapid ecological assessment method to monitor regenerating coastal vegetation without sacrificing accuracy. We estimated species frequency in vegetation plots using traditional point intercept methods. We also tested a rapid, digital method to take high-resolution digital photographs of plots. We navigated among plot locations...
Kilheffer, Chellby R.; Raphael, Jordan; Ries, Lindsay; Underwood, H. Brian Effects of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) exclusion on plant recovery in overwash fans after a severe coastal storm
We documented the impacts of a hyper-abundant deer population on dune vegetation recovering from severe storm surge on a barrier island through use of permanent plots and a repeated measures analysis. Three years after landfall of the storm, vegetation cover was dominated by American beachgrass, Ammophila breviligulata, though we observed twelve...
Kilheffer, Chellby R.; Raphael, Jordan; Ries, Lindsay; Underwood, H. Brian Deer do not affect short-term rates of vegetation recovery in overwash fans on Fire Island after Hurricane Sandy
1. Coastal resilience is threatened as storm-induced disturbances become more frequent and intense with anticipated changes in weather patterns. After severe storms, rapid recovery of vegetation, especially that of dune-stabilizing plants, is a fundamental property of coastal resilience. Herbivores may affect resilience by selectively foraging...
Kilheffer, Chellby R.; Underwood, H. Brian; Raphael, Jordan; Ries, Lindsay; Farrell, Shannon; Leopold, Donald J. White-tailed deer movements and space use on Fire Island: A four-year radio-telemetry study 2015-2016 post-Hurricane Sandy assessment
Hurricane Sandy provided a unique opportunity to better understand the movements of Fire Island’s dense white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus borealis) herds. White-tailed deer inhabit all areas of Fire Island National Seashore and their high densities negatively affect native vegetation in several areas of the island, especially as disturbed...
Kilheffer, Chellby R.; Raphael, Jordan; Ries, Lindsay; Underwood, H. Brian Quantifying effects of deer browsing on vegetation establishment, growth and development in large-extent overwash fans
Hurricane Sandy provided a unique opportunity to better understand the potential effects of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus borealis) on recovering vegetation in areas overwashed by Hurricane Sandy in the Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness Area. White-tailed deer are the dominant herbivore on Fire Island and they are known to...
Kilheffer, Chellby R.; Reis, Lindsay; Raphael, Jordan; Underwood, H. Brian Hierarchical patch delineation in fragmented landscapes
PurposeWe developed a tool, FragPatch (FP), to delineate habitat patches for highly fragmented landscapes from a user-defined suitability map and two landscape perception values for a species of interest.MethodsWe wrote a Python script in ArcGIS to delineate habitat patch networks using the user inputs and ArcGIS tools such as Euclidean distance,...
Kilheffer, Chellby R.; Underwood, H. Brian Movement behavior preceding autumn mortality for white-tailed deer in central New York
A common yet largely untested assumption in the theory of animal movements is that increased rates and a wider range of movements, such as occurs during breeding, make animals more vulnerable to mortality. We examined mortality among 34 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) wearing GPS collars during the autumn breeding season of 2006 and...
Whitman, Brigham J.; Porter, W. F.; Dechen Quinn, Amy C.; Williams, David M.; Frair, Jacqueline L.; Underwood, H. Brian; Crawford, Joanne C. Modeling the effects of land cover and use on landscape capability for urban ungulate populations
Expanding ungulate populations are causing concerns for wildlife professionals and residents in many urban areas worldwide. Nowhere is the phenomenon more apparent than in the eastern US, where urban white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations are increasing. Most habitat suitability models for deer have been developed in rural areas...
Francis, Robert A.; Millington, James D. A.; Chadwick, Michael A.; Underwood, H. Brian; Kilheffer, Chellby R. Pairing call-response surveys and distance sampling for a mammalian carnivore
Density estimates accounting for differential animal detectability are difficult to acquire for wide-ranging and elusive species such as mammalian carnivores. Pairing distance sampling with call-response surveys may provide an efficient means of tracking changes in populations of coyotes (Canis latrans), a species of particular interest in the...
Hansen, Sara J. K.; Frair, Jacqueline L.; Underwood, Harold B.; Gibbs, James P. Fine scale habitat use by age-1 stocked muskellunge and wild northern pike in an upper St. Lawrence River bay
Radio telemetry of stocked muskellunge (n = 6) and wild northern pike (n = 6) was used to track late summer and fall movements from a common release point in a known shared nursery bay to test the hypothesis that age-1 northern pike and stocked muskellunge segregate and have different habitat affinities. Water depth,...
Farrell, John M.; Kapuscinski, Kevin L.; Underwood, H. Brian