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CURRICULUM VITA

DAVID ALLEN WHITE


 


POSITION:
Professor 
Department of Biological Sciences 
Loyola University 
New Orleans, LA     70118-6195

TELEPHONE:
wk  (504) 865-2288 
FAX (504) 865-2920 
e-mail dawhite@loyno.edu

RESIDENCE:
7613 Willow Street 
New Orleans, Louisiana  70118

 


EDUCATION
 
1979    Ph.D. Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 
     Dissertation title:  "Plant communities of the lower Pearl
            River basin, Louisiana."  153 p.
       Monograph title:  "Lotic primary production: a review."  87 p.
1976     M.S. Tulane University 
     Thesis title:  "Productivity and decomposition of the
             dominant salt marsh plants in Louisiana."  73 p.
1974      B.S. Tulane University

 


PUBLICATIONS
 
 

2004

 
White, D.A., D.P. Hauber and C.S. Hood.  2004.  Clonal differences  in Phragmites australis from the Mississippi River delta.  Southeastern Naturalist.  In press.

White, D.A. and C.S. Hood.  2004.  Vegetation patterns and environmental gradients in tropical dry forests of Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.  Journal of Vegetation Science.  15:151-160.

2002
White, D.A. & S.A. Skojac.  Remnant bottomland forests near the terminus of the Mississippi River in southeastern Louisiana.  Castanea.  67:134-145.

Martinez, M.L., G. Vazquez, D.A. White, G. Thivet & M. Brenges.  Germination responses of five tropical beach and dune species exposed to artificial sand burial and inundation by fresh- and sea-water.  Canadian Journal Botany.  80:416-424.

1999
Suttkus, R.D., D.A. White & M.F. Mette.  Atlas of fishes of the St. Louis Bay drainage in southern Mississippi.  Gulf Research Reports.  Supplement I:1-92.
1995 White, D.A. & S.P. Darwin.  Woody vegetation of tropical lowland deciduous forests and Mayan ruins in the north-central Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.  Tulane Studies Zoology Botany.  30:1-25.
1993 White, D.A.  Vascular plant community development on mudflats in the Mississippi River delta, Louisiana, U.S.A.  Aquatic Botany.  45:171-194.
1991 Hauber, D.P., D.A. White, S.P. Powers & F.R. DeFrancesch.  Allozyme variation and correspondence with unusual infrared reflectance patterns in Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex  Steudel.  Plant Systematics Evolution.  178:1-8.
1989 White, D.A.  Accreting mudflats at the Mississippi River delta: sedimentation rates and vascular plant succession.  pp. 49-57.  In: Duffy, W.G. & D. Clark, eds.  Marsh management in coastal Louisiana: effects and issues - proceedings of a symposium.  U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service & Louisiana Dept. Nat. Resources.  U.S.F.W.S. Ser. Biol. Rept. 89(2). 378 p.
1988 White, D.A. & M.J. Simmons.  Productivity of the marshes at the mouth of the Pearl River, Louisiana.  Castanea.  43:215-224.
1987 White, D.A.  An American beech-dominated original growth forest in southeast Louisiana.  Bulletin Torrey Botanical Club.  114:127-133.
1986 Dundee, H., D.A. White & V. Rico-Gray.  Observations on the distribution and biology of some Yucatan Peninsula amphibians and reptiles.  Bulletin Maryland Herpetological Society.  22(2):37-50.
1985 White, D.A. & L.B. Thien.  The pollination of Illicium parviflorum Mich. ex Vent. (Illiciaceae).  Journal Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society.  101:115-18
1983 White, D.A.  Plant communities of the Pearl River basin, Louisiana.  American Midland Naturalist.  110:381-396.

White, D.A., S. Darwin & L. Thien.   1983.  Plants and plant communities of the core area Jean Lafitte National Historical Park.  Tulane Studies Zoology & Botany.  24:101-129.

Thien, L.B., D.A. White & L. Yatsu.  Reproductive biology of a relict: Illicium floridanum.  American Journal Botany.  70:719-727.

1982 White, D.A. & J. Trapani.  Factors influencing disappearance of Spartina alterniflora from litterbags.  Ecology.  63:242-245.
1979 Weiss, T.E., D.A. White & L.B. Thien.  Seasonal dynamics of salt marsh plant associations in Louisiana.  Contributions Marine Science. 22:41-52.
1978 Kores, P., D.A. White & L.B. Thien.  Chromosomes of Corsia (Corsiaceae).  American Journal Botany.  65:584-585.

White, D.A., E. Weiss, J. Trapani & L.B. Thien.  Productivity and decomposition of the dominant salt marsh plants in Louisiana.  Ecology.  59:751-759.


 

PUBLICATIONS - other

Non-refereed
 
1975 White, D.A. & J. Ewan.  Classification of flowering plant families in Louisiana.  A chart.  Copyrighted.

Submitted
 
none

In Preparation
 
 2002 White, D.A.  Causes of fifteen years of biomass change in the wetlands of the Mississippi River delta: not a steady state environment.

White, D.A.  Elevation dynamics in a rapidly subsiding and dynamic wetland environment – the effects of site location and vegetation.


 

MEETING PRESENTATIONS    author(s), title, meeting, abstract location
2004 White, D.A., D.P. Hauber and C.S. Hood.  2004.  Clonal differences in Phragmites australis from a unique wetland landscape - the Mississippi River delta.  Society of Wetland Scientists.  Book of Abstracts. p . 188.
2002
Skojac, S.A. and D.A. White.  Remnant bottomland forests near the terminus of the Mississippi River in southeastern Louisiana.  Society of Wetland Scientists.  Book of Abstracts.  p.  155.
2001
White, D.A., D.R. Cahoon and J.C. Lynch.  Sediment elevation dynamics along a wetland gradient in a rapidly subsiding environment.  Society of Wetland Scientists.  Book of Abstracts.  p. 70.
2000
White, D.A. and C.S. Hood.  Patterns of species composition and environmental variables in deciduous forests and Mayan ruin sites in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.  Association Southeastern Biologists Bulletin.  47:185.

White, D.A.  Annual changes in plant dominance and biomass over 15 years in the Mississippi River delta. International Association Ecology (INTECOL) 6th Annual International Wetland Symposium.  Book of Abstracts.  p. 424-425.

1999
White, D.A.  Changes in plant species dominance and biomass in a wetland community in a very dynamic environment: contrasting the years during 15 years of study.  Ecological Society of America.  Book of Abstracts.  p. 322

Crane, T.E., D.A. White, J. Lynch and D. Cahoon.  Effects of habitat and vegetation on changes of wetland elevation - first results.  Society of Wetland Scientists Bulletin 16(2):P-36.

1998 White, D.A. & D.P. Hauber.  Plant communities of the Mississippi River delta: consequences of geological and hydrological events over the past 200 years.  World Delta Symposium.  Book of Abstracts.  p. 18.

Hauber, D.P., D.A. White & W. Fournier.  A genetic and morphological survey of Phragmites australis throughout the Mississippi River delta: evidence of introduced genotypes and infrequent sexual propagation.  World Delta Symposium.  Book of Abstracts.  p. 84.

1996 White, D.A.  Dynamics of the major plant species within the interior marshlands of the Mississippi River delta.  American Journal Botany - Abstracts.  83:79.
1995 White, D.A.  A comparison of overstory to understory woody vegetation in the dry tropical forests of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.  Association Tropical Biologists - Program & Abstracts. p. 6.

Fournier, W., D.P. Hauber & D.A. White.  Evidence of infrequent sexual propagation of Phragmites australis throughout the Mississippi River delta.  American Journal Botany - Abstracts.  82:71.

1994 White, D.A.  Woody vegetation of tropical lowland deciduous forests and Mayan ruins on the north-central Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.  Bulletin Ecological Society America.  Supplement.  75(2):247.

Luu, T., D.A. White & D.P. Hauber.  Phragmites australis clones within the Baptiste Collete subdelta of the Mississippi River: their morphological differences.  American Journal Botany.  Supplement.  81(6):64.

1992 White, D.A.  Seven years of vascular plant community development on new mudflats within the Mississippi River delta.  Bulletin Ecological Society America.  73:386.

White, D.A. Plant community development over seven years on mudflats within the Mississippi River delta.  Association Southeastern Biologists Bulletin.  39:92-93.

Hauber, D.P. & D.A. White.  Patterns of genetic variation in Phragmites australis along the U.S. Gulf Coast.  American Journal Botany Suppl.  79:92-93.

1990 Meunier, M., S. Powers, D.P. Hauber & D.A. White.  Genetic variation in infrared patterns of populations of Phragmites australis(Cav.) Trin. es Steud. (Poaceae) in the Mississippi River delta.  Proceedings Louisiana Academy Sciences.  53:56.
1989 Gaudreault, S.M., D.A. White & D.P. Hauber. Phragmites australis: an analysis of reproductive differences in two adjacent populations in the Mississippi River delta.  Botanical Society America Bulletin.  76(2):103.
1988 White, D.A.  Vascular plant succession on accreting mudflats at the Mississippi River delta.  Ecological Society America Bulletin.  69:340.

White, D.A. & M.J. Schott.  Phragmites australis in the Mississippi River delta: a morphometric analysis.  Botanical Society America Bulletin.  75:86.

Schott, M.J. & D.A. White.  Morphometric analysis of two adjacent populations of Phragmites australis in the Mississippi River delta.  Association Southeastern Biologists Bulletin.  35:54.

1987 White, D.A.  Sedimentation, plant colonization, and succession on accreting mudflats within the Mississippi River delta - year 2.  Association Southeastern Biologists Bulletin.  34:124.
1986 White, D.A.  Sedimentation and plant colonization on two inner deltaic splays within the lower Mississippi River delta.  Association Southeastern Biologists Bulletin.  33:79.

White, D.A. & M.J. Simmons.  Phenology and primary productivity within the marshes of the lower Pearl River basin, Louisiana.  Association Southeastern Biologists Bulletin.  33:80.

1984 White, D.A. & S. Darwin.  Plants and plant communities of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, Louisiana.  Proceedings Louisiana Academy Sciences.  47:58.
1981 White, D.A.  1981.  Influence on the vegetation of the lower Pearl River basin, Louisiana.  Bulletin Ecological Society America.  62:96.

White, D.A.  Plant communities/edaphic conditions of the lower Pearl River basin, Louisiana.  Proceedings Lousiana Academy Sciences.  44:159.

1980 White, D.A.  Decomposition of Spartina alterniflora - a predictive model dependent on biotic/abiotic factors.  Bulletin Ecological Society America.  61:59.

White, D.A.  Elevation, flooding, vegetation - lower Pearl River, Louisiana.  Proceedings Louisiana Academy Sciences.  41:180.

1978 Whipple, S.A. & D.A. White.  Succession in Louisiana marshes.  Proceeding Louisiana Academy Sciences.  43:133.
1977 Whipple, S.A. & D.A. White.  The effects of fire on two Louisiana marshes.  Association Southeastern Biologists Bulletin.  24:95.

 


PROFESSIONAL
               TALKS
 title, institution
2002
The Mississippi River delta: a landscape perspective on its dynamic ecology.  Department of 
 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.  Tulane University.  New Orleans, LA.
2001
"The Mississippi River delta: it's not a static ecosystem."  Department of Biological Sciences Research Seminar Series.  University of New Orleans.  New Orleans, LA.
2000
"Historical changes at the landscape scale in the plant communities of the Mississippi River delta and a long term study."  Coastal Wetland Institute.  Louisiana State University.  Baton Rouge, LA.

"Ecological research in Mexico and other adventures while on sabbatical leave."  Departmental of Biological Sciences.  Loyola University.  New Orleans, LA.

1999
"Wetlands of the coastal plain - southern United States: their community ecology relationships."  Instituto del Ecologia.  Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
1997 "The Mississippi River delta - geology and vegetational history."  Insituto del Ecologia. Xalapa, Veracruz Mexico.
1996 "Plant communities and their development within the Mississippi River delta."  Department of Biological Sciences.  Southeastern Louisiana University.  Hammond, LA.
1993 "Plant communities in the Mississippi River delta: their history and development."  Department of Biological Sciences. University of New Orleans.  New Orleans, LA.

"Woody vegetation of the north-central Yucatan Peninsula forest versus ruin sties - a preliminary interpretation."  Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Department.  Tulane University.  New Orleans, LA.

"Seven years of wetland accretion and plant succession patterns in the active Mississippi River delta."  LUMCON.  Cocodrie, LA.

1991 "Colonization and succession events on mudflats in the Mississippi River delta: a seven-year study."  Department of Biological Sciences.  Loyola University.  New Orleans, LA.

"Wetland disappearance in the United States:  the Mississippi River delta, case study."  Missouri Botanical Garden.  St. Louis, MO.

"Ecological and floristic data gathering in the Yucatan, Peninsula."  Missouri Botanical Garden.  St. Louis, MO.

"Ecology of wetlands and their disappearance."  Department of Bioloogy.   St. Louis University.  St. Louis, MO.

1990 "Louisiana wetlands: research and personal experiences in wetland loss and restoration within the Mississippi River delta - particularly projects  aided by undergraduates."  AAAS meeting.  New Orleans, LA.

"Wetlands ecology - the Mississippi River delta."  Distinguished Scholars Lecture.  Department of Biological Sciences.  California State University.  Bakersfield, CA

1989 "Mississippi River delta wetlands: a look at hydrology, sedimentation, sudsidence and plant succession in a very dynamic ecosystem."  Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN.
1986 "Herbaceous productivity and plant communities of the Pearl River basin, Louisiana."  Department of Marine Sciences.  Louisiana State Universitiy.  Baton Rouge, LA.
1984 "Lower Pearl River basin plant communities and their distribution."  Department of Biological Sciences.  University of New Orleans.  New Orleans, LA.

"Plant communities and their distributuion within the lower Pearl River basin."  Gulf Coast Chapter Sigma XI.  National Space Technology Laboratory.  NSTL, MS.

1983 "Vegetation of the Sierra de Ticul, Yucatan, Mexico."  Mesoamerican Ecology Institute.  Tulane University.  New Orleans, LA.
1981 "Wetland plant communities of the Pearl River basin, Louisiana."  Center for Wetland Resources.  Louisiana State University.  Baton Rouge, LA.

 

PUBLIC TALKS
 
2003
“Threats the lower Pearl River basin.”  And, panel discussant.  Sierra Club monthly meeting.
2001
"A historical perspective on the wetlands of the Mississippi River delta: a dynamic region, to say the least!"  Orleans Chapter Audubon Society.
1991 "Wetland loss issues in Louisiana."  Environmental Law Society.
Tulane University.  New Orleans, LA.

"High altitude travel in the Canadian Rockies."  Travels with Botanists Series.  Missouri Botancial Garden.  St. Louis, MO.

1990 "Ecology of the Pearl River area."  Orleans Chapter.  Sierra Club.
New Orleans, LA.

"Louisiana Wetlands: a vanishing resource."  Environmental Law Society.  Tulane University.  New Orleans, LA.

1989 "Louisiana wetland loss issues."  American Business Womans Association.  New Orleans, LA.

"Louisiana wetland erosion."  Green Club.  Tulane University.  New Orleans, LA.

1988 "Bearing witness."  U.S. District Court - Probation Office.  Speaker Program.  New Orleans, LA.

"Wilderness travels in the Canadian Rockies."  Orleans Club of New Orleans.  New Orleans, LA.


 


  PROFESSIONAL
            MEMBERSHIP
  EDITORIAL
            REVIEWER
Ecological Society of America 
Society of Wetland Scientists 
Botancial Society of America 
Association of Southeastern Biologists 
Association of Tropical Biologists 
Society for Conservation Biologists 
Southern Appalachian Botanical Club 
Torrey Botanical Club 
Louisiana Academy of Sciences 
Nature Conservancy 
Audubon Society 
Sierra Club 
Crosby Arboretum
Ecological Society of America 
Estuarine Research Foundation 
Society of Wetland Scientists 
Canadian Journal of Botany 
Southern Appalachian Botanical Club 
National Wildlife Federation 
Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 
Louisiana Academy Sciences 
Fish and Wildlife Service 
National Geographic Society 
Louisiana Natural Heritage Program 
Tulane Studies in Zoology and Botany 
Marine Biology
Journal of Tropical Ecology
Southeastern Naturalist
Botanical Society of America

 


  TEACHING
           EXPERIENCE
  COMMITTEE 
           EXPERIENCE
Present - 1983             Loyola University
Conservation Biology 
Botanical Diversity 
Human Ecology 
Ecology 
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology 
Wetland Vegetation 
Human Ecological Science 
Cultural Biology 
General Botany 

1979  -  1983                 Tulane University
Field Ecology 
Advanced Ecology 
Introductory Biology

University Planning Team 
A & S Curriculum Committee 
A & S Council of Chairs 
A & S Common Curriculum Committee 
A & S College Rank & Tenure Committee 
Environmental Studies Minor Committee 
Graduate Council 
University Honors Board 
Grants & Leaves Committee 
LUMCON Council 
Crosby Arboretum Scientific Advisory Board 
Departmental Faculty Search Committee 
Departmental Curriculum Committee

 

  ACADEMIC
              GRANTS  -

  principle
1998 United States Geological Survey - National Biological Service.  $32,602.  "The effects of habitat on vertical accretion on natural crevasse splays at Delta National Wildlife Refuge."
1996 United States Department of the Interior - Fish & Wildlife Service.  $5,000.  "Effects of vegetative cover on sediment deposition on natural crevasse splays at Delta National Wildlife Refuge."
1988 National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration - Sea Grant Program.  $30,000.  "Natural processes controlling plant succession in emerging coastal deltas."
1986 National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration - Sea Grant Program.  $20,995.  "Sedimentation, plant colonization and second year succession on two deltaic splays within the Mississippi River delta."
1984 National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration - Sea Grant Program.  $9,435.  "Plant colonization and succession on two inner deltaic splays within the lower Mississippi river delta."
1981 Tinker Foundation Fellowship - Mesoamerican Ecology Institute.  $10,000.  "Phytosociological study of the Sierra de Ticul, Yucatan, Mexico."

United States Department of the Interior.  National Park Service.  $15,107.  "Floristic and faunistic inventory of the core area of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park.."


 

OTHER   -
   highlights
Present - 1990 Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) liasion for Loyola University.
Present - 1987 Southeastern Louisiana Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (SELEEB) Group founder & co-coordinator with Dr. Craig Hood.
1995 - 1989 Received Faculty Research Grants totaling $6,178 from Loyola University over 5 separate applications.
1992 - 1988 Chairperson - Department of Biological Sciences.  Loyola University.  New Orleans, LA.
1991 Sabbatical.  Spring Semester.  Missouri Botanical Garden.  St. Louis, MO.
1990 Speaker for the Distinguished Visiting Scholar.  California State University.  Bakersfield, CA.
1987 Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Council Member of LUMCON for research and education.
1984 International Symposium on the Biogeography of Mesoamerica.  Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.  Field trip co-ordinator. 
1980 Received the 1979 George Henry Penn Memorial Award for outstanding graduate student research at Tulane University.  New Orleans, LA.

 


RESEARCH  INTERESTS
I am a field-oriented naturalist with specialized interests in botanical ecology. 

Coupled with the relative lack of baseline ecological information in this area of the country and my graduate training, strongly emphasizing systematic botany and limnology, I have been partly drawn  toward descriptive studies and even inventories on a wide array of taxa (woody plants, fishes, reptiles and amphibians).  I find wetlands as 'home' because of my long training in, and familiarity with, southeastern Louisiana.  Since my arrival at Loyola in 1983, I have studied in the very widest range of 'wet' ecosystems; salt marhes, freshwater marshes, bottomland hardwood forests, cypress-tupelo swamps, and coastal streams.  Most of my work has been at the community level rather than at the population level.  Some might label me a descriptive woody plant phytosociologist.  I have been opportunistic, given a lack of the baseline work.  My published research on local systems includes studies on the plant productivity of saline marshes (the first in Louisiana), studies of landscape scale on floodplains, and studies about the plant colonization and succession on mudflats. 
      In the early 1980's and my last years at Tulane, I was fortunate to work in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico on a botanical survey project to supplement longstanding work on the archaeology of Mayan ruins.  I have co-authored a seminal paper on the forests of the central Yucatan Peninsula.  Vestiges of that effort are still in my research psyche.  Most recently, I have collaborated with several Mexican plant ecologists on dune ecology at a site on the Gulf of Mexico in the State of Veracruz. 
      Throughout my research career, I have worked with approximately 20 undergraduates towards their completion of "Honors in Biology".  Several of these efforts have lead to publications with undergraduates and I have taken quite a number of them to regional and national biological meetings to present talks on the results of their thesis research.  I have also been a part of several Masters Theses projects and I am currently involved with two Ph.D. level projects. 
 
 


CURRENT  RESEARCH
PAST RESEARCH ABSTRACTS STUDENTS
 

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