ROARKE DONNELLY
- Associate Professor of Biology
- Director of the Urban Ecology Program
- Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, Georgia
SYLLABI FOR ON-CAMPUS COURSES
- Conservation Ecology (BIO 290)
- Ecology (BIO 423)
- General Biology I (BIO 101)
- General Biology II (BIO 102)
- Science and Human Nature (COR 401)
- Slaking Atlanta's Growing Thirst (HON 201)
- Urban Ecology (UEP/BIO 320, guest speakers)
- Ornithology at the Wilderness Field Station on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Summer 2009
- Conservation of Hawaiian Biodiversity (BIO 310) on the Big Island and Kauai, December '09/January '10 (syllabus, pictures, and itinerary)
- TEACHING INTERESTS
I regularly teach courses for Oglethorpe University's Biology Department, Urban Ecology Program, and Core Program as well as Coe College's Wilderness Field Station. For all of these courses, my goals are:
- to pique each student’s interest in learning,
- to prepare students for more advanced coursework in biology,
- to teach methods of scientific inquiry and communication,
- to give each student the desire and ability to apply biological knowledge for the greater good,
- to expose students to and prepare them for the diversity of biological careers, and
- to provide as many hands-on / active learning opportunities as possible.
In order to encourage the use of hands-on / active learning beyond my courses, I have published online exercises with the Ecological Society of American and am co-publishing an online exercise for the American Museum of Natural History.
I am interested in identifying ways that private landowners, natural resource managers, urban planners, and policy makers can conserve biodiversity in developing landscapes or restore biodiversity in developed landscapes. To achieve these goals, I study how selective pressures on vertebrate and plant populations change with development and in turn affect vertebrate community composition. Most of these studies are field-based and test hypotheses with correlative and experimental methods. My current research projects investigate the effects of (1) invasive Chinese privet on native plants and birds in Atlanta, (2) fisheries restoration on non-target species in Montana, and (3) succession of mixed forest on bird community composition in Minnesota's Superior National Forest. Al three projects provide exciting opportunities for undergraduate participation and independent study. Please contact me if you are interested in one of these opportunities.
SELECT PUBLICATIONS (some links require adobe acrobat)
Donnelly, R. An Assessment of Assemblage Nestedness in Habitat Fragments. [Internet]. 2009 February 23 [cited 2009 March 17]. Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology, Vol. 6: Experiment #5. Available from http://tiee.ecoed.net/vol/v6/experiment/assessment_assemblage/abstract.html.
Fleishman, E., R. Donnelly, R. Reeves, and J. Fay. 2007. Applications of nestedness analysis to biodiversity conservation in developing landscapes. Landscape and Urban Planning 81:271-281. [related freeware in zipped folder]
Donnelly, R., and J.M. Marzluff. 2006. Relative importance of habitat quantity, structure, and spatial pattern to birds in an urbanizing region. Urban Ecosystems 9:99-117.
Donnelly, R., and J.M. Marzluff. 2004. Importance of reserve size and landscape context to urban bird conservation. Conservation Biology 18:733-745.
Donnelly, R. 2002. Habitat reserve design for bird conservation in urbanizing areas (2 page factsheet). In Design of habitat reserves and settlements for bird conservation in the Seattle metropolitan area, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle.
Donnelly, R. 2002. Residential development design for bird conservation urbanizing areas (2 page factsheet). In Design of habitat reserves and settlements for bird conservation in the Seattle metropolitan area, PhD dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle.
Marzluff, J.M., R. Bowman, and R. Donnelly. 2001. A historical perspective on urban bird research: Trends, topics, and definitions. In Avian ecology and conservation in an urbanizing world, J.M. Marzluff, R. Bowman, and R. Donnelly (eds.). Kluwer Academic Press, Norwell.
Marzluff, J.M., R. Bowman, and R. Donnelly. 2001. Causes and consequences of expanding American Crow populations in urban environments. In Avian ecology and conservation in an urbanizing world, J.M. Marzluff, R. Bowman, and R. Donnelly (eds.). Kluwer Academic Press, Norwell.
Conservation of Hawaiian Biodiversity students, 2008
