Douglas W. White
Professor Emeritus
B.S., Pennsylvania State University, 1976
M.S., University of Tennessee, 1978
Ph.D., Rutgers University, 1989
Appointed: 1995
Current Courses:
Biology 195: Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity
Environment 102: Introduction to the Environment
Environment 201: Ecology and Environmental Field Trip
LA101: Art and the Environment
Research Interests:
Dr. White is an ecologist whose research focuses on coevolutionary interactions between fruit-eating animals, particularly birds, and fleshy- fruited plants. He has studied the nutritional composition and physical characteristics of temperate and tropical fruits, avian feeding preferrences, seasonal patterns of fruit use, interactions between feeding capacities of birds and fruit size, and patterns of avian seed deposition. His other research interests are (1) avian population biology including studies of interspecific competition and nesting microclimate in cavity-nesting birds, (2) ptilochronology, using feather growth rates to assess nutritional status in birds, and (3) evaluation and conservation of remnants of native forest which are jeopardized by development. Outside biology, Dr. White enjoys building reproductions of Shaker furniture.
Selected Publications:
Kennedy, E. D. and D. W. White. 2002. Form and function: Feeding in birds. Wilson Ornithological Society’s Manual of Field and Laboratory Exercises for Ornithology.
Kennedy, E. D. and D. W. White. 1997. Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii). In The Birdsof North America, No. 315 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C.
White, D. W. and E. D. Kennedy. 1997. Effect of egg covering and habitat on nest destruction by House Wrens. Condor 99:873-879.
Kennedy, E. D. and D. W. White. 1996. Interference competition from House Wrens as a factor in the decline of Bewick’s Wrens. Conservation Biology 10:281-284.