Plant Ecologist

    USDA Forest Service

    Dept. of Forest Resources

    Clemson University, SC   29634

    Telephone:    864-656-0674

     Fax:             864-656-1407

    davidwhite@fs.fed.us

Education:

B.S., Wofford College, Biology, 1979;
M.S., University of Georgia, Botany 1986 

Publications list

                    FRASER FIR (Abies fraseri)

                    Land Use History: CSRA

Post Graduate Work Experience

1985-1989 Site Coordinator (University of Georgia), Long Term Ecological Research Site, Coweeta Hydrologic Lab, Otto, NC.

1989-1995  Ecologist, Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Silviculture and management of Pine-hardwood mixtures.

1995-present, Ecologist, Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Endangered Threatened, and Sensitive Wildlife and Plant Species in Southern Forests. 

Current Research:

Broad interests include assessing the role of human and natural disturbance on the distribution, composition and productivity of plant communities in the Southeastern US. A few years ago I became involved in a project assessing ecological impacts of historical land use in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) prior to 1950, where I established historical documentation of ecologically important land use activities at the Savannah River Site (SRS) and surrounding area and  interpreted their impacts on terrestrial and aquatic communities.

    The Savannah River Site

 The bulk of this work is contained in a monograph that is in the review process.  A recent publication (White and Gaines 2000) containing some of this work can be viewed electronically by clicking on The Savannah River Site: site description, land use, and management history  link in the publications list.   

Much of my current research involvement is with Dr. Joan Walker Research Plant Ecologist for our  unit. While Joan’s primary research interests are threatened and endangered plants of the southeastern Coastal Plain and Sandhills, in 1998 she and I became involved in the study of the distribution and population dynamics of selected non-timber forest products (NTFPs) species (also referred to as special forest products or SFPs). We are especially interested in those NTFPs that are at risk of population decline due to harvest pressure or other factors. I am currently involved in  projects involving populations of ramps or wild leeks (Allium tricoccum) in the Southern Appalachians and Fraser Fir (Abies fraseri) on Roan Mountain, NC.