David Douglas
Satellite remote sensing of landscape features that possess high-frequency dynamics, such as sea ice distribution and vegetation phenology, and spatial analyses of how wildlife migrations are influenced by habitat and weather dynamics.
My projects aim to pioneer new analytical avenues in applied wildlife research by combining remote sensing with traditional wildlife studies to answer questions about habitat use and animal movements at landscape scales. The studies I engage align with Department of Interior priorities in the Arctic by addressing a growing need to understand how changes in climate or land use practices affect wildlife migrations, habitat availability, habitat quality, and population dynamics. Climate is the overarching force that controls wildlife habitat resources in the Arctic, so understanding linkages between the physical and biological environment is critical for making informed management decisions in the face of accelerating warming and expanding human activities. My expertise includes tracking wildlife by satellite, monitoring sea ice and vegetation changes by satellite, and the implications of future climate change on Arctic wildlife in general.
Professional Experience
1986 - Present Research Wildlife Biologist USGS Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska
1985 - 1986 Biological Technician Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Fairbanks, Alaska
1980 - 1984 Biological Technician US Forest Service, Region 4, Ogden, Utah
Education and Certifications
M.S. 1986 Washington State University, Pullman, WA Wildlife Biology
B.A. 1982 Utah State University, Logan, UT Biology
Affiliations and Memberships*
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Science and Products
Diminishing sea ice in the western Arctic Ocean
Winter ecology of Spectacled Eiders: Environmental characteristics and population change
Remote sensing of vegetation and land-cover change in Arctic Tundra Ecosystems
Estimating the time of melt onset and freeze onset over Arctic sea-ice area using active and passive microwave data
Spatial and temporal multiyear sea ice distributions in the Arctic: A neural network analysis of SSM/I data, 1988-2001
Interannual growth dynamics of vegetation in the Kuparuk River watershed, Alaska based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
Variability of the seasonally integrated normalized difference vegetation index across the north slope of Alaska in the 1990s
Long-term change in eelgrass distribution at Bahía San Quintín, Baja California, Mexico, using satellite imagery
Variable migratory patterns of different adult rainbow trout life history types in a southwest Alaska watershed
Snow geese
Muskoxen
The central arctic caribou herd
Science and Products
Diminishing sea ice in the western Arctic Ocean
Winter ecology of Spectacled Eiders: Environmental characteristics and population change
Remote sensing of vegetation and land-cover change in Arctic Tundra Ecosystems
Estimating the time of melt onset and freeze onset over Arctic sea-ice area using active and passive microwave data
Spatial and temporal multiyear sea ice distributions in the Arctic: A neural network analysis of SSM/I data, 1988-2001
Interannual growth dynamics of vegetation in the Kuparuk River watershed, Alaska based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
Variability of the seasonally integrated normalized difference vegetation index across the north slope of Alaska in the 1990s
Long-term change in eelgrass distribution at Bahía San Quintín, Baja California, Mexico, using satellite imagery
Variable migratory patterns of different adult rainbow trout life history types in a southwest Alaska watershed
Snow geese
Muskoxen
The central arctic caribou herd
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government