Department of Natural Resource Ecology & Management
339 Science II, Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011-3221
Office: 515-294-7639
FAX: 515-294-5468
e -mail: dotis@iastate.edu
Degrees
B.S., 1971
M.S., 1974
Ph.D., Colorado State University, 1976
In
2001 I returned to my home state of Iowa to become the Leader of
the Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Iowa State
University. This move represented the latest chapter in a long history
of association with the Unit Program. I began my post-graduate school
career in 1976 as a post-doctoral student in the Utah Cooperative
Unit at Utah State University, and I was Leader of the South Carolina
Unit at Clemson University for 10 years from 1991 – 2001.
In the interim, during my years as a federal scientist at the Denver
Wildlife Research Center, I also spent a year as a visiting scientist
in the New York Unit at Cornell University. Thus, a common thread
in my career has been the Unit Program, and I feel very fortunate
to have had the opportunity to contribute to its long history of
excellence in graduate education and research.
A
primary focus of my research career has been the development and
evaluation of quantitative methods for application in field ecology.
Much of this work has focused on estimation of population parameters
using techniques such as mark-recapture, change-in-ratio, band recovery,
and distance sampling. More recently, I have been interested in
improvements to design and analysis of habitat selection studies,
analysis of telemetry data, use of mark-recapture data for testing
additive and compensatory mortality hypotheses in exploited species,
and evaluation of surveillance sampling designs for detection of
chronic wasting disease in free-ranging cervid populations.
A
second research focus has been to direct field studies that address
questions about the effects of habitat management, restoration,
or anthropogenic stressors such as human disturbance, on population
biology of bird species such as the red-cockaded woodpecker, bobwhite,
and American oystercatcher. I have also directed students in projects
that involved small mammals and pond-breeding amphibians.
For
the past 10 years, I have directed students and done personal research
on the population dynamics and biology of mourning doves. I was
recently a member of a small team of federal and state biologists
that developed a new national strategy for improving harvest management
of doves. As a critical component of this plan, in cooperation with
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and nearly 30 state wildlife
agencies, I designed and currently coordinate a national banding
study that will result in badly needed population and harvest information
necessary to support population models that will be used in support
of the harvest management plan.
I
have taught graduate level courses on Sampling Biological Populations
and Design and Analysis of Habitat Selection Studies. I am currently
developing a new course on Quantitative Techniques in Field Ecology,
which includes topics such as finite population sampling, trend
analysis, introduction to modeling, and adaptive resource management.
Research Projects 
In
2001 I returned to my home state of Iowa to become the Leader of
the Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Iowa State
University. This move represented the latest chapter in a long history
of association with the Unit Program. I began my post-graduate school
career in 1976 as a post-doctoral student in the Utah Cooperative
Unit at Utah State University, and I was Leader of the South Carolina
Unit at Clemson University for 10 years from 1991 – 2001.
In the interim, during my years as a federal scientist at the Denver
Wildlife Research Center, I also spent a year as a visiting scientist
in the New York Unit at Cornell University. Thus, a common thread
in my career has been the Unit Program, and I feel very fortunate
to have had the opportunity to contribute to its long history of
excellence in graduate education and research. 
A
primary focus of my research career has been the development and
evaluation of quantitative methods for application in field ecology.
Much of this work has focused on estimation of population parameters
using techniques such as mark-recapture, change-in-ratio, band recovery,
and distance sampling. More recently, I have been interested in
improvements to design and analysis of habitat selection studies,
analysis of telemetry data, use of mark-recapture data for testing
additive and compensatory mortality hypotheses in exploited species,
and evaluation of surveillance sampling designs for detection of
chronic wasting disease in free-ranging cervid populations.
A
second research focus has been to direct field studies that address
questions about the effects of habitat management, restoration,
or anthropogenic stressors such as human disturbance, on population
biology of bird species such as the red-cockaded woodpecker, bobwhite,
and American oystercatcher. I have also directed students in projects
that involved small mammals and pond-breeding amphibians.
For
the past 10 years, I have directed students and done personal research
on the population dynamics and biology of mourning doves. I was
recently a member of a small team of federal and state biologists
that developed a new national strategy for improving harvest management
of doves. As a critical component of this plan, in cooperation with
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and nearly 30 state wildlife
agencies, I designed and currently coordinate a national banding
study that will result in badly needed population and harvest information
necessary to support population models that will be used in support
of the harvest management plan.
I
have taught graduate level courses on Sampling Biological Populations
and Design and Analysis of Habitat Selection Studies. I am currently
developing a new course on Quantitative Techniques in Field Ecology,
which includes topics such as finite population sampling, trend
analysis, introduction to modeling, and adaptive resource management.