Curriculum Vitae

My research program falls into three fairly distinct arenas:
Wetland Ecology:  For the past thirty-three years my research has focused primarily on the ecology of freshwater wetlands. I have carried out research in the prairie pothole region of North America and on coastal wetlands on Lake Erie.  I have also studied freshwater wetlands in India and Sri Lanka.  My early work examined primary production, decomposition, vegetation development, seed bank dynamics and nutrient cycling in wetland ecosystems. My current research still includes studies on these topics, but for the past few years I have concentrated on invasive plant species in Lake Erie wetlands, especially the giant reed, Phragmites australis.  My students and I have been examining the impact that this aggressive grass has on vegetation composition, structure, and diversity in freshwater wetlands where it has become a dominant species.  We are also looking at the reproductive ecology of this species, both sexual and vegetative.  Ultimately we want to determine how this species can be managed, controlled, or eliminated from these wetlands.

Environmental Conflict Resolution:  Over the past nineteen years I have also maintained a small research program in the area of social conflict resolution, and I teach a graduate-level course on this subject.  As might be expected, my research in this area focuses mostly on conflicts between developers and environmental organizations.  My specific research looks at how different parties to a conflict “frame” that conflict and how framing affects the progress and outcome of an environmental dispute.

Environmental Security:  In recent years I have been exploring how environmental or ecological degradation affects human and national security.  In this work I am looking at notions of predictability, flexibility and control as they apply to ecological systems and the socio/political systems that depend on them.


Courses
ENR 201  Introduction to Environmental Science
ENR 606.01 Natural Resource Management
ENR 750  Resolving Social Conflict


Selected Publications
Welch, Bradley A., Craig B. Davis and Robert J. Gates. 2006.  Dominant environmental gradients in wetland plant communities invaded by Phragmites australis, Lake Erie, Ohio, USA.  Wetlands Ecology and Management 14:  in press

Davis, Craig B. and Roy  J. Lewicki. 2003.  Environmental conflict resolution:  Framing and intractability – An Introduction.  Environmental Practice 5(3):  200-206

Davis, Craig B. and Roy J. Lewicki, eds..  2003.  Environmental Conflict Resolution:  Framing and Intractability.  Environmental Practice-Special Issue, Vol. 5, no. 3, September

Lewicki, Roy J., Sandra Kaufman, Carolyn Weithoff and Craig B. Davis.  2003.  Comparing water cases.  Pp 255-271   In: Lewicki, Roy J., Barbara Gray, and Michael Elliott, Eds.  Making Sense of Intractable Environmental Disputes.  Island Press.  Ix + 469 pp.

Lopez, Ricardo D., Craig B. Davis and M. Siobhan Fennessy. 2002.  Ecological relationships between landscape change and plant guilds in depressional wetlands.  Landscape Ecology 17: 43-56.

Luckeydoo, Lee M., Norman R. Fausey, Larry C. Brown and Craig B. Davis.  2002.  Early development of vascular vegetation of constructed wetlands in northwest Ohio receiving agricultural waters.   Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. Vol. 88 (2002): 89-94

Wiethoff, Carolyn, Roy J. Lewicki and Craig B. Davis.  2002.  Portraits of self and others:  State-level conflicts of water regulation in Ohio.  Pp  225-253.  In: Lewicki, R.J., B. Gray, and M. Elliott, Eds.  Making Sense of Intractable Environmental Disputes.  Island Press.  ix+469 pp.

Davis, Craig B. and Frederick E. Miller.  2000. Soil, Sustainability And Security: The Importance of Ecosystem Integrity.  In: Wilson, J. (Ed.), Soil Quality in Relation to Sustainable Development of Agriculture and Environmental Security in Central and Eastern Europe.  NATO Book Series.

Current Graduate Students
Amy Campbell (MS)  Sexual Reproduction in Phragmites australis


Professional Affiliations
Society of Wetland Scientists