Dr. Todd Engstrom
Office: 850-697-4111
Fax: 850-697-3822
E-mail: engstrom@bio.fsu.edu

Engstrom CV
Research Statement
Friends of the Apalachicola National Forest

RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS

One of my primary research interests is the ecology of the red-cockaded woodpecker, an endangered species that needs mature pine trees for foraging and nesting/roosting cavity trees. A second theme of my research is an examination how forest structure and composition affects bird species richness in southeastern coastal plain pine forests. In work conducted at the Wade Tract in Thomas County, Georgia--one of the finest examples of old-growth longleaf pine--I established that bird species richness in this community was high compared to other mature forest communities in the Southeast. Old trees, an intact, prairie-like groundcover, persistent dead trees are habitat features that contribute to the high bird species richness. These interests led me to consider the implications of management practices on birds the longleaf pine ecosystem, particularly use of prescribed fire and tree harvest methods.

My research interests at the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory include: reintroduction of fire into fire-dependent, but long fire suppressed pine forests, the search for and conservation biology of the ivory-billed woodpecker, trans-Gulf bird migration, and geographic patterns of bird species richness within the longleaf pine ecosystem.

Before joining the staff of the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Lab, I was director of the Greenwood Project for The Nature Conservancy in Thomasville, Georgia, (2002-2005), staff ornithologist at Tall Timbers Research Station (1990-2002), and a research associate at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (1986-1989).

Currently, I serve on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ivory-billed woodpecker recovery team, the editorial team for The Auk (American Ornithologists’ Union), the Florida All-Bird Conservation Technical Working Group, the Florida Ornithological Society Conservation Committee, and the Friends of the Apalachicola National Forest.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Engstrom, R.T., and F.J. Sanders. 1997. Ecology of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker in an old-growth longleaf pine forest. Wilson Bulletin 109:203-217.

Engstrom, R.T., S. Gilbert, M.L. Hunter, Jr., D. Merriwether, G.J. Nowacki, and P. Spencer. 1999. Practical applications of disturbance ecology to natural resource management. Pages 313-330 in Johnson, N.C., A.J. Malk, W.T. Sexton, and R.C. Szaro (eds.), Ecological stewardship: a common reference for ecosystem management, Volume 2. Elsevier Science Ltd., Oxford.

Cox, J. and Engstrom, R.T..  2001. The effects of spatial patterns of conservation lands on the persistence of a large population of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. Biological Conservation 100:137-150.

Engstrom, R.T., P.D. Vickery, D.W. Perkins, and W.G. Shriver. 2005. Effects of fire regime on birds in southeastern pine savannas and native prairies. Studies in Avian Biology 30:147-160.