Brian C. McCarthy

Professor

Ph.D., Rutgers University, 1989
Forest Ecology

Porter Hall 416

740 593 1615

Departmental Service

Dysart Woods Laboratory, Director
IT Committee, Chair
Promotion & Tenure Committee
Q2S Coordinator
Webmaster

Professional Service

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society
Editorial Board, International Journal of Forestry Research
Editorial Board, The Open Ecology Journal
Editorial Board, Forests
Webmaster, Torrey Botanical Society
Chair, Vegetation Section, ESA

Research Program Summary

My lab employs a combination of experimental and observational studies to understand the population dynamics and community ecology of eastern hardwood forests.

There are several focal areas within the lab:

1) Ecological and life-history attributes associated with hardwood regeneration. Important factors include seed production, dispersal, predation, germination, seedling recruitment, survival, and growth.
2) Disturbance ecology and community impacts. Dendrochchronological methods are frequently used to evaluate forest disturbance history. Experimental studies are employed to evaluate how fire, gaps, and soils affect the forest community.
3) Forest herb community structure and diversity. Emphasis on understanding the factors impacting forest understory diversity at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Also studies of human harvesting and cultivation of medicinally important herbs.
4) Ecology, habitat susceptibility, and control methods for non-native invasive species. Recent species of interest include: garlic mustard, Japanese stiltgrass, Amur honeysuckle, royal paulownia, and tree of heaven.
5) Forest restoration and mine-land reclamation. Different technologies are being explored to reclaim abandoned strip mines and restore them to hardwood forest. Special emphasis on the ecology and restoration of the American chestnut.

Selected References

Joesting, H.M., B.C.McCarthy, and K.J. Brown. 2009. Determining the shade tolerance of American chestnut using morphological and physiological leaf parameters. Forest Ecology and Management 257: 280-286.

McEwan, R. W. and B. C. McCarthy. 2008. Anthropogenic disturbance and the formation of oak savanna in central Kentucky, USA. Journal of Biogeography 35: 965-975.

Hartman, K.M. and B.C. McCarthy. 2008. Changes in forest structure and species composition following invasion by a non-indigenous shrub, Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii). Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 135: 245-259.

Lewis, K.C. and B.C. McCarthy. 2008. Nnon-target tree mortaility after Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) injection with Imazapyr. Northern Journal of Applied Forestry 25: 66-72.

Lombardo, J.A. and B. C. McCarthy. 2008. Silvicultural treatment effects on oak seed production and predation by acorn weevils in southeastern Ohio. Forest Ecology and Management 255: 2566-2576.

Schelling, L.R. and B.C. McCarthy. 2007. Effects of prescribed fire and thinning on the spatial heterogeneity of the seed bank in a mixed oak forest. Natural Areas Journal 27: 320-331.

Pierson, S.A.M., C.H. Keiffer, B.C. McCarthy, and S.H. Rogstad. 2007. Limited reintroduction does not always lead to rapid loss of genetic diversity: An example from the Americann chestnut (Castanea dentata; Fagaceae). Restoration Ecology 15(3): 420-429.

Joesting, H.M., B.C. McCarthy, and K.J. Brown. 2007. The photosynthetic response of American chestnut seedlings to differing light conditions. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 37: 1714-1722.

McEwan, R.W., T.F. Hutchinson, R.D. Ford, and B.C. McCarthy. 2007. An experimental evaluation of fire history reconstruction using dendrochronology in white oak (Quercus alba). Canadian Journal of Forest Research 37: 806-816.

Albrecht, M.A. and B.C. McCarthy. 2007. Effects of storage on seed dormancy and survivorship in black cohosh (Actaea racemosa L.) and goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis L.). Seed Science & Technology 35: 414-422.

McEwan, R.W., R. Long, T.F. Hutchinson, R.P. Long, R.D. Ford, and B.C. McCarthy. 2007. Temporal and spatial patterns of fire occurrence during the establishment of mixed-oak forests in eastern North America. Journal of Vegetation Science 18: 655-664.

Rinkes, Z.L. and B.C. McCarthy. 2007. Ground layer heterogeneity and hardwood regeneration in mixed oak forest. Appl. Veg. Sci. 10: 279-284.

Hartman, K. and B.C. McCarthy. 2007. A dendro-ecological study of forest overstorey productivity following the invasion of a non-indigenous shrub, Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii). Applied Vegetation Science 10: 3-14.

Graham, J.B. and B.C. McCarthy. 2006. Forest floor fuel dynamics in mixed-oak forests of south-eastern Ohio. International Journal of Wildland Fire. 15: 479-488.

Albrecht, M.A. and B.C. McCarthy. 2006. Comparative analysis of goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis L.) population re-growth following human harvest: implications for conservation. Am. Midl., Nat. 156: 229-236.

Graham, J.B. and B.C. McCarthy. 2006. Effects of fine fuel moisture and loading on small scale fire behavior in mixed-oak forests of southeastern Ohio. Fire Ecology 2(1): 100-114.

Albrecht, M.A. and B.C. McCarthy. 2006. Effects of prescribed fire and thinning on tree recruitment patterns in central hardwood forests. Forest Ecology and Management 226: 88-103.

Albrecht, M.A. and B.C. McCarthy. 2006. Seed germination and dormancy in the medicinal woodland herbs Collinsonia canadensis L. (Lamiaceae) and Dioscorea villosa L. (Dioscoraceae). Flora 201: 24-31.

Lewis, K.C. and B.C. McCarthy. 2006. Tree-of-heaven control using herbicide injection (Ohio). Ecological Restoration 24(1): 54-56.

McEwan, R.W., C.H. Keiffer, and B.C. McCarthy. 2006. Dendroecology of American chestnut in a disjunct stand of oak-chestnut forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 36: 1-11.

Current and Recent Research Projects

The ecology of medicinal herbs indigenous to the central Appalachians
Spatial heterogeneity and scale factors impacting forest understory communities.
Forest restoration following invasion by Microstegium vimineum.
Vegetation composition, alien plant invasion, and edge effects in fragmented forests.
Effects of fire and thinning on oak mast production and seed predation.
Strip mine reforestation using American chestnut.
Studies in the control and management of Ailanthus altissima.
A dendrochronological history of fire in a southeastern Ohio oak forest.
Restoration of hardwood forest understories infected with Lonicera maackii.
Long-term vegetation dynamics at Dysart Woods, an old-growth forest of southeastern Ohio.
Restoration ecology of mixed oak forests: reintroduction experiments with Castanea dentata
Composition, structure, and diversity of a remnant stand of Castanea dentata in southwestern Wisconsin

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