Staff/Personnel
Curtis H. Flather, Ph.D.
Research Wildlife Biologist
cflather@fs.fed.us
(970) 295-5910 -- Fax: (970) 295-5959
Research Interests
- Modeling wildlife population and community response to landscape patterns
- Theoretical and empirical examination of species persistence thresholds in heterogeneous landscapes
- Applying mathematical programming techniques to spatial ecology problems
- Assessing the impacts of error in cartographic-based biodiversity assessments
- Documenting trends in critical wildlife resources for land use policy
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Educational Background
Ph.D., Wildlife Biology, Dissertation: Patterns of avian species-accumulation rates among eastern forested landscapes, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 1992.
M.S., Wildlife Biology, Thesis: Use of ecological theory to evaluate pattern recognition: implications to wildlife assessments, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 1982.
B.S., Wildlife Biology,
School of Natural Resources, University of Vermont,
Burlington, VT, 1979, Summa Cum Laude.
Honors and Awards
Key paper in Landscape Ecology. 2002. Current and former editors-in-chief of Landscape Ecology selected the paper: Flather, C. H., S. J. Brady, and D. B. Inkley. Regional habitat appraisals of wildlife communities: a landscape-level evaluation of a resource planning model using avian distribution data; as one of the most influential papers published in the first 5 years (1987-1992) of the journal.
Charles E. Bessey Award. 2000. For outstanding regional scholarship and best natural science article. Awarded by The Center for Great Plains Studies for the paper: Sieg, C.H., C.H. Flather, and S. McCanny. Recent biodiversity patterns in the Great Plains: implications for restoration and management. Published in Great Plains Research. The award included a cash stipend of $250 which was returned to the journal to offset publication costs for graduate student papers published by Great Plains Research.
Outstanding Paper in the Field of Landscape Ecology. 1998. International Association for Landscape Ecology, U.S. Section. Awarded for the paper: Flather, C.H., and J.R. Sauer. Using landscape ecology to test hypotheses about large-scale abundance patterns in migratory birds. Published in Ecology.
Patuxent Scientific Achievement Award. 1998. USGS, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Awarded for the paper: Boulinier, T., J.D. Nichols, J.E. Hines, J.R. Sauer, C.H. Flather, and K.H. Pollock. Higher temporal variability of forest breeding bird communities in fragmented landscapes. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Publication of the Year. 1990. Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. Awarded for the paper: Joyce, L.A. , C.H. Flather, P.A. Flebbe, and S.J. Ursic. Linking regional timber projections with forage, wildlife, water, and fish projections. Published in Environmental Management. Selected Publications
Reese, G. C., K. R. Wilson, J. A. Hoeting, and C. H. Flather. In press. Factors affecting species distribution predictions: a simulation modeling experiment. Ecological Applications 00:000-000.
Carmel, Y., and C. H. Flather. 2004. Comparing landscape scale vegetation dynamics following recent disturbance in climatically similar sites in California and the Mediterranean basin. Landscape Ecology 19:573-590.
Hof, J., C. Flather, T. Baltic, and R. King. 2004. Forest and rangeland ecosystem condition indicators: identifying national areas of opportunity using data envelopment analysis. Forest Science 50:473-494.
Flather, C. H., T. H. Ricketts, C. H. Sieg, M. S. Knowles, J. P. Fay, and J. McNees. 2004. Criterion 1: conservation of biological diversity. Indicator 7: the status (threatened, rare, vulnerable, endangered, or extinct) of forest dependent species at risk of not maintaining viable breeding populations, as determined by legislation or scientific assessment. In: Darr, D., coordinator. Data report: a supplement to the national report on sustainable forests – 2003. FS-766A. Washington, DC : U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 27 p.
Vance, M. D., L. Fahrig, and C. H. Flather. 2003. Effect of reproductive rate on minimum habitat requirements of forest-breeding birds. Ecology 84:2643-2653.
Flather, C. H., and M. Bevers. 2002. Patchy reaction-diffusion and population abundance: the relative importance of habitat amount and arrangement. American Naturalist 159:40-56.
Donovan, T. M., and C. H. Flather. 2002. Population trends in North American songbirds: interactions between habitat fragmentation and landscape occupancy patterns. Ecological Applications 12:364-374.
Flather, C.H., M. Bevers, and J. Hof. 2002. Prescribing habitat layouts: analysis of optimal placement for landscape planning. Pages 428-453. In: K.J. Gutzwiller, ed. Concepts and applications of landscape ecology in biological conservation. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Hansen. A. J., R. P. Nielson, V. Dale, C. H. Flather, L. Iverson, D. J. Currie, S. Shafer, R. Cook, and P. J. Bartlein. 2001. Global change in forests: responses of species, communities, and biomes. BioScience 51:765-779. Boulinier, T., J. D. Nichols, J. E. Hines, J. R. Sauer, C. H. Flather, and K. H. Pollock. 2001. Forest fragmentation and bird community dynamics: inference at regional scales. Ecology 82:1159-1169.
Flather, C. H. and C. H. Sieg. 2000. Applicability of Montreal Process criterion 1 - conservation of biological diversity - to rangeland sustainability. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 7:81-96.
Bevers, M., and C. H. Flather. 1999. Numerically exploring habitat fragmentation effects on populations using cell-based coupled map lattices. Theoretical Population Biology 55:61-76.
Flather, C.H., S.J. Brady, and M.S. Knowles. 1999. Wildlife resource trends in the United States: a technical document supporting the 2000 USDA Forest Service RPA Assessment. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-33. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 79 p.
Flather, C. H., M. S. Knowles, and I. A. Kendall. 1998. Threatened and endangered species geography: characteristics of hot spots in the conterminous United States. BioScience 48:365-376.
Flather, C.H., K.R. Wilson, D.J. Dean, and W.C. McComb. 1997. Identifying gaps in conservation networks: of indicators and uncertainty in geographic-based analyses. Ecological Applications 7:531-542.
Flather, C. H., and J. R. Sauer. 1996. Using landscape ecology to test hypotheses about large-scale abundance patterns in migratory birds. Ecology 77:28-35.
Hof, J., and C.H. Flather. 1996. Accounting for connectivity and spatial correlation in the optimal placement of wildlife habitat. Ecological Modelling 88:143-155.
Flather, C.H. 1996. Fitting species-accumulation functions and assessing regional land use impacts on avian diversity. Journal of Biogeography 23:155-168.
Flather, C.H., and H.K. Cordell. 1995. Outdoor recreation: historical and anticipated trends. Pages 3-16 in R. Knight, and K. Gutzwiller, eds. Wildlife and recreationists: coexistence through management and research. Washington, D.C. : Island Press.
Brady, S. J., and C. H. Flather. 1994. Changes in wetlands on nonfederal rural lands of the United States from 1982-1987. Environmental Management 18:693-705.
 List of and links to FULL publications.
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