David Green is a Professor at McGill University and the Director of the Redpath Museum. He is internationally recognized for his expertise in the biology of amphibians and has been an outstanding contributor to the science of herpetology and the conservation of endangered species in Canada. David’s research, ranging from genetics to functional morphology to evolutionary ecology, has significantly advanced our knowledge of amphibians and his leadership has significantly advanced Canadian science, conservation and natural history.
David’s deep and comprehensive understanding of amphibians was the springboard for his involvement in conservation and policy and led him to take a leading role in promoting the conservation of amphibians. He served as co-chair of the COSEWIC Amphibians and Reptiles Subcommittee for 14 years, during which time he completed the first assessment of all Canadian amphibians possibly at risk. David was on COSEWIC for only three years before he was elected Chair in 1998. In that capacity, he was instrumental in the development of Canadian federal endangered species protection and policy. He saw to the incorporation of COSEWIC into the 1993 Species at Risk Act (SARA), successfully negotiated with national aboriginal organizations about the inclusion of Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge into COSEWIC assessments, developed the concept of the Designatable Unit for COSEWIC, brought in quantitative criteria for COSEWIC assessments, developed the Species Appraisal Summary, and devised COSERWIC’s procedures for dealing with unsolicited reports and requests for assessment.
David was also the first Chair of the Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force in Canada (DAPCAN), and edited its comprehensive report, which was published as the 1997 book “Amphibians in Decline”. His commitment to conservation continues with his ongoing service on Recovery Teams for Fowler’s Toad and Dusky Salamanders and the recovery strategies, stewardship guides, pamphlets and road signs he continues to produce. David has authored over 130 refereed publications and book chapters, and more than 100 miscellaneous other publications and reports. His latest book the “Atlas of North American Amphibians” is due out later in 2013. True to his calling, few of his publications fail to mention amphibians in some manner.
A native of Vancouver, B.C.,David obtained his B.Sc. in Zoology from the University of British Columbia and then moved to Ontario to gain his M.Sc. and Ph.D., both also in Zoology, from the University of Guelph. It was during his Ph.D. work that he first began to study Fowler’s Toads. Soon after arriving at McGill as a young professor in 1986, David began once again to work with Fowler’s Toads and his long term-study of the population at Long Point, Ontario, now spans 25 years. Over this time, he has witnessed the precipitous decline in the toads’ abundance, with the research to prove that the trend is real and identify the causes. He is now working actively with Wildlife Preservation Canada, the Canadian Wildlife Service and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources to safeguard the continued existence of Fowler’s toads, and other amphibians, in Canada.
Selected recent publications
Green, D.M. and J. Middleton. 2013. Body size varies with abundance, not climate, in an amphibian population. Ecography. (in press)
Greenberg, D.A. and D.M. Green. Effects of an invasive plant on population dynamics in toads. Conservation Biology. (in press)
Kilburn, V.L., R. Ibáñez, and D.M. Green. 2011. Reptiles as potential vectors and hosts of the amphibian pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, in Panamá. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 97:127-134.
Green, D.M., A.R. Yagi, and S.E. Hamill. 2011. Recovery strategy for the Fowler’s Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri) in Ontario. Ontario Recovery Strategy Series. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough, Ontario. vi + 21pp.
Mooers, A.O., D.F. Doak, C.S. Findlay, D.M. Green, C. Grouios, L.L. Manne, A. Rashvand, M.A. Rudd, and J. Whitton. 2010. Science, policy and species at risk in Canada. BioScience 60:843-849.
Lee-Yaw, J., A. Davidson, B.H. McRae and D.M. Green. 2009. Do landscape processes predict phylogeographic patterns in the Wood Frog. Molecular Ecology 18:1863-1874.
Lee‑Yaw, J.A., J.T. Irwin and D.M. Green. 2008. Post‑glacial range expansion from northern refugia by the wood frog, Rana sylvatica. Molecular Ecology 17:867-884
Smith, M.A, and D.M. Green. 2006. Sex, isolation and fidelity: unbiased long distance dispersal in a terrestrial amphibian. Ecography 29:649-658.
Frost, D.R., T. Grant, J. Faivovich, R. Bain, A. Haas, C.F.B. Haddad, R. de Sá, A. Channing, M. Wilkinson, S.C. Donnellan, C. Raxworthy,J.A. Campbell, B.L. Blotto, P. Moler, R.C. Drewes, R.A. Nussbaum, J.D. Lynch, D.M. Green and W. Wheeler. 2006. The amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 297:1-370
Green, D.M. 2005. Designatable units for status assessment of endangered species. Conservation Biology 19:1813-1820.
Ouellet, M., I. Mikaelian,, B.D. Pauli, J. Rodrigue, and D.M. Green. 2005. Historical evidence of widespread chytrid infection in North American amphibian populations. Conservation Biology 19:1431-1440.
Smith, M.A, and D.M. Green. 2005. Are all amphibian populations metapopulations? Dispersal and the metapopulation paradigm in amphibian ecology. Ecography 28:110-128.
French