DEBORAH L. ELLIOTT-FISK

Professor and Chair

Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology

Graduate Groups in Ecology and Geography

University of California, Davis

One Shields Ave.

Davis, CA 95616

phone: (530)752-8559

FAX: (530)752-4154

e-mail: dlelliottfisk@ucdavis.edu

Education:

Ph.D., 1979, Geography (Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research), University of Colorado,Boulder

B.A. (honors), 1975, Geography Major, Double Biology Minor, California State University, Fullerton.

Post-Doctoral Employment:

1981 - present: Assistant to Associate to Full Professor , Dept. of Geography to Dept. of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and Graduate Groups in Geography, Plant Biology, and Ecology, University of California, Davis

1991-1996: Interim Director to Director, Natural Reserve System, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Office of the President, University of California

1985-88, Research Scientist, UC White Mountain Research Station

1979 - 81: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Geography, University of Wyoming

1980 (summer): Visiting Assistant Professor, EPO Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder (Mountain Research Station).

 

Research Specializations:

Conservation biology, physical geography, biogeography, geomorphlogy, ecosystem management, restoration ecology, Quaternary paleoecology and climate change, soil-vegetation relationships, viticultural systems, agricultural soils, coastal ecosystems, mountain geoecology.

Courses Taught at UC Davis:

field methods in wildlife, fish and conservation biology, coastal ecosystems, plant geography, research methods, principles of ecology, geomorphology, biogeography, vegetation-soil-landform relationships, advanced physical geography, GIS, computer-assisted cartography, conservation biology, Quaternary environmental change.

Current Research:

  1. Evolution of playa and dune ecosystems and management and restoration implications, Mono Lake, California.
  2. Ecology and environmental history of maritime coastal forests, a comparative study of ecological disturbance and response: California and Maryland-Virginia.
  3. Evolution and ecology of Drake’s Estero Watershed and Estuary, Pt. Reyes National Seashore.
  4. Ecology, history and management of coniferous forests, Sierra Nevada and White-Inyo Range (including Giant Sequoia, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, etc.).
  5. Ecology and restoration of riparian ecosystems, Putah Creek watershed, Inner Coast Ranges of California.

Recent Research Grants:

1. Pacific Southwest Research Station, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (with C. I. Millar): Patterns of genetic variation within two groves of giant sequoia. $16,000 (1997-1998).

2. Pacific Southwest Research Station, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: - Whitebark pine ecological genetics (with C. Millar and D. Rogers). $56,000 (1995-6).

3. Pacific Southwest Research Station, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: - Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project (with Don C. Erman). $7,100,000 (1993-96).

4. Special Grants Program, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California: - An Environmental Education Curriculum for the Elkus Youth Ranch (with J.L. Brenchley-Jackson, G. Brown, and J. James). $19,200 (1993-94).

5. U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Research Initiatives: - Mechanisms of development of Great Basin playa-dune ecosystems: Mono Lake, California (with C.A. Toft and J. H. Richards). $270,000 (1992-95).

6. National Science Foundation: - Surface Exposure Dating of a Quaternary Glacial Sequence for the White Mountains, CA-NV and Implications for Conventional Geomorphic Dating Approaches [with Ronald I. Dorn (Arizona State University), Fred M. Phillips (New Mexico Inst. Mining & Technology), and Peter Kubik (Rochester Institute of Technology)]. Geography and Surficial Processes. $137,800. (1989-1992).

Relevant and Significant Publications (abbreviated list for NSF):

1. Elliott-Fisk, Deborah L. 1987. Glacial Geomorphology of the White Mountains, California and Nevada: Establishment of a Glacial Chronology. Physical Geography, Vol. 8, No.4, pp. 299-323.

2. Bale, A., G. T. Orlob, and D. L. Elliott-Fisk. 1988. Paleoecological Modeling of Hydrologic Processes. pp. 29-42 In: Mariani, A. (ed.). Advances in Environmental Modelling, Amsterdam: Elsevier.

3. Jennings, Steven A., and Deborah L. Elliott-Fisk. 1993. Packrat Midden Evidence of Late Quaternary Vegetation Change in the White Mountains, California-Nevada. Quaternary Research, Vol 39, pp. 214-221.

4. Bach, A.J., and D. L. Elliott-Fisk. 1996. Soil Development on Late Pleistocene Moraines at Pine Creek, East-Central Sierra Nevada, California. Physical Geography , Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 1-28.

5. Millar, Constance I., Michael Barbour, Deborah L. Elliott-Fisk, James R. Shevock, and Wallace B. Woolfenden. 1996. Significant Natural Areas. pp. 839-853, In: Science Team, Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project. Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project, Final Report to Congress, Volume II. Assessments and Scientific Basis for Management Options. University of California, Centers for Water and Wildland Resources, Davis. 1,528 pp.

6. Elliott-Fisk, Deborah L. 1983. The Stability of the Northern Canadian Tree Limit. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 560-576. Washington: Association of American Geographers.

7. Elliott-Fisk, Deborah L. 1991. Geomorphology. pp. 27-41 In: Clarence A. Hall, Jr. ed. Natural History of the White-Inyo Range, Eastern California. Berkeley: University of California Press. 536 pp.

8. Elliott-Fisk, Deborah L. 1993. Viticultural Soils of California, with Special Reference to the Napa Valley. Journal of Wine Research, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 67-77.

9. Science Team (Elliott-Fisk one of two co-PIs/science team leaders), Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project. 1996 and 1997. Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project, Final Report to Congress, 3 volumes plus addendum volume, executive summary, summary, data volume, and CD-ROM. University of California, Centers for Water and Wildland Resources, Davis. 3031 pages.

10. Elliott-Fisk, Deborah L. 1998. The Taiga and Boreal Forest. In: Michael G. Barbour and W. Dwight Billings, eds., Terrestrial Vegetation of North America, 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

11. Stephens, Scott L., and Deborah L. Elliott-Fisk. 1999. Sequoiadendron giganteum - Mixed Conifer Forest Structure in 1900-91 Southern Sierra Nevada, CA. Madrono.