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Faculty Profile
Gregory McGee

Gregory  McGee

Associate Professor

Orange horizontal rule

146 Illick Hall

315-470-6792
ggmcgee@esf.edu

Courses Taught

  • EFB 101 - Organismal Biology and Ecology Lecture
  • EFB 102 - Organismal Biology and Ecology Laboratory
  • EFB 104 - Cell Biology and Genetics Laboratory
  • EFB 132 - Orientation Seminar in Environmental & Forest Biology
  • EFB 202 - Ecological Monitoring and Biodiversity Assessment
  • EFB 320 - General Ecology
  • ESF 296 - Integrated General Chemistry and Biology I & II Laboratories
  • ESF 296 - Communication in Sciences Seminar

Service

  • Dept. of Environmental Biology
    • Undergraduate Curriculum Director
    • Course, Curriculum & Assessment Committee
    • Environmental Biology Curriculum Coordinator
    • Environmental Education & Interpretation Acting Curriculum Coordinator
  • College-Wide
    • Faculty Governance Student Affairs Committee, Past Member & Chair
    • Faculty Governance Executive Committee, Past Member
    • First Year Learning Community Team
    • CSTEP Advisor

Research

My research interests focus on understanding the effects of forest management practices and land-use history on forest biodiversity and ecosystem processes. I have quantified the relationship between disturbance regimes and northern hardwood forest structural heterogeneity (e.g., decaying logs, snags, decadent trees, root throws), and my colleagues and I are determining how these structural features influence the composition of vascular plant, bryophyte, lichen, amphibian and invertebrate communities. This research is being applied to develop forest management guidelines that will more effectively maintain biodiversity while permitting the sustained yield of forest products.

Additionally, I am investigating the capacity of native forest herb communities to reassemble in seral forests that have established after agricultural abandonment and am developing a regional citizen science program to actively restore native woodland herb communities to post-agricultural woodlands.

Finally, I am collaborating with ESF colleagues to develop new, integrated approaches for instructing introductory chemistry, biology and communications.

Publications

Peer Reviewed

Ames, T., M.K. Bullis, and G.G. McGee. 2023. Effects of dispersed and aggregated retention on epiphtytic microarthropod assemblages: a northern hardwood forest case study. Trees, Forests and People. 14:100463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tfp.2023.100463.  

Nash, J.M., M.A. Vadeboncoeur, G.G. McGee, C.W. Woodall, and R.D. Yanai. 2023. Biomass accumulation in trees and downed wood in northern hardwood forests: repeated measures of a successional chronosequence in New Hampshire, USA. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2023-0060.

Arias, M., G. McGee and M. Dovciak. 2022. Persistent effects of land-use history on myrmechochorous plant and epigeic ant assemblages across an ecoregional gradient in New York State. Biodiversity and Conservation 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-022-02532-4. 

Gardner, M., N.Abrams, G. McGee and E. Hogan. 2022. New community creation through a shared biology-chemistry-communications laboratory model for first-year STEM majors. Journal of College Science Teaching 51(5):46-52.

Nolan, M., E.E. Folta and G.G. McGee. 2022. The importance of a comparison group and long-term follow-up in evaluating environmental education experiences. Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education.  18(4):e2277.

Kiel, N.G., G. Griffiths and G.G. McGee. 2020. Can disruption of an ant-plant mutualism explain a lack of recovery of forest herbs in post-agricultural forests of New York? Northeastern Naturalist 27(2):215-228.

Goldspiel, H.B., J.B. Cohen, G.G. McGee and J.P. Gibbs. 2019. Forest land-use history affects outcomes of habitat augmentation for amphibian conservation. Global Ecology and Conservation 19(2019), e00686.

McGee, G.G., M.E. Cardon and D.H. Kiernan. 2019. Variation in sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall) bark and stemflow characteristics: implications for epiphytic bryophyte communities. Northeastern Naturalist 26(1):214-235.

Griffiths, G.R. and G.G. McGee. 2018. Lack of herbaceous layer community recovery in postagricultural forests across three physiographic regions of New York. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 145(1):1-20.

Hassett, M.R. and G.G. McGee. 2017. Negative binomial hurdle models to estimate flower production for native and non-native northeastern shrub taxa. Forest Science 63(6):577-585.

Keeton, W.S., A.A. Whitman, G.G. McGee and C.L. Goodale. 2011. Late-successional biomass development in northern hardwood-conifer forests of the northeastern United States. Forest Science 57:489-505.

Root, H.T., G.G. McGee and R.D. Nyland. 2007. Effects of two silvicultural management regimes with large tree retention on epiphytic lichen communities in Adirondack northern hardwoods, New York, USA. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 37:1854-1866.

Root, H.T., G.G. McGee and R.A. Norton. 2007.  Arboreal mite communities on epiphytic lichens of the Adirondack Mountains of New York, USA. The Northeastern Naturalist 14:425-438.

McGee, G.G., M.J. Mitchell, D.J. Leopold, D.J. Raynal and M. Mbila. 2007. The influence of forest age and composition on elemental dynamics of Adirondack northern hardwood forests. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society. 134:253-268.

McGee, G.G., M.J. Mitchell, D.J. Leopold and D.J. Raynal. 2007. Effects of tree-fall gap zones on soil nutrients within an old-growth Adirondack northern hardwood forest. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society. 134:269-280.

Pardo, L.H., P.H. Templer, C.L. Goodale, S. Duke, P.M. Groffman, M.B. Adams, P. Boeckx, J. Boggs, J. Campbell, B. Colman, J. Compton, B. Emmett, P. Gundersen, J. Kjonaas, G. Lovett, M. Mack, A. Magill, M. Mbila, M.J. Mitchell, G. McGee, S. McNulty, K. Nadelhoffer, S. Ollinger, D. Ross, H. Rueth, L. Rustad, P. Schaberg, S. Schiff, P. Schleppi, J. Spoelstra and W. Wessell. 2006. Regional assessment of N saturation using foliar and root δ15N. Biogeochemistry 80:143-171.

McGee, G.G. and R.W. Kimmerer. 2004. Dispersal and establishment regulate epiphytic bryophyte communities in Adirondack northern hardwood forests: evidence from transplants. The Bryologist 107:302-311.

Mitchell, M.J., C.T. Driscoll, S. Inamdar, G.G. McGee, M.O. Mbila and D.J. Raynal. 2003. Nitrogen biogeochemistry in the Adirondack Mountains of New York: hardwood ecosystems and associated surface waters. Environmental Pollution 123:355-364.

Forrester, J.A., G.G. McGee and M.J. Mitchell. 2003. Effects of beech bark disease on aboveground biomass and species composition in a mature northern hardwood forest, 1985 to 2000. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 130:70-78.

McGee, G.G. and R.W. Kimmerer. 2002. Forest age and management effects on epiphytic bryophyte communities in Adirondack northern hardwood forests, New York, USA. Canadian Journal of Forest Research.32:1562-1576.

McGee, G.G. 2001. The influence of decaying logs on understory vascular plant communities in Adirondack northern hardwood forests. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society. 128:370-380.

McGee, G.G. 2000. The contribution of beech bark disease-induced mortality to coarse woody debris loads in northern hardwood stands of Adirondack Park, New York, USA.  Canadian Journal of Forest Research 30:1453-1462.

McGee, G.G., D.J. Leopold, and R.D. Nyland. 1999. Structural characteristics of old-growth, maturing, and partially-cut northern hardwood stands. Ecological Applications 9:1316-1329.

McGee, G.G. and J.P. Birmingham. 1997. Decaying logs as germination sites in northern hardwood forests. Northern Journal of Applied Forestry 14:178-192.

McGee, G.G., D.J. Leopold and R.D. Nyland. 1995.  Understory response to springtime prescribed fire in two New York transition oak forests.  Forest Ecology and Management 76: 149-168.

Ostrofsky, M.L. and G.G. McGee. 1991.  Spatial variation in the distribution of phosphorus species in the surficial sediments of Canadohta Lake, Pennsylvania: implications for internal phosphorus loading estimates. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 48:233-237.

 

Book Chapters

McGee, G.G. 2018. Biological Diversity. In: A. Barton and W. Keeton (eds.) Ecology and Recovery of Eastern Old-Growth Forests. Island Press. 

 

Misc. Publications and Reports

McGee, G.G. and M.J. Mitchell.  2010.  Assessment of Nitrogen and Acid Deposition Impacts to Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems of the Tug Hill, 2005-2007. New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Report 11-06.  Albany, New York.

McGee, G.G. 2008. Salmon River Watershed Natural Resource Assessment. Prepared for The New York State Tug Hill Commission, Watertown, NY. 268 pp.

McGee, G.G. 2008. Salmon River Watershed Natural Resource Viability Analysis. Prepared for The New York State Tug Hill Commission, Watertown, NY.  259 pp.

McGee, G.G. 2007. Forest Ecosystem Management: A New Paradigm for Preserving Forest Biodiversity. Network for Conservation Educators and Practitioners, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY.

 

Proceedings

Mitchell, M.J., G. McGee, P. McHale and K.C. Weathers. 2001. Experimental Design and Instrumentation for Analyzing Solute Concentrations and Fluxes for Quantifying Biogeochemical Processes in Watersheds. Pages 15-21 In: Proceedings: The 4th International Conference on Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) in East Asian and Pacific Region, Ulaanbaatar-Hatgal, Mongolia.  2001 ILTER Network.

Skoff, D.E., B.J. Hill and G.G. McGee. 1989. Development of Pennsylvania environmental policy and opportunities for impact. p. 389-408 In: Cole, C.A. and D.A. Long (eds.) Hazardous and Industrial Wastes: Proceedings of the 21st Mid-Atlantic Industrial Waste Conference. Technomic, Lancaster, PA.

Current Graduate Advisees

Aaron HagmanAaron Hagman
aahagman@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: MS
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Mcgee
  • Area of Study: Environmental & Forest Biology

Abigail HigginsAbigail Higgins
ahiggi03@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: MS
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Mcgee
  • Area of Study: Environmental & Forest Biology

Laurel SchusterLaurel Schuster
lfschust@syr.edu

  • Degree Sought: MS
  • Graduate Advisor(s): Mcgee and Mcnulty
  • Area of Study: EFB Ecology