David D. Hart Ph.D.
207/581-3257 • david.hart@umit.maine.edu
Current Positions
Research Leader, Sustainability Solutions Initiative
Director, Senator George J. Mitchell Center
Professor, School of Biology and Ecology
Founder, Institute for Potamological Biofluiddynamics
Research Expertise and Interests
Sustainability science
Solutions-driven interdisciplinary research
Connections between knowledge and action
Stakeholder partnerships
Ecology
Education
B.A., Biology (Honors), University of California, Santa Cruz
Ph.D., Ecology, University of California, Davis
Biography
David came to UMaine in 2006 seeking to help create innovative programs combining interdisciplinary research teams with diverse stakeholders that contribute more effectively to the solution of sustainable development challenges in and beyond Maine. In collaboration with faculty from more than 25 disciplines and numerous external partners throughout Maine, David helped launch new programs that ultimately led to Maine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI). SSI represents a pioneering institutional experiment to understand the intersecting economic, social, and environmental dimensions of various sustainability-related problems and link knowledge with action more effectively. SSI was awarded a $20 million, five-year NSF EPSCoR grant in July, 2009.
David’s deep interest in sustainability science grew out of a diverse combination of experiences. As a small boy, he was fascinated by streams and rivers. He presented his first public testimony about watershed management issues at the age of 17, and spent the next several decades conducting research designed to understand, protect, and restore freshwater ecosystems and their watersheds. During this period, David taught and conducted research at UC Davis, UC Berkeley, Michigan State University, University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, and especially the Patrick Center of Environmental Research at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
David’s belief in the power of university-stakeholder partnerships and engaged research is based on nearly three decades of experience collaborating with business and industry, all levels of government, and local to global NGOs.
His role as research leader of the Sustainability Solutions Initiative reflects a long-standing interest in the ecology of organizations. Drawing upon his ecological background studying interactions in complex systems, David seeks to understand relationships between organizational structure and function, including the role of thresholds and feedbacks in organizational resilience. His ultimate goal is to create adaptive organizations that contribute more effectively to the solution of pressing sustainability-related problems in and beyond Maine.
His awards include an NSF National Needs Postdoctoral Fellowship, a Ruth Patrick Scholarship, a Fulbright Senior Scholarship and an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship.
Representative Publications
Hart, D.D. and A.J.K. Calhoun. 2010. Rethinking the role of ecological research in the sustainable management of freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater Biology 55: 258-269.
Whitmer, A., L. Ogden, J. Lawton, P. Sturner, P.M. Groffman, L. Schneider, D. Hart, B. Halpern, W. Schlesinger, S. Raciti, N. Bettez, S. Ortega, L. Rustad, S.T.A. Pickett and M. Killelea. 2010. The engaged university: Providing a platform for research that transforms society. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 6: 314-321.
Skalak, K., J. Pizzuto and D.D. Hart. 2009. Influence of small dams on downstream channel characteristics in Pennsylvania and Maryland: Implications for the long-term geomorphic effects of dam removal. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 45: 97-109.
Flinders, C.A. and D.D. Hart. 2009. Effects of pulsed flows on nuisance periphyton growths in rivers: a mesocosm study. River Research and Applications 25: 1320-1330.
Johnson, T.E., J.N. McNair, P. Srivastava and D.D. Hart. 2007. Stream ecosystem responses to spatially variable landcover: A model for developing riparian restoration strategies. Freshwater Biology 52:680–695.
Fingerut, J.T., D.D. Hart and J.N. McNair. 2006. Silk filaments enhance the settlement of stream insect larvae. Oecologia 150:202-212.
Bednarek, A.T. and D.D. Hart. 2005. Modifying dam operations to restore rivers: Ecological responses to dam mitigation in the Tennessee River. Ecological Applications 15:997–1008.
Bernhardt, E.S., M.A. Palmer, J.D. Allan, G. Alexander, K. Barnas, S. Brooks, J. Carr, C. Dahm, J. Follstad-Shah, D.Galat, S. Gloss, P. Goodwin, D. Hart, B. Hassett, R. Jenkinson, S. Katz, G. M. Kondolf, P. S. Lake, R. Lave, J.L. Meyer, T.K. O’Donnell, L. Pagano, B. Powell and E. Sudduth. 2005. Synthesizing U.S. river restoration efforts. Science 308:636-637.
Palmer, M.A., E.S. Bernhardt, J.D. Allan, P.S. Lake, G. Alexander, S. Brooks, J. Carr, S. Clayton, C.N. Dahm, J. Follstad Shah, D.L. Galat, S. Gloss, P. Goodwin, D.D. Hart, B. Hassett, R. Jenkinson, K.M. Kondolf, R. Lave, J.L. Meyer, T.K. O'Donnell, L. Pagano and E. Sudduth. 2005. Standards for ecologically successful river restoration. Journal of Applied Ecology 42:208-217.
Poff, N. L., J. D. Allan, M. A. Palmer, D. D. Hart, B. D. Richter, A. H. Arthington, K. H. Rogers, J. L. Meyer and J. A. Stanford. 2003. River flows and water wars? Emerging science for environmental decision-making. Frontiers in Ecology & the Environment 1:298-306.
Hart, D.D., T.E. Johnson, K.L. Bushaw-Newton, R.J.Horwitz, A.T. Bednarek, D.F. Charles, D.A. Kreeger and D.J. Velinsky. 2002. Dam removal: Challenges and opportunities for ecological research and river restoration. BioScience 52:669-681.
Fonseca, D.M. and D.D. Hart. 2001. Colonization history masks habitat preferences in local distributions of stream insects. Ecology 82:2897-2910.
Hart, D.D. and C.M. Finelli.1999. Physical-biological coupling in streams: The pervasive effects of flow on benthic organisms. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 30:363-395.
