Education

• PhD, 2007, Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara
• MA, 2001, Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara
• BA, 1993, Geography, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT

Courses Taught

• Geography 101: Intro to Physical Geography
• Geography 106LRS: The Physical Environment
• Geography 364: World Ecosystems

Selected Publications and Presentations

Fischer, D. T., C. J. Still, and A. P. Williams. 2008. Significance of summer overcast and fog to the ecology of coastal California endemic plant species. Journal Of Biogeography. In press.

Williams, A. P., C.J. Still, D.T. Fischer, and S.L. Leavitt. (2008) The influence of summertime fog and overcast clouds on the growth of a coastal Californian pine: A tree-ring study. Oecologia, 156, doi: 10.1007/s00442-008-1025-y.

Fischer, D.T., and C.J. Still. 2007. Evaluating patterns of fog water deposition and isotopic composition on the California Channel Islands, Water Resources Research, 43, W04420, doi:10.1029/2006WR005124.

Fischer, D.T., and R.L. Church. 2005. The SITES reserve selection system: a critical review. Environmental Modeling and Assessment.10 (3): 215-228.

Pyke, C.R., and D.T. Fischer. 2005. Selection of bioclimatically representative biological reserve systems under climate change. Biological Conservation 121 (3): 429-441.

Fischer, D.T., and R.L. Church. 2003. Clustering and compactness in reserve site selection: an extension of the biodiversity management area selection model. Forest Science. 49:555-565.

Fischer, D.T., S.V. Smith, and R.R. Churchill. 1996. Simulation of a century of runoff across the Tomales watershed, Marin County, California. Journal of Hydrology. 186:253-273.

Research and Interests

I am interested in the problems of designing effective networks of protected areas for conservation of terrestrial and marine biodiversity. The current focus is on adapting habitat-based reserve selection algorithms to explicitly address long-term population persistence in the marine realm by incorporating the effects of long-distance larval transport.

My dissertation research was in phytogeography (distributions of plant species), and the role of micro-climate and other site factors influencing range limits. My primary study site was on Santa Cruz Island where I examined the role that fog plays in the water and energy budgets of Bishop Pines growing on the western part of the island. Intensive weather monitoring, stable isotope analyses, and modeling approaches showed a high dependence of these trees on fog and overcast to make it through the annual summer drought, and particularly to survive the more intense episodic droughts that drive range limits. I continue to collaborate on fog-related research projects on the Channel Islands and coastal California.

In addition to ongoing research questions in phytogeography, micrometeorology, and climatology, another research interest is developing adaptive selection processes that produce effective reserve networks over time, and that are robust to future uncertainties in availability of habitat.