Western Carolina University

Department of Biology
Associate Professor

Phone: 828-227-3661
FAX: 828-227-7066
Email: jpechmann@email.wcu.edu
Office Address: Natural Science Building 132

Education:

• Ph.D., Zoology (Mathematics minor), Duke University, 1994
• M.S., Zoology, University of Georgia, 1981
• B.A., Biology, Hamilton College, 1976

Courses Taught:

• BIOL 432/532: “Population Ecology”
• BIOL 477/577: “Herpetology”
• BIOL 493/693: “Seminar Series”

Publications:

• Thurgate, N. Y. and J. H. K. Pechmann. 2007. Canopy closure, competition, and the endangered dusky gopher frog. Journal of Wildlife Management 71:1845-1852.
• Pechmann, J. H. K. and D. B. Wake. 2006. Enigmatic declines and disappearances of amphibian populations. Pages 93-98 in M. J. Groom, G. K. Meffe, C. R. Carroll and Contributors. Principles of Conservation Biology. Third Edition. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.
• Dixon, P. M., and J. H. K. Pechmann. 2005. A statistical test to show negligible trend. Ecology 86:1751-1756.
• Pechmann, J. H. K. 2003. Natural population fluctuations and human influences: null models and interactions. Pages 85-93 in R. D. Semlitsch, editor. Amphibian conservation. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
• Alford, R. A., P. M. Dixon and J. H. K. Pechmann. 2001. Global amphibian population declines. Nature 412:499-500.
• Pechmann, J. H. K., R. A. Estes, D. E. Scott and J. W. Gibbons. 2001. Amphibian colonization and use of ponds created for trial mitigation of wetland loss. Wetlands 21:93-111.
• Semlitsch, R. D., D. E. Scott, J. H. K. Pechmann and J. W. Gibbons. 1996. Structure and dynamics of an amphibian community: evidence from a 16-year study of a natural pond. Pages 217-248 in M. L. Cody and J. A. Smallwood, editors. Long-term studies of vertebrate communities. Academic Press, San Diego, California.
• Pechmann, J. H. K. 1995. Use of large field enclosures to study the terrestrial ecology of pond-breeding amphibians. Herpetologica 51:434-450.
• Pechmann, J. H. K., D. E. Scott, R. D. Semlitsch, J. P. Caldwell, L. J. Vitt and J. W. Gibbons. 1991. Declining amphibian populations: the problem of separating human impacts from natural fluctuations. Science 253:892-895.
• Loehle, C. and J. H. K. Pechmann. 1988. Evolution: the missing ingredient in systems ecology. The American Naturalist 132:884-899. Reprinted in Keller, D. R. and F. B. Golley. 2000. The philosophy of ecology: from science to synthesis. The University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia.

Research Presentations:

• Pechmann, J. H. K. and N. E. Leonard (2004). Do crowding and terrestrial habitat modification affect dispersal of newly- metamorphosed southern toads? Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Norman, OK.
• Pechmann, J. H. K. (2004). Isolated ephemeral wetlands and the surrounding uplands: endangered hotspots of amphibian biodiversity. Louisiana Gulf Coast Herpetological Society, New Orleans, LA.
• Pechmann, J. H. K., D. E. Scott, J. W. Gibbons, J. L. Greene, B. S. Metts and P. M. Dixon (2003). Updated amphibian population trends at Rainbow Bay, South Carolina: natural and human influences. Poster Session. Ecological Society of America meeting, Savannah, GA.
• Pechmann, J. H. K. (2003). Isolated ephemeral wetlands and the surrounding uplands: endangered hotspots of amphibian biodiversity. Keynote address for session “Amphibians of southeastern ephemeral wetlands,” Gopher Tortoise Council, Orlando, FL.
• Pechmann, J. H. K. (2002). Population regulation, complex life cycles, and the need for a metamorphosis in conservation. Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
• Pechmann, J. H. K. (2002). Population regulation, complex life cycles, and the need for a metamorphosis in conservation. National Wetlands Research Center, U. S. Department of the Interior, Lafayette, LA.
• Pechmann, J. H. K. (2001). Null models and population monitoring. Herpetologists’ League and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles meetings, Indianapolis, IN.
• Pechmann, J. H. K. (2001). Vanishing amphibians. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium, Biloxi, MS.    
• Pechmann, J. H. K., D. E. Scott, R. D. Semlitsch and J. W. Gibbons (2000). Mortality differences between sexes associated with breeding in amphibians. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Herpetologists’ League, and Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles meetings, La Paz, B. C. S., Mexico.
• Pechmann, J. H. K., J.C. Trexler and W. G. DeLoach (1999). Multivariate analyses of invertebrate and amphibian community structure along environmental gradients in Florida Everglades sloughs. Ecological Society of America meeting, Spokane, WA.