Department of Environmental Conservation

Professor and Department Head of Forestry Ecosystems and Society
Oregon State University

Email: bmccomb
Links: curriculum vitae
 

Primary interests

Dr. McComb’s research efforts focus on quantifying the effects of land management practices on the abundance and distribution of vertebrates as a result of habitat change. Land management activities including forest management and development have local effects and can have cumulative impacts on habitat availability for terrestrial vertebrates. Considering the potential impacts on biodiversity prior to taking a management action can help to minimize adverse effects of management and identify key areas for habitat restoration.

Current Projects

• Monitoring changes in habitat and populations of forest floor vertebrates in thinned stands of the Oregon Cascades
• Assessing patterns of habitat availability for vertebrates in eastern
  Washington
• Habitat patterns and trends for focal wildlife species under current land policies in the Oregon Coast Range.
• Assessing animal associations with watershed condition in Oregon and Massachusetts

Courses Taught

• WFCON 564 — Wildlife Habitat Ecology and Management
• NRC 597M — Ecosystem Management
• WFCON 697M — Monitoring wildlife populations and their habitats 
   

Recent presentations 

McComb, B.C. “Red alder as habitat for wildlife”. International Symposium on
Red Alder: A State of Knowledge. University of Washington Center for Urban
Horticulture, Seattle. March 2005.

Mckenna, J., K. Rolih, and B. C. McComb. "Landscape change in the Mill River Watershed: The Future Range of Variability". UMass Department of Natural Resources Conservation. Amherst, MA Feb. 2006

Selected Recent Publications 

McComb, B.C., L. Curtis, C.L. Chambers, M. Newton, and K. Bentson. 2007. Toxic hazard analyses of glyphosate herbicide on terrestrial vertebrates of the Oregon Coast Range. Environ. Sci. and Pollut. Res.
http://82.98.75.226/sj/espr/abstract/doi/espr2007.07.437

McComb, B. C., T. A. Spies, and K. A. Olsen 2007. Sustaining biodiversity in the Oregon Coast Range: potential effects of forest policies in a multi- ownership province. Ecology and Society 12(2): 29. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss2/art29/

Johnson, K.N., S. Gordon, S. Duncan, D. Lach, B. McComb, and K. Reynolds. 2007. Conserving creatures of the forest: a guide to decision making and decision models for forest biodiversity. National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry Final report. NCSSF, Washington, DC

McComb, B.C., and S. Duncan. 2007. Biodiversity Conservation in Contemporary Landscapes, Stressors, and Ranges of Variability: Scientific and Social Views. National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry Final report. NCSSF, Washington, DC

McComb, B. C. 2007. Wildlife habitat management: Concepts and applications in forestry. Taylor and Francis Publishers, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. 319 Pages.

Vesely, D., B. C. McComb, B.C., C. D. Vojta, L. H. Suring, J. Halaj, R. S. Holthausen, B. Zuckerberg, and P. M. Manley. 2006. Development of Protocols To Inventory or Monitor Wildlife, Fish, or Rare Plants. Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-72. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 100 p.

Spies, T. A., B. C. McComb, R. Kennedy, M. McGrath, K. Olsen, R. J. Pabst. 2007. Potential effects of forest policies on biodiversity in a multi-ownership province. Ecological Applications 17(1):48-65.

Spies, T.A., K. N. Johnson, K. M. Burnett, J. L. Ohmann, B. C. McComb, G. H. Reeves, P. Bettinger, D. J. Miller, J. D. Kline, and B. Garber-Yonts. 2007. Cumulative ecological and socioeconomic effects of forest policies in Coastal Oregon. Ecological Applications 17(1):5-17.

Compton, J. E., C. P. Andersen, J. R. Brooks, M. R. Church, W. E. Hogsett, D. L. Phillips, M. G. Johnson, M. A. Cairns, P. G. Rygiewicz, B. C. McComb, C. D. Shaff and S. Klein. 2006. Ecological and water quality consequences of nutrient additions for salmon restoration in the Oregon Coast Range. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4(1): 18–26.

McComb, B. C., D. Bilsland, and J. J. Steiner. 2006. Association of winter birds with riparian condition in the lower Calapooia watershed, Oregon. Northwest Science 79:164-171.

McComb, B.C., and C.L. Chambers. 2005. Introduction. Chapter 1. Pages 13-23 in C. C. Maguire and C. L. Chambers, eds. College of Forestry Integrated Research Project: Ecological and socioeconomic responses to alternative silvicultural treatments. Oregon State University Forest Research Laboratory Research Contribution 46.

Chambers, C.L., and B.C. McComb. 2005. Wildlife Responses. Chapter 5.  Pages 63- 87 in C. C. Maguire and C. L. Chambers, eds. College of Forestry Integrated Research Project: Ecological and socioeconomic responses to alternative silvicultural treatments. Oregon State University Forest Research Laboratory Research Contribution 46

Wilson, B. F., and B. C. McComb. 2005. Dynamics of dead wood over 20 years in a  New England oak forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35:682-692.

McComb, B. C., 2004. A blueprint for universities: Interdisciplinary approaches to biodiversity challenges. Renewable Resources Journal. 22:12-15.

Suzuki, N., and B.C. McComb. 2004. Associations of Small Mammals and Amphibians with Beaver-occupied Streams in the Oregon Coast Range. Northwest Science 78:286-293.

Ellsworth, J. W. and B. C. McComb. 2003. The potential effects of passenger pigeon flocks on the structure and composition of pre-settlement eastern forests. Conservation Biology 17:1548-1558.

Martin, K. A., and B. C. McComb. 2003. Amphibian habitat associations at patch and landscape scales in western Oregon. J. Wildl. Manage. 67:672-683.

McComb, B. C. 2003. A university perspective on crises in conservation. Transactions of the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference 68:382-394

McComb, B.C. and E. Kenney. 2002. Assessing habitat suitability for Acadian flycatchers. Northeast Wildlife 57: 19-27