Biology Department

Maureen McClung, Ph.D. '01

Maureen McClung 2024.01web

Maureen McClung, Ph.D.

Judy and Randy Wilbourn Odyssey Associate Professor of Biology

Chair, Environmental Studies Program

She/Her/Hers mcclung@hendrix.edu Office: Donald W. Reynolds Center 413 Research Lab: Donald W. Reynolds Center 018 (501) 450-1486 (501) 450-4547

Academic Background

  • B.A., Hendrix College, 2001
  • PgDipSci, University of Otago, New Zealand, 2002
  • M.S., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2006
  • Ph.D., University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, 2013

Courses Taught

  • BIOL 101 - Concepts of Biology (General, Plants & People, Birds)
  • BIOL 102 - Natural History 
  • BIOL 104 - Environmental Biology 
  • BIOL 150 - Cell Biology 
  • BIOL 220 - General Zoology 
  • BIOL 260 - Ecology & Evolution
  • BIOL 300 - Comparative Animal Behavior
  • BIOL 375 - Conservation Biology
  • BIOL 497 - Biology Senior Seminar
  • EVST 110 - Introduction to Environmental Studies
  • EVST 497 - Environmental Studies Senior Seminar
  • LBST 150 - The Engaged Citizen (The Engaged Listener, Environmental Disasters, Nature & Well-being, Nature & Music)

Research Interests

  • I am broadly interested in wildlife behavior and ecology, particularly as they relate to anthropogenic disturbance. Humans have an incredible impact on ecosystems through development and resource management. Identifying the responses of wildlife and their habitat to these actions is both an ethical responsibility and a scientific opportunity. Undergraduates are an integral part of my research, and I enjoy providing opportunities for field research to students interested in ecology. We often collaborate with professors within Biology* and other departments^ and institutions/organizations+. Projects have included:

    Animals and noise

    • Winter roosting behavior of Carolina Wrens+
    • Behavioral response of Carolina Wrens to songs altered to escape masking by anthropogenic noise
    • Disturbance of wintering waterfowl by traffic noise
    • Does boat noise disrupt the fish-algae food chain? 
    • The effect of noise interference on waggle dance communication and honey bee foraging 
    • Effects of chronic noise from gas extraction on breeding bird song and community dynamics in the Fayetteville Shale  

    Land-use and ecosystem services

    • Threats to desert ecosystems from renewable energies*
    • Ecosystem services of the Buffalo National River*^
    • Restoration potential of abandoned oil and gas wells across the U.S.*
    • Ecosystem services of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge*

    Population/community ecology and conservation

    • Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS)+
    • The Central Arkansas Urban Wildlife Project, a node of the Urban Wildlife Information Network+
    • Assessing campus buildings for bird window collision hazards with an eye towards mitigation
    • Distribution and habitat preferences of rare butterflies in Arkansas+
    • Relationship between seasonality of prescribed fire and pollinator community diversity*+
    • Migratory birds and nutrient transfer across continents*+
    • Range and population size of the Texas frosted elfin ( Callophrys irus hadros ) in Arkansas*+
    • Impacts of damming on small streams in central Arkansas*+
    • Insect biodiversity of high elevation post oak woodlands in Arkansas*+
    • Changing cat-titudes: How does messaging affect public attitudes towards feral cat colony control?^
    • Using the Breeding Bird Survey to estimate the response of breeding birds to oil and gas development in the U.S.*

    If you are interested in conducting research on these or similar issues, please email me! We are always interested in having bright, motivated scientists join the team.

Publications

  • *Denotes undergraduate co-author

    Fidino M, Sander HA, Lewis JS, Lehrer EW, Rivera K, Murray MH, Adams HC, Kase A, Flores A, Stankowich T, Schell CJ, Salsbury CM, Rohnke AT, Jordan MJ, Green AM, Gramza AR, Zellmer AJ, Williamson J, Surasinghe TD, Storm H, Sparks KL, Ryan TJ, Remine KR, Pendergast ME, Mullen K, Minier DE, Middaugh CR, Mertl AL, McClung, MR, Long RA, Larson RN, Kohl MT, Harris LR, Hall CT, Haight JD, Drake D, Davidge AM, Cheek AO, Bloch CP, Biro EG, Anthonysamy WJB, Angstmann JL, Allen ML, Adalsteinsson SA, Gianotti AGS, LaMontagne JM, Gelmi-Candusso TA, Magle SB. 2024. Gentrification drives patterns of alpha and beta diversity in cities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121 (17) e2318596121.

    Veon JT*, McClung MR . 2023. Disturbance of wintering waterfowl by simulated traffic noise in Arkansas wetlands. Journal of Wildlife Management, 87(4): e22387.

    Young MA*, Patel K*, Crenshaw LC*, Moran MD, McClung MR , Haden Chomphosy W. 2022.  Ecosystem services of the Buffalo National River in Arkansas. Natural Areas Journal, 42(4): 293-300.

    Monroe AF, Hubbard SC, Rodriguez R, Kuhns FM, McClung MR , Moran MD, Gates MW. 2022 . Biodiversity of parasitic Hymenoptera across sky islands of Arkansas, USA. Environmental Entomology, nvac059.

    McClung MR , Moran MD. 2022. Minimizing impacts of future renewable energy development on the world's Desert ecosystems. Frontiers in Sustainability, 3:900468.

    Turkal CE*, Anderson TF*, McClung MR . 2021. Highland stonerollers ( Campostoma spadecium ) do not clearly avoid recreational boat noise or preferentially graze algae in quieter areas. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 104(8): 1005-1016.

    Crossley MS, Smith OM, Berry LL*, Phillips-Cosio R*, Glassberg J, Holman KM*, Holmquest JG*, Meier AR, Varriano SA, McClung MR , Moran MD, Snyder WE. 2021. Recent climate is creating hotspots of butterfly increase and decline across North America. Global Change Biology, 27(12): 2702-2714.

    Turner AC*, Young MA*, McClung MR , Moran MD. 2021. Comprehensive valuation of the ecosystem services of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Natural Areas Journal, 41(2): 125-137.

    Shepard CA*, Crenshaw LC*, Baldwin EM*, Sammon K*, Holman KM*, Gazaway DA*, Phelan NE*, Baltosser WH, Lombardi M, Moran MD, McClung MR . 2021. Distribution and habitat preferences of the Texas frosted elfin ( Callophrys irus hadros ) in Arkansas. Journal of the Lepidopterist Society. 75(2): 104-112.

    Jordaan SM, Jung J, McClung MR , Moran MD. 2021. Quantifying the life cycle ecosystem services values of electricity generation in the U.S. Chihuahuan Desert. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 25(4): 1089-1101.

    Haden Chomphosy W, Varriano SA*, Lefler LH*, Nallur V*, McClung MR , Moran MD. 2021. Ecosystem services benefits from the restoration of abandoned US oil and gas lands. Nature Sustainability, 4(6):547-554.

    Crenshaw LC*, Shepard CA*, Phelan NE*, McClung MR , Moran MD. 2020. New county records of three Baptisia species in Arkansas, with an updated distribution map. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Sciences, 74: 72-74.

    Varriano S*, Mallon JM, Folta C, Coulibaly H, Krajcir KJ, McClung MR , Fagan WF, Moran MD. 2020. Transfer of nitrogen by migratory birds in the African-Western Eurasian Flyways. Animal Migration, 7(1): 52-57.

    Nallur V*, McClung MR , Moran MD. 2020. Restoration potential for abandoned gas wells in the Fayetteville Shale of Arkansas. Environmental Management, 66: 180-190.

    McClung MR , Taylor NT*, Zamzow BK*, Stone ET*, Abad H*, Moran MD. 2019.  The threat of energy diversification to a bioregion: a landscape-level analysis of current and future impacts on the U.S. Chihuahuan Desert. Regional Environmental Change, 1-14.

    Howden CM*, Stone ET*, Nallur V*, McClung MR , Moran MD. 2019. Impact of Bakken/Three Forks unconventional oil and gas development on important wildlife landscapes in North Dakota. Land Degradation and Development, 2019: 1-9.

    McClung MR , Moran MD. 2018. Understanding and mitigating impacts of unconventional oil and gas development on land-use and ecosystem services in the U.S. Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health, 3: 19-26.

    Davis KM*, Nguyen MN*, McClung MR , Moran MD. 2018. Comparison of impacts of wind and shale gas on land-use and ecosystem services in the Anadarko region of Oklahoma. Environmental Management, 1-9

    Taylor NT*, Davis KM*, Abad H*, McClung MR , Moran MD. 2017. Ecosystem services of the Big Bend region of the Chihuahuan Desert. Ecosystem Services. 28: 48-57.

    Moran MD, Taylor NT*, Mullins TF*, Sardar SS*, McClung MR . 2017. Land-use ecosystem services costs of unconventional oil and gas in the United States. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 15(5): 237-242.

    Cox AB*, Taylor NT*, Rebein KA*, Song MS*, Moran MD, McClung MR . 2017 .  Land use changes from unconventional gas development in public lands of the Fayetteville Shale. Natural Areas Journal, 37(2): 233-239.

    Bradley CE*, McClung MR . 2015. Vocal divergence and discrimination of long calls in tamarins: a comparison of allopatric populations of  Saguinus fuscicollis nigrifrons  and  S. f. lagonotus . American Journal of Primatology, 77(6): 679-687.

    Moran MD, Cox AB*, Wells RL*, Benichou CC*, McClung MR . 2015. Habitat loss and modification due to gas development in the Fayetteville Shale. Environmental Management, 55(6): 1276-1284.

    McClung MR , Seddon PJ, Massaro M, Setiawan AN. 2004. Nature-based tourism impacts on yellow-eyed penguins  Megadyptes antipodes : Does unregulated visitor access affect fledging weight and juvenile survival? Biological Conservation, 119(2): 279-285.

    McClung MR.  1999. Field guide to BROWSE plants. Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Washington, D.C.

     

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