Earl McCoy
Earl McCoy
Professor and Assistant Division Director
Contact
Office: SCA 314
Phone: 813/974-5219
Email:
Links
Education
Ph.D., Florida State University, 1977.
Research
Ecology
Biogeography, Biostatistics, Conservation, Restoration
My students and I study a broad range of ecological and biogeographical problems. Many of our projects relate in some way to conservation biology, either in theory or in practice. Most of our current research deals with conservation and restoration of severely threatened upland habitats, particularly sandhill and scrub, in Florida. Within this framework, my students have focusedtheir projects on a variety of topics: structure of gopher tortoise populations, demography and autecology of sand skinks, restoration of Florida mouse populations on lands mined for phosphate, and comparative biology of common and rare frogs, for example. Other students have focused their projects on topics such as methods of ecological analysis and the composition of species' assemblages. My own research encompasses additional topics in the areas of disturbance ecology, particularly fire ecology; biogeographical theory; and the philosophical basis of ecology.
Virtually all of the research being conducted by my students is aimed at solving particular problems and, therefore, probably would be labeled "applied research" by many persons. My students are encouraged to take a broad view of ecological research, however. They are well-versed in ecological theory and practice, and most develop a useful set of computer, statistics, and modern genetics skills.
Current Courses
Recent Publications
Frank, J.H. & E.D. McCoy. 2007. The risk of classical biological control in Florida. Biological
Control 41:151-174.
Halstead, B.J., E.D. McCoy, T.A. Stilson & H.R. Mushinsky. 2007. Alternative foraging tactics of a
central place forager examined using correlated random walk models. Herpetologica, in press.
McCoy, E.D. & K.S. Berry. 2007. Using an Ecological Ethics framework to make decisions about
the relocation of wildlife. Science and Engineering Ethics, in press.
McCoy, E.D. & H.R. Mushinsky. 2007. Estimates of minimum patch size depend on the method of
estimation and the condition of the habitat. Ecology 88: 1401-1407.
McCoy, E.D., H.R. Mushinsky & J.K. Lindzey. 2007. Conservation strategies and emergent
diseases: The case of upper respiratory tract disease in the gopher tortoise. Chelonian Conservation and Biology, in press.
McCoy, E.D., H.R. Mushinsky & R.D. Moore. 2007. A future with small populations of the gopher
tortoise. In: Urban Herpetology (Jung & Mitchell, Eds.), Herpetological Conservation, in press.
McCoy, E.D., H.R. Mushinsky & J.K. Lindzey. 2006. Population declines of the gopher tortoise on
protected lands. Biological Conservation 128: 120-127.
Moon, J.C., E.D. McCoy, H.R. Mushinsky & S.A. Karl. 2006. Multiple paternity and breeding
systems in the gopher tortoise. Journal of Heredity 97: 150-157.
Mushinsky, E.D. & E.D. McCoy. 2006. The gopher tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus, an
underground engineer. REPTILIA 49:16-21.
Mushinsky, H.R., E.D. McCoy, J.S. Berish, R.E. Ashton & D.S. Wilson. 2006. Gopherus
polyphemus – gopher tortoise. In: Biology and Conservation of Florida Turtles (Meylan, Ed.), Chelonian Research Monographs 3, pp. 350-375.
Wilson, D.S., H.R. Mushinsky & E.D. McCoy. 2006. Kinosternon baurii – striped mud turtle. In:
Biology and Conservation of Florida Turtles (Meylan, Ed.), Chelonian Research Monographs 3, pp. 180-188.
McCoy, E.D. 2004. Philosophies of evidence encounter the realities of data. In: The Nature of
Scientific Evidence: Statistical, Philosophical, and Empirical Considerations (Taper & Lele, Eds.), pp. 97-99, University of Chicago Press.
McCoy, E.D., P.P. Hartmann & H.R. Mushinsky. 2004. Population biology of the rare Florida
scrub lizard in fragmented habitat. Herpetologica 60: 54-61.
McCoy, E.D. & S.K. Pierce. 2004. The function of course pre-requisites: Comparing “student-
driven” and “faculty-driven” models. American Institute of Biolgical Sciences (http://www.actionbioscience.org/education/mccoy_pierce.html).
Mushinsky, H.R., T.A. Stilson & E.D. McCoy. 2003. Diet and dietary preference of the juvenile
gopher tortoise. Herpetologica 59: 477-485.