My field-oriented research aims to conserve biodiversity. Specifically, my scientific objectives are to 1.) identify habitat requirements of at-risk wildlife species, 2.) determine the effectiveness of management actions meant to benefit ecosystem health, and 3.) evaluate established and emerging wildlife monitoring methods. I've recently focused on birds in urban and wetland ecosystems, though look forward to broadening my experience.

A secondary interest of mine is to analyze functions and characteristics of vocalizations of wildlife, especially when doing so can improve monitoring efforts and/or create a more harmonious human-wildlife interface.

Below is a list of my published, peer-reviewed scientific articles, as well as some articles that are in the works.

Published

• Brewer, D.E., A.R. Mahon, M.J. Wirick, T.M. Gehring. 2024. Using Environmental DNA to detect radio-tagged King Rails: Initial validation results and needed advancements. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management.

• Brewer, D.E., T.M. Gehring, M.P. Ward, E.M. Dunton, R. Pierce. 2024. Experimental evidence suggests that broadcasting rail calls overnight can influence broad-scale site selection by migrating rails. Avian Conservation and Ecology.

• Brewer, D.E., T.M. Gehring, B.T. Shirkey, J.W. Simpson. 2024. King Rail (Rallus elegans) morphometric, nesting, mortality, and movement notes from a northern study area. Northeastern Naturalist.

• Kane, M.E, D.E. Brewer, T.M. Gehring, B.T. Shirkey, K.L. Pangle, D.G. Uzarski, M.A. Picciuto, J.W. Simpson. 2023. King Rail (Rallus elegans) presence in the Midwestern United States is predicted by local‐scale factors and avian community. Ecology and Evolution.

• Brewer, D.E., T.M. Gehring, B.T. Shirkey, J.W. Simpson. 2023. King Rail (Rallus elegans) response to audio playback: implications for population estimation, monitoring methodology, and trapping approach. Journal of Field Ornithology.

• Brewer, D.E., T.M. Gehring, M.M. Garcia, B.T. Shirkey, J.W. Simpson, A.M.V. Fournier. 2023. King rail (Rallus elegans) home range and microhabitat characteristics in western Lake Erie coastal marshes. Ecology and Evolution.

• Dinehart, R. M., D.E. Brewer, T.M. Gehring, K.L. Pangle, D.G. Uzarski. 2023. Ecologically-scaled responses of marsh birds to water-level fluctuations and invasive Phragmites expansion. Waterbirds. (pdf available upon request; Editor's choice)

• Liu, Ming, Q. Sun, D. E. Brewer, T. M. Gehring, and J. Eickholt. 2022. An ornithologist’s guide for including machine learning in a workflow to identify a secretive focal species from recorded audio. Remote Sensing.

• Brewer, D.E. 2022. The vocal repertoire of Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata): spectrographic snapshots and suggested nomenclature. Wilson Journal of Ornithology. (pdf available upon request)

• Brewer, D.E. and A.M. Fudickar. 2022. A preliminary comparison of a songbird’s song repertoire size and other song measures between an urban and a rural site. Ecology and Evolution.

• Brewer, D.E. and R. Risch. In 2021. Viability of a Florida Scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) population in north-central Florida. Florida Field Naturalist.

• Brewer, D.E. and A.M. Fudickar. 2020. Perceived wintering latitude determines timing of song output in a migratory bird. Ecology and Evolution.

• Brewer, D.E. and A.M. Fudickar. 2019. American Robin (Turdus migratorius) feeds a nestling carcass to nestlings in an urban environment. Urban Naturalist.

In-Review

• Brewer, D.E., Elisabeth B. Webb, Anne E. Mini, and S. Keith McKnight. Developing distribution models for a secretive and data deficient species using Bayesian networks: Does expert elicitation improve prediction?