Nancy McIntyre

Nancy E. McIntyre is an American academic in the fields of landscape and urban ecology. She is a professor in the Department of Biological Science and the curator of birds at the Natural Science Research Laboratory museum at the Texas Tech University Her research involves the use of geographic data and information to answer questions about the structure, function and change in the landscape with focus on birds and insects. Her work has implications for conservation and natural resource management.

Education

McIntyre was awarded a B.A. magna cum laude zoology from the University of Georgia in 1991. Under the mentorship of John Wiens, McIntyre attained her Doctor of Philosophy in ecology at Colorado State University in 1998. McIntyre used the Eleodes beetle as an experimental model to investigate the way in which the area and nature of a habitat affect the beetles' movement and location. This involved large-scale field studies.

Career and research

McIntyre's career began as a postdoctoral researcher at Arizona State University where she worked in the area of urban ecology at the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-term Ecological Research project. In 2000, McIntyre joined the faculty of the Department of Biological Science at Texas Tech University. Her research focusses on relationships between organisms and their environment and the way in which human activities affect those relationships. Specifically, McIntyre examines birds and insects in forest, grassland, wetland, and urban ecosystems. She researches anthropogenic habitat fragmentation and its effects on insects and bird numbers, diversity and risk of extinction. She served as President-elect of the International Association for Landscape Ecology – North America from 2019 to 2020 and as President of the organization from 2020 to 2022.

Awards and recognition International Association for Landscape Ecology – North America, Distinguished Service Award, 2018. Top 2 percent of most cited researchers. President's Excellence in Teaching Award, Texas Tech University, 2013.

Selected publications

Niemelä, J., J.H. Breuste, T. Elmqvist, G. Guntenspergen, P. James, and N.E. McIntyre, eds. 2011. Urban Ecology: Patterns, Processes, and Applications. Oxford University Press.

Included in Urban Ecology: An International Perspective on the Interaction Between Humans and Nature (J.M. Marzluff, E. Shulenberger, W. Endlicher, M. Alberti, G. Bradley, C. Ryan, U. Simon, and C. ZumBrunnen, eds.), pp. 49–65. Springer, 2008. [A compilation of the “classic” papers from the field of urban ecology.] Included in Urban Ecology: Critical Concepts in Geography (I. Douglas, ed.). Routledge Publishing, 2015. [A compilation of the “classic” papers from urban ecology and urban geography.]

Cited in Essentials of Landscape Ecology (K.A. With). Oxford University Press, 2019. [A textbook of landscape ecology.]