Anchorage Office
Research Biologist
Robert McNown, M.S., P.W.S.
Wetland delineation
Soil characterization
GIS habitat and wetland mapping
Marine mammal surveys
Database management and functional assessments
Robert has a strong background in ecology and especially plant biology and physiology. His thesis for his master's degree focused on the physiological plant ecology of northern treeline white spruce in the Noatak National Preserve.
Since completing and publishing his MS work, Robert's main focus has been on wetland and habitat mapping projects throughout the State of Alaska. Robert has done a wide variety of field work, including off-channel salmon habitat surveying, long term habitat monitoring, bird point count, marine mammal observation, and fishery harvest monitoring projects.
Select Publications
Wells, A. F., T. Christopherson, G. V. Frost, M. J. Macander, S. L. Ives, R. W. McNown, and E. K. Johnson. 2021. Ecological land survey and soils inventory for Katmai National Park and Preserve, 2016–2017. Natural Resource Report NPS/KATM/NRR—2021/2298. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/nrr-2287466.
Sullivan, Patrick F., Sarah B. Ellison, Robert W. McNown, Annalis H. Brownless, and Bjartmar Sveinbjörnsson. 2014. Evidence of soil nutrient availability as the proximate constraint on growth of treeline trees in northwest Alaska. Ecology 96(3): 716–727
McNown, Robert W., and Patrick F. Sullivan. 2013. Low photosynthesis of treeline white spruce is associated with limited soil nitrogen availability in the Western Brooks Range, Alaska. Functional Ecology 27(3): 672–683.