Daniel J. McGarvey

Center for Environmental Studies

Virginia Commonwealth University

Daniel J. McGarvey
Associate Professor

Daniel McGarvey is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Graduate Program in the Center for Environmental Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He received a B.A. in Biology and Geology from Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio), a M.S. in Fisheries Science from the Pennsylvania State University (University Park, Pennsylvania), and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Alabama). He accepted a faculty position within the Center for Environmental Studies in 2011, after serving as an environmental modeler (postdoctoral appointment) with the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Athens, Georgia and as a course instructor at the University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia) and Oregon State University (Corvallis, Oregon). In previous years, he worked as a stream ecologist for the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement in Anacortes, Washington and as a consultant for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Dr. McGarvey’s research focuses on a broad range of topics, including stream ecology, fisheries science, community and ecosystem ecology, biogeography, macroecology and ecological modeling. He is particularly interested in quantifying emergent patterns within freshwater communities, such as network structure and size versus abundance scaling, and in using systems-level, ecosystem modeling to explain those patterns. Other pursuits in his professional portfolio include the intersection of ecological science with environmental law and broad science communication. To advance these interests, he regularly collaborates with legal scholars and artists who specialize in information design and the communication arts.

Extramural support for Dr. McGarvey’s work has been obtained from numerous sources, including a United States National Science Foundation CAREER grant, a Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program grant from the United States Department of Defense, and the Eppley Foundation for Research.

Publications