Donald R. Drake
Assistant Professor of Botany, Botany Department
Ph.D., Botany, University of Hawaii, 1993
M.S., Botany, Ohio University, 1987
dondrake@hawaii.edu
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/drake
 

Research Interests

I am interested in plant ecology, especially aspects of seed ecology that influence plant population and community dynamics and are relevant to conservation in the Pacific region. I am increasingly interested in studying how changes in Polynesian animal communities (pollinators, seed dispersers, and seed predators) affect plant recruitment from seed. Another area of interest is restoration ecology, including investigation of ways that manipulating plant recruitment from the soil seed bank can shift plant community composition in favor of native species.
 
Selected Publications
McConkey, K. R., and D. R. Drake. In press. Flying foxes cease to function as seed dispersers long before they become rare. Ecology.
Meehan, H. J., K. R. McConkey, and D. R. Drake. 2005. Early fate of Myristica hypargyraea seeds dispersed by Ducula pacifica in Tonga. Austral Ecology 30: 374-382.
McConkey, K. R., H. J. Meehan, and D. R. Drake. 2004. Seed dispersal by Pacific Pigeons (Ducula pacifica) in Tonga, Western Polynesia. Emu 104: 369-376.
McConkey, K. R., D. R. Drake, J. Franklin, and F. Tonga. 2004. Effects of Cyclone Waka on flying fox populations in Tonga. Journal of Tropical Ecology 20: 555-561.
Franklin, J., D. R. Drake, K. McConkey, F. Tonga, and L. B. Smith. 2004. The effects of Tropical Cyclone Waka on the structure of lowland rain forest in Vava’u, Tonga. Journal of Tropical Ecology 20: 409-420.
McAlpine, K. G., and D. R. Drake. 2003. The effects of small-scale environmental heterogeneity on seed germination in treefall gaps. Plant Ecology 165: 207-215
McConkey, K. R., D. R. Drake, H. J. Meehan, and N. Parsons. 2003. Husking stations provide evidence of seed predation by introduced rodents in Tongan rain forests. Biological Conservation 109: 221-225.
Drake, D. R., C. P. H. Mulder, D. R. Towns, and C. H. Daugherty. 2002. The biology of insularity: an introduction. Journal of Biogeography 29: 563-569.
Meehan, H. J., K. R. McConkey, and D. R. Drake. 2002. Potential disruptions to seed dispersal mutualisms in Tonga, Western Polynesia. Journal of Biogeography 29: 695-712.
Wiser, S. K., D. R. Drake, L. E. Burrows, and W. R. Sykes. 2002. The potential for long-term persistence of forest fragments on a large island in western Polynesia. Journal of Biogeography 29: 767-787.
McAlpine, K. G., and D. R. Drake. 2002. The effects of small-scale environmental heterogeneity on seed germination in treefall gaps. Plant Ecology 165: 207-215.
Drake, D. R., and L. W. Pratt. 2001. Seedling mortality in Hawaiian rain forest: the role of small-scale physical disturbance. Biotropica 33: 319-323.
Steadman, D. W, J. Franklin, D. R. Drake, H. B. Freifeld, L. A. Bolick, D. S. Smith, and T. J. Motley. 1999. Conservation status of forests and vertebrate communities in the Vava’u Island Group, Tonga. Pacific Conservation Biology 5: 191-207.
Moles, A. T., and D. R. Drake. 1999. Post-dispersal seed predation on eleven large-seeded species from the New Zealand flora: a preliminary study in secondary forest. New Zealand Journal of Botany 37: 679-685.
Ferguson, R., and D. R. Drake. 1999. Influence of vegetation structure on spatial patterns of bird-dispersed seeds. New Zealand Journal of Botany 37: 671-677.
Franklin, J., D. R. Drake, L. A. Bolick, D. S. Smith, and T. J. Motley. 1999. Rain forest composition and patterns of secondary succession in the Vava’u Island Group, Kingdom of Tonga. Journal of Vegetation Science 10: 51-64.
Moles, A. T., and D. R. Drake. 1999. Potential contributions of the seed rain and seed bank to regeneration of native forest beneath plantation pine. New Zealand Journal of Botany 37: 83-93.
Drake, D. R. 1998. Relationships among the seed rain, seed bank, and vegetation of a Hawaiian forest. Journal of Vegetation Science. 9: 103-112.