Donald R. Nelson
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
UGA - University of Georgia
Nelson's UGA page
PhD, Anthropology, University of Arizona, 2005
My goal as an anthropologist is to pursue my innate curiosity about the diversity of people and their interactions with each other and their environments while engaging in research that enhances our abilities to resolve complex social and environmental issues. My intellectual interests span scales that include individual households, communities, watersheds, regions, and nations. I also am an ardent believer in an interdisciplinary approach to framing and exploring research questions.
Phone/Address
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CZO Publications
Papers/Books
2019
Geostatistical analysis of historical contingency and land use footprints in the prehistoric settlement dynamics of the South Carolina Piedmont, North America. Coughlan, Michael R., and Donald R. Nelson (2019): Journal of Archaeological Science 107: 1-9
2018
Influences of Native American land use on the Colonial Euro-American settlement of the South Carolina Piedmont. Coughlan, Michael R., and Donald R. Nelson (2018): PLoS ONE 13(3): e0195036
2017
Historical land use dynamics in the highly degraded landscape of the Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory. Coughlan, Michael R., Donald R. Nelson, Michael Lonneman, and Ashley E. Block (2017): Land 6(2), 32
Papers and books that explicitly acknowledge a CZO grant are highlighted in PALE ORANGE.
Other CZO Publications
2019
What is soil? An integrative exploration of a Critical material. Nelson, Donald R, Michael R Coughlan, Amilcare M Porporato, Daniel deB. Richter (2019): American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 9-13, 2019
2019
Land use trajectories: an empirical analysis of smallholders and the forest transition in the South Carolina Piedmont. Nelson, Donald, and Michael Coughlan (2019): Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting, Portland, OR, March 19-23, 2019
2018
Gone with the witness tree: A reconstruction of historical forest cover change in the South Carolina Piedmont ca 1790-1940 using metes and bounds survey witness trees. Coughlan, M., D.R. Nelson, and M. Lonneman (2018): American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, New Orleans, April 10-14, 2018
2018
Anthropogenic drivers and the reconstruction of historical forest cover change in the South Carolina Piedmont ca 1790-1940. Nelson, D.R., M.R. Coughlan, and M. Lonneman (2018): American Geophysical Union 2018 Fall Meeting, Washington, DC, 10-14 Dec 2018
2017
Historical landuse dynamics in the highly degraded landscape of the Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory. Coughlan, Michael R., Donald R. Nelson, Michael Lonneman, and Ashley E. Block (2017): Calhoun CZO 2017 Summer Science Meeting, Union, SC, 17-18 May 2017
2017
Land use legacies in the Calhoun CZO: The implications of human behavior for Critical Zone processes. Nelson, Donald R., Daniel D. Richter Jr., Michael Coughlan, Michael Lonneman, Zachary Brecheisen (2017): Calhoun CZO 2017 Summer Science Meeting, Union, SC, 17-18 May 2017
2017
Calhoun CZO as an ancient geobiologic and land-use altered time machine. Richter, D. deB., J. Wang, R. Bras, D. Markewitz, D. Nelson, J. Austin, P. Schroeder, S.A. Billings, K. O’Neill, J. Giesen, W.S. Holbrook, and B. Carr (2017): Critical Zone Science: Current Advances and Future Opportunities, workshop in Arlington, VA, 4-6 June, 2017
2016
Human niche construction and legacy effects at the Calhoun CZO: The relationship of land use legacies and historical settlement patterns. Coughlan, M., and D. R. Nelson (2016): Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Athens, GA
2016
Transitioning from livelihood fire to fire suppression in the US Southeast: Causes and consequences of fire regime transition in two forested landscapes. Coughlan, M., D. R. Nelson, and T. Gragson (2016): International Fire Ecology and Management Congress, San Antonio, TX
2016
Human behavior and the CZO. Nelson, D.R. (2016): Calhoun CZO 2016 Summer Science Meeting, Clinton, SC
2015
Comparison of piedmont and mountain fire regimes during forest transition periods. Coughlan, M., and Nelson, D. (2015): Calhoun CZO 2015 Summer Science Meeting
2015
Transitioning from livelihood fire to fire suppression in the US Southeast: Causes and consequences of fire regime transition in two forested landscapes. Coughlan, M., D.R. Nelson, T. Gragson (2015): Fire Ecology and Management Congress, San Antonio, TX
2015
Multitemporal Human Forcings in the Calhoun CZO. Nelson, D., and Coughlan, M. (2015): Calhoun CZO 2015 Summer Science Meeting
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News
New paper on spatially explicit modeling of prehistoric land use footprints
07 May 2019 - Mike Coughlan and Don Nelson have a new paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Highlights include: Spatially explicit models of...
Calhoun CZO featured in Duke Magazine
14 Nov 2018 - How critical zone science unearths secrets: The new cross-disciplinary field of study concerns itself with the living skin of the Earth.
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