Core Faculty

Daniel W. Schneider

Professor of Urban and Regional Planning
PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1990


Dr. Schneider is an ecologist whose research focuses on the effects of disturbances on aquatic ecosystems. By applying knowledge of how natural perturbations affect ecosystems he seeks to predict the effects of human disturbances.

His research extends from work on the zebra mussel and its effects on the Great Lakes and Mississippi River ecosystems, to the effects of changes in flood regime on riverine wetlands, to historic effects of settlement and changing land use on the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay region.Dr. Schneider has also worked on aquatic ecology and water resources issues in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Mexico.

His teaching covers ecological applications to planning, watershed planning, and the historical ecology of human settlement. He also has an appointment in the Section for Aquatic Ecology and Conservation at the Illinois Natural History Survey.

Contact Information
Room M220, Temple Buell Hall
611 Lorado Taft Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: 217.244.7681
Fax: 217.244.1717
E-mail: ddws@illinois.edu

Current Research Areas

  • Ecology and restoration of floodplain rivers
  • Science and citizen participation in environmental planning
  • Environmental history of Illinois River
  • Ecology and management of invasive species
  • Wetland ecology
  • Environmental planning in Mexico

Selected Publications

Schneider, D.W., J.A. Stoeckel, C.R. Rehmann, K. D. Blodgett, R. E. Sparks, D. K. Padilla.  2003.  A developmental bottleneck in dispersing larvae: implications for spatial population dynamics.  Ecology Letters 6:352-360.

Rehmann, C.R., J.A. Stoeckel, and D.W. Schneider.  2003.  Effect of turbulence on the mortality of zebra mussel veligers. Canadian Journal of Zoology 81:1063-1069.

Henne, L.J., D.W. Schneider, and L.M. Martinez.  2002.  Rapid Assessment of Organic Pollution in a West-central Mexican River Using a Family-level Biotic Index.  Environmental Planning and Management 45:613-632.

Schneider, D.W.  2000.  Local Knowledge, Environmental Politics and the Founding of Ecology in the United States: Stephen Forbes and ?The Lake as a Microcosm' (1887). Isis 91: 681-705. 

Schneider, D.W. 1999. Snow-melt ponds in Wisconsin. Influence of hydroperiod on invertebrate community structure. In: D. Batzer, R. Rader and S. Wissinger (eds). Invertebrates in freshwater wetlands of North America: Ecology and management. J. Wiley. In press.

Schneider, D.W., C.D. Ellis and K.S. Cummings. 1998. A transportation model assessment of the risk to native mussel communities from zebra mussel spread. Conservation Biology 12:788-800.

Stoeckel, J.A., D.W. Schneider, L.A. Soeken, K.D. Blodgett and R.E. Sparks. 1997. Propagule dynamics of a riverine metapopulation: Implications for zebra mussel recruitment, dispersal and control in a large-river system. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 16:586-601.

Schneider, D.W. 1996. Effects of European settlement and land use on patterns of similarity of Chesapeake forests. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 123:223-239.

Schneider, D.W. 1996. Enclosing the floodplain: Resource conflict on the Illinois River, 1880-1920. Environmental History 1(2):70-96.

Schneider, D.W. and T.M. Frost. 1996. Habitat duration and community structure in temporary ponds. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 15:64-86.

Daniel W. Schneider