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Environmental Science Faculty

David Parkhurst
Professor Emeritus

Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1970

Professor Parkhurst is a mathematical biologist, now retired from appointments in the Environmental Science and Policy group of SPEA, and in the biology department. He has worked on a wide range of research problems using mathematics and statistics in ecology, environmental science, and public policy.

Parkhurst's work includes development of a mathematical model for diffusion of carbon dioxide and other gases, including pollutants, inside leaves; he has used this model to study how leaf structure affects water loss and carbon dioxide uptake by plants in different environments. In public policy, he has investigated the use of formal decision analysis as a tool for choosing a cleanup level for a stream contaminated with PCBs. He has also shown that the methods of statistical hypothesis testing taken from basic science tend to be biased against protecting public health and the environment when used in setting public policy. His most recent work has considered ways to improve interpretation of statistical hypothesis tests, and demonstrated the usefulness of regression trees and associated random forests for exploring environmental responses in datasets with many explanatory variables.

Selected Publications
D.F. Parkhurst. 2006. Introduction to Applied Mathematics for Environmental Science. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, New York.

D.F. Parkhurst, G.F. Craun, and J.A. Soller. 2007. “Conceptual bases for relating illness risk to indicator concentrations”. In L.J. Wymer, ed., Statistical Framework for Recreational Water Quality Criteria and Monitoring. pp. 19-44. Wylie, New York.

Yeager RL, Parkhurst DF, Henshel DS. 2007. Graphical methods for exploratory analysis of complex data sets. Bioscience 57: 673-679.

D. F. Parkhurst, K. P. Brenner, A. P. Dufour, and L. J. Wymer. (2005). “Indicator bacteria at five swimming beaches—analysis using random forests.” Water Research, 39(7): 1354-1360.

D.F. Parkhurst. (2001). “Statistical significance tests: Equivalence and reverse tests should reduce misinterpretation.” Bioscience, 51:1051-1057.

M.M. Carreiro, R.L. Sinsabaugh, D.A. Repert, and D.F. Parkhurst. (2000). “Microbial enzyme shifts explain litter decay responses to simulated nitrogen deposition.” Ecology, 81:2359-2365.

D.F. Parkhurst. (1998). "Arithmetic versus geometric means for environmental concentration data. "Environmental Science and Technology,32:92A-98A.

D.F. Parkhurst. (1994). "Diffusion of CO2 and other gases inside leaves." New Phytologist, 126: 449-479.

K.A. Mott and D.F. Parkhurst. (1991). "Stomatal responses to humidity in air and helox." Plant, Cell and Environment, 14: 509-515.