Dr. Adam T. Naito | Earth, Environmental and Geographical Sciences

Began teaching at NMU in 2020

Web page
Curriculum vitae
ORC-ID: 0000-0002-5100-4701

NMU Faculty Emerging Leadership Award recipient, 2024-2025
NMU Excellence in Teaching Award recipient, 2023-2024

McNair Scholars faculty advisor, 2024
Academic Senate, 2023-present
NMU Freshman Fellowship Program Mentor, 2022-2023
EEGS Assessment of Learning liaison, 2022-present

Areas of Specialization

Physical geography, landscape ecology, GIS and remote sensing applications, biogeography, environmental science, range and forest ecology, Earth systems science, fire ecology, simulation modeling

Education

BS, Geography, Penn State University
MS, Geography, Penn State University
PhD, Geography, Texas A&M University

Previous Appointments

Postdoctoral research associate, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, 2015-2020
Visiting assistant professor, Department of Geography, Texas A&M University, 2014-2015

Courses Taught

Research Interests

About Dr. Naito

As a geographer and landscape ecologist, Dr. Adam Naito integrates field work, Geographic Information Systems, remote sensing, and simulation modeling to improve our understanding of landscape-scale changes in vegetation and its implications for cross-scale interactions and ecosystem services in terrestrial systems. His work has spanned multiple environments, including the montane forests of northern California, Arctic Alaska, the Appalachian Mountains, Southwestern rangelands, and the North Woods and agricultural settings of the Upper Midwest. Outside of the classroom, he has employed and mentored ~110 undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom are now pursuing successful careers in Earth and Environmental Science-related fields at Federal and state agencies or are furthering their education.

Select Publications

15. Heilman P, Archer SR, Williams CJ, Scott RL, Goodrich DC, Collins CH, Naito AT, and Ponce-Campos G. 2024. The LTAR Grazing Land Common Experiment at Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed. Journal of Environmental Quality. DOI: 10.1002/jeq2.20643

14. Naito AT, Archer SR, Heilman P. 2024. Comparing the predictive capacity of allometric models in estimating grass biomass in a desert grassland. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 93:72-76. DOI: 10.1016/j.rama.2024.01.004

13. Archer SR, Naito AT, Heilman P, Vivoni ER, Scott RL. 2023. Prosopis velutina response to an aerial herbicide application. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 88:129-134. DOI: 10.1016/j.rama.2023.02.014

12. Margolis EQ, Guiterman CH, Chavardès RD, Coop JD, Copes-Gerbitz K, Dawe DA, Falk DA, Johnston JD, Larsen, E, Li H, Marschall JM, Naficy CE, Naito AT, Parisien M, Parks SA, Portier J, Poulos HM, Robertson KM, Speer JH, Stambaugh M, Swetnam T, Tepley AJ, Thapa I, Allen CD, Bergeron Y, Daniels LD, Fulé PZ, Gervais D, Girardin MP, Harley GL, Harvey JE, Hoffman KM, Huffman JM, Hurteau MD, Johnson LB, Lafon CW, Lopez MK, Maxwell RS, Meunier J, North M, Rother MT, Schmidt MR, Sherriff RL, Stachowiak LA, Taylor A, Taylor EJ, Trouet V, Villarreal M, Yocom LL, Arabas KB, Arizpe AH, Arseneault D, Tarancón AA, Baisan C, Bigio E, Biondi F, Cahalan GD, Caprio A, Cerano-Paredes J, Collins BM, Day DC, Drobyshev I, Farris C, Fenwick MA, Flatley W, Floyd ML, Gedalof Z, Holz A, Howard LF, Huffman DW, Iniguez J, Kipfmueller KF, Kitchen SG, Lombard K, McKenzie D, Merschel AG, Metlen KL, Minor J, O’Connor CD, Platt L, Platt WJ, Saladyga T, Stan AB, Stephens S, Sutheimer C, Touchan R, Weisberg PJ. 2022. The North American tree-ring fire-scar network. Ecosphere. DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4159

11. Vivoni ER, Pérez-Ruiz ER, Scott RL, Naito AT, Archer SR, Biederman JA, and Templeton NP. 2022. A micrometeorological flux perspective on brush management in an encroached Sonoran Desert grassland. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 313(108763). DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108763.

10. DeWeese GG, Lafon CW, Flatley WT, Aldrich SR, and Naito AT. 2021. Historical fire regimes and stand dynamics of xerophytic pine-oak stands in the Appalachian Mountains, Virginia, USA. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 112(2): 387-498. DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2021.1935206.

9. Harley GL, Baisan CH, Brown PM, Grissino-Mayer HD, Falk DA, Flatley WT, Hessl A, Heyerdahl EK, Kaye MW, Lafon CW, Margolis, EQ, Maxwell RS, Naito AT, Platt WJ, Rother MT, Saladyga T, Sherriff RL, Stachowiak LA, Stambaugh MC, Sutherland EK, and Taylor AH. 2018. Advancing dendrochronological studies of fire in the United States. Fire, 1(1): 11. DOI: 10.3390/fire1010011.

8. Lafon CW, Naito AT, Horn SP, Waldrop TA. 2017. A Review and Synthesis of Fire History in the Appalachian Region. US Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-219. Asheville, North Carolina: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 97 p. LINK

7. Myers-Smith IH, Elmendorf SC, Beck Pieter S, Wilmking M, Hallinger M, Blok D, Tape KD, Rayback SA, Macias-Fauria M, Forbes BC, Speed JDM, Boulanger-Lapointe N, Rixen C, Levesque E, Schmidt NM, Baittinger C, Trant AJ, Hermanutz L, Collier LS, Dawes MA, Lantz T, Weijers S, Jørgensen RH, Buchwal A, Buras A, Naito AT, Ravolainen V, Schaepman-Strub G, Wheeler J, Wipf S, Guay K, Hik DS, and Vellend M. 2015. Climate sensitivity of shrub growth across the tundra biome. Nature Climate Change 5(9): 887-891. DOI: 10.1038/nclimate2697

6. Myers-Smith I, Hallinger M, Wilmking M, Blok D, Klaassen US, Rayback S, Weijers S, Trant A, Tape KD, Naito AT, Dawes M, Rixen C, Wipf S, Wheeler J, Buchwald A, Baittinger C, Fauria MM, Levesque E, Boulanger-Lapointe N, Beil I, Ravolainen V, Schweingruber FH. 2015. Methods for measuring arctic and alpine shrub growth. Earth-Science Reviews 140: 1-13. DOI: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.10.004.

5. Naito AT and Cairns DM. 2015. Patterns of shrub expansion in Alaskan Arctic river corridors suggest a phase transition. Ecology and Evolution 5(1): 87-101. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1341.

4. Goldberg DW, Cockburn MG, and Naito AT. 2013. Chapter 4: Spatial Overlays. In Boscoe F (ed.) Geographic Health Data: Fundamental Techniques for Analysis. Wallingford, UK CAB International.

3. Naito AT and Cairns DM. 2011. Relationships between arctic shrub expansion and topographically-derived hydrologic characteristics. Environmental Research Letters 6(4): 045506. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/6/4/045506.

2. Naito AT and Cairns DM. 2011. Patterns and processes of global shrub expansion. Progress in Physical Geography 35(4): 423-442. DOI: 10.1177/0309133311403538.

1. Chen J, Roth RE, Naito AT, Lengerich EJ, and MacEachren AM. 2008. Geovisual analytics to enhance spatial scan statistic interpretation: an analysis of U.S. cervical cancer mortality. International Journal of Health Geographics, 7(57). DOI: 10.1186/1476-072X-7-57.

Select Funded Grants

Mittlefehldt S (PI), Richards K, Kitsos T, Naito AT, Lafferty D, and Van Grinsven MD. 2024. The Northern Woodshed Project. SISU Discovery Funding Proposal. Northern Michigan University. ($64,703).

Select Honors

Northern Michigan University Faculty Emerging Leadership Award recipient, 2024-2025
Northern Michigan University Excellence in Teaching Award recipient, 2023-2024
U.S. Senator Phil Gramm Doctoral Fellowship for outstanding teaching, research and mentoring, Texas A&M University, 2014

Select Professional Service Activities and Membership

Professional Associations

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS)
American Association of Geographers (AAG)
Ecological Society of America (ESA)
- Secretary-Treasurer, ESA Early Career Ecologists Section, 2022-2023
Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU)
International Association for Landscape Ecologists (IALE)
Phi Kappa Phi (PKP)
Society for Range Management (SRM)

Grant Proposal Reviews