Currently I'm working on two main research projects with an excellent team of researchers (Kevin Griffin from LDEO-Columbia, David Tissue from Texas Tech, Bill Schuster from the Black Rock Forest, David Whitehead from Landcare Research NZ, and Matthew Turnbull from the University of Canterbury in NZ).
Collectively we are examining the physiological and structral controls on carbon and water fluxes from two forests - one in the Hudson Highlands area of New York state, the other on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
Look for many posters and talks by the LDEO/NZ/BRF crew at this summer's IUFRO - Forest Canopy Processes meeting in Oregon.
The Black Rock Forest
Cascade Brook Watershed (CBW) in the BRF, March 2000
1999 Research
| Stand inventory in higher and lower elevations in the CBW. |
| Inter-tree, intra-tree and inter-species variation in photosynthesis, respiration, leaf structure and leaf biochemistry in Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra L.), Red Maple (Acer rubrum L.) and Chestnut Oak (Quercus prinus L.). Research was done in plots at the higher and lower elevation stands in the CBW-BRF. |
| Micrometeorological and Northern Red Oak tree sap flow data were also collected by one of K.Griffin's PhD students, Vic Engel. |
2000 Research
| Additional stand inventory, and research on inter-tree, intra-tree and inter-species variation in respiration in Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra L.), Red Maple (Acer rubrum L.) and Chestnut Oak (Quercus prinus L.). Research was done in plots at the higher and lower elevation stands in the CBW-BRF (referred to as the "high" and "low" sites). A tower is being built for improved canopy access. |
| Soil CO2 efflux in both stands from the "high" and "low" sites |
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Detailed descriptions of LAI,
light penetration, and possibly even some measures of canopy
architecture Proposal summary: Remotely sensed images of the upper canopies of the "high" and "low" stands were acquired in late June to create a species-specific canopy map and partition the canopy into "sun foliage" and "other" (for use in integrative models that scale leaf level observations to the canopy). |
Most recently - a Columbia undergrad, Judith van Baers, and I completed a soil characterization of our Black Rock Forest field sites. Here is a summary of our findings:
Summary of results for soil cores taken at the high (H) and low (L) sites in Cascade Brook in Black Rock Forest. The significance of the Levene test is to test the equality of variances between sites. P-values from independent t-tests are shown, using the equal-variance or unequal-variance results, depending upon the Levene's test results.
SITE
N Mean s.d. s.e.m. Levene's
P-value
Water content H
8 32.589 2.798 0.989 0.009
0.004
(percent) L
8 49.687 11.496 4.065
pH (3:1 ratio) H
8 3.48 0.052 0.018 0.037
0.028
L
8 3.89 0.419 0.148
Rock volume H
8 13.491 6.739 2.383 0.202
0.004
(cm3) L
8 4.009 3.874 1.370
Rock density H
8 13.491 6.739 2.383 0.202
0.004
(g cm-3) L
8 4.009 3.874 1.370
Root volume H
8 4.598 1.221 0.432 0.366
0.951
(cm3) L
8 4.554 1.548 0.547
Root density H
8 0.554 0.174 0.062 0.933
0.613
(g cm-3) L
8 0.601 0.186 0.066
Soil Bulk Density H 8 0.523 0.082
0.029 0.065 0.693
(g cm-3) L
8 0.562 0.256 0.091
Okarito Lagoon, Westland, New Zealand
1999 Research
| Stand inventory of the mixed-podocarp forest (see CURRENT link for a stand visualization system picture of the Okarito stand) |
| Inter-tree, intra-tree and inter-species variation in photosynthesis (light and CO2 curves) and leaf biochemistry in rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum), rata (Metrosideros umbellata), quintinia (Quintinia acutifolia) and kamahi (Weinmannia racemosa). (see CURRENT link for gas exchange results) |
| Canopy structure, shoot clumping and light penetration at fixed locations on a grid in the Okarito mixed species stand. These data will be used to estimate the Leaf Area Index (LAI) of the stand. |
Please read about my teaching philosophy, goals, and courses of interest. teach.pdf (Adobe Acrobat *.pdf file). Although I'm currently working as a full-time researcher, becoming an undergraduate educator is still my primary vocational goal.
The following is a course I
designed. I wanted to provide an integrative approach, combining
elements of ecophysiology, community ecology and ecosystem science
for this class. In addition to my "Trees: Structure and Function"
class, I am also interested in teaching the following courses:
plant physiology, forest ecology, plants and microclimate, a non-majors
environmental topics course, and vegetation topics in remote sensing.
(Please do not use this material without permission)
Trees: Structure and Function (Adobe
Acrobat *.pdf file)
In addition to the new crew I'm collaborating with, I've been fortunate to work with and amazing assortment of people, especially my doctoral advisor, Dr. Tom Hinckley. My dissertation committee were the first five people listed below.
Dr. Tom Hinckley, Univ. of WA
Dr.
Liz Van Volkenburgh, Univ. of WA
Dr.
Linda Brubaker, Univ. of WA
Dr. E. David
Ford, Univ. of WA
Dr.
Barbara Bond, Oregon State Univ.
Dr. Reinhart Ceulemans,
Univ. of Antwerpen
Dr.
Tim Martin, Univ. of FL
Dr. Dar Roberts,
Univ. of CA - Santa Barbara
Dr. Susan Ustin, Univ.
of CA - Davis
Mr. George Scheer, Univ.
of CA - Davis
Dr. Stephane Jacquemoud,
Univ. of Paris VII - Jussieu
Dr. Ram Oren,
Duke University
Dr.
Nalini Nadkarni - Evergreen State Univ.
Dr. Angela Ginorio
- Univ. of WA
Ms.
Stephanie Bohlman - Univ. of WA
Dr.
Wen-Hao Li - Univ. of WA
Dr.
Robin Weeks - Univ. of WA
Tree Physiology
- the journal online
Ecological Society of America
Ecology
WWW page - lots of links!
University of WA - College
of Forest Resources
Western
Regional Climate Center
Everything
you ever wanted to know about WAVELETS,
(but were afraid to ask)
The Seattle Chapter of
AWIS, the Assoc. for Women in Science
The Society for Ecological Restoration
The Nature Conservancy
USGS' main online
map source = excellent!
Long-term
Ecological Research Network
IUFRO
International
Poplar Meeting - Portland 2000!
Lots of useful
poplar links here
USDA's
very helpful general plants website - descriptions, species
names, etc.
| BRF, June 1999 |
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SITE |
High | -24.209 | 0.435 | -22.433 | 0.21 | -22.983 | 0.163 |
| Low | -28.013 | 1.414 | -22.564 | 0.422 | -24.047 | 0.194 | |
Soil efflux units = umol m-2
s-1,
collected w/ Li-6400 w/ D.Tissue's soil efflux
chamber
High Site data from 031300, 12 - 3pm,
the day
after 1.5" rain. Cold clear sunny windy conditions.
(Click on the site names for a JPG.)
n min max
mean se sd
EFFLUX 44 0.451 1.450 0.961 0.050 0.331
TSOIL_C 44 3.530 5.820 4.621 0.095 0.629
CO2 efflux mean
SITE n min max
mean se sd soil
temp
tower_1 4 0.467 0.568 0.503 0.022 0.045 3.91
tower_2 5 0.638 0.900 0.805 0.045 0.102 5.10
tower_3 5 0.649 0.704 0.675 0.009 0.021 4.56
tower_4 5 0.451 0.580 0.506 0.025 0.055 4.03
scaff_rm5 5 1.220 1.380 1.322 0.029 0.064 4.50
scaff_nro6 5 1.130 1.280 1.212 0.024 0.054 4.17
vacc_7 5 1.300 1.450 1.388 0.029 0.064 4.60
crown_8 5 0.907 0.957 0.940 0.009 0.020 4.85
moss_9 5 1.130 1.280 1.208 0.032 0.070 5.76
