| Research
Interests:
1.
Sustainable forestry and comparative ecology of tropical
forest trees
Tree
species differ in their responses to selective logging,
forest fragmentation, and other anthropogenic impacts on
forest ecosystems. Ongoing research in forest ecosystems
in Malaysia and Central Africa focuses on these issues,
through a combination of comparative survey studies in extant
forests, retrospective studies of logging impacts, and experimental
manipulations. The primary sites for this research are in
Malaysia (Pasoh Forest Reserve, Peninsular Malaysia and
Sepilok Forest Reserve, Sabah), and the Ituri Forest region
of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
2. Management impacts on temperate forest plant communities
The
responses of plant communities to various aspects of forest
management are of central concern in ecological forest management.
Studies completed in Douglas-fir forests of Western North
America have focused on (1) the effects of silvicultural
thinning and nitrogen fertilization on vascular understory
plant communities, making use of long-term factorial experiments
established by Weyerhaeuser Co. in the 1960s and '70s; (2)
changes in understory plant diversity and community composition
with stand age and through multiple rotations. Current research
is examining management effects on understory plant communities
and regeneration patterns of timber species at Haliburton
Forest and Joker's Hill Ecological Reserve, located in central
and southern Ontario, respectively. Management variables
of interest include selection-system forest harvesting and
additions of lime and non-nitrogenous mineral nutrients.
3. Forest canopy biology
Work
in both tropical forests and old-growth Douglas-fir forests
has focused on canopy structure and photosynthetic carbon
gain in forest canopies (see: http://depts.washington.edu/wrccrf/).
Canopy projects in Ontario focus on Haliburton Forest, site
of the longest suspended forest canopy walkway in North
America (see http://www.haliburtonforest.com/). This work
includes studies of canopy structure and physiology, microclimate,
and arthropod diversity in mixed hardwood forests in Ontario.
Current experiments examine the responses of large canopy
trees to silvicultural interventions, including selection
harvesting and soil amendments in the form of dolomitic
lime and non-nitrogenous mineral nutrients.
Honours
& Awards
Premier's
Research Excellence Award, Province of Ontario
Univ. of Toronto Forestry Grad. Student Assoc. Award for
Excellence in Teaching
National Science Foundation Environmental Biology Fellowship
Maria Moors Cabot Foundation Fellowship, Harvard University
National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship
National Institute of Health Genetics Training Grant
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