Research Interests
Research in my laboratory is directed at integrating
natural disturbance into plant community organization
and dynamics. Towards this end, the
strategy of my colleagues
and I has been to define the biophysical couplings between
disturbance processes and population processes.
The biomechanical aspects of ecological processes we
have examined are: the mechanics of tree-breakage and
uprooting by wind and snow avalanche; aerodynamics of
winged and plumed seeds; micrometeorological models of
wind dispersed seeds; wildfire heat transfer and effect
on individual plants.
We have also studied the population dynamics of forest
trees by estimating recruitment and mortality rates,
cohort and age structures over their
300-year life-span.
In order to carry out these cohort life tables we have
used dendrochronological techniques to date dead trees.
Additionally we
have been interested in the replacement
of canopy trees by understorey seedlings and saplings
(gap-dynamics).
Finally we have developed methods for determining spatial
and temporal changes in fire frequency, reconstructed
past fire behaviour, and coupled mid-tropospheric climate
patterns to fuel moisture lightning and large area burned
years.
My applied interests are in global climate change, biological
conservation, ecosystem and fire management. I am a member
of the NSERC Centres
of Excellence in Sustainable Forestry.
Part of NSERC Network of Centres of Excellence in Sustainable
Forest Management.
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