Forest ecosystems provide a range of values and services, from regulating carbon, nutrient and water cycles to providing raw material for timber products, wildlife habitat and opportunities for recreation. Sustaining these values in the context of changes in climate, disturbance regimes and land use requires understanding and managing forests as complex adaptive systems.
Some current research themes we are pursuing related to this include:
We develop robust experimental and analytical frameworks to address these themes. Our studies have provided insights related to community assembly processes and associated ecosystems functions as well as methodological advances. However our research also has real-world implications for agencies, landowners and conservation organizations tasked with managing forests for a range of ecosystem services in an increasingly uncertain world. Please visit our research page for more information.
Some current research themes we are pursuing related to this include:
- Understanding how effects of disturbance and silvicultural forest management vary over space and time with climate
- Linking species composition and structure to ecosystem functions and services with trait-based models
- Determining whether, and how, forest ecosystem functions and services can be sustained over time in the face of changes in climate and disturbance regimes using silvicultural forest management
We develop robust experimental and analytical frameworks to address these themes. Our studies have provided insights related to community assembly processes and associated ecosystems functions as well as methodological advances. However our research also has real-world implications for agencies, landowners and conservation organizations tasked with managing forests for a range of ecosystem services in an increasingly uncertain world. Please visit our research page for more information.
|
Recent News:
************************************************************************* August 2021: We moved to Michigan Technological University! We are recruiting two new graduate students (MS/PhD) to join us in Houghton in 2022. For more information, please see our "Prospective Graduate Students" page. ************************************************************************** May 2021: The Science Behind Forest Carbon Sequestration: Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change: Dr. Burton participated in a legislative briefing sponsored by New York Senator Rachel May & New York Assembly member Anna R. Kelles in collaboration with colleagues at SUNY ESF and Cornell University May 2021: Our research looking at Silvicultural Strategies for Restoring American Chestnut was featured on the SUNY ESF Department of Sustainable Resources Management Blog, check out the post! January 2020: We are recruiting a MS and PhD student to join the lab. Read more about the positions here. October 2019: Matthew Hecking recently joined the lab at SUNY ESF. Matthew is working on his Masters of Science degree in Ecology and Ecosystems. September 2019: Jessika Pettit's first chapter from her MS (2018) was accepted for publication, congratulations Jessika! How did Engelmann spruce forests regenerate following severe bark beetle mortality? Did regeneration vary across a topoclimatic gradient? Read about it here. August 2019: We have landed in Syracuse and are getting things up and running on campus at SUNY-ESF! April, 2019: We are moving to SUNY-ESF! I expect to recruit 2 graduate students to join the lab over the next year. Research will focus on northeastern forests. Interested candidates should inquire with Julia (julia(dot)burton(at)usu(dot)edu). Looking forward to being back in the land of northern hardwoods, hemlocks, white pines (and loons). October, 2018: Julia participated in the Silviculture Instructors Tour and Society of American Foresters meeting in Oregon. The tour visited one of her research sites from the Density Management Study. Her presentation focused on developing models to project the effects of climate change on understory plant communities and associated ecosystem services for different management scenarios. August, 2018: Claudia Stout completes fieldwork in southern Colorado for the lynx project! July, 2018: Julia gave presentation in, and chaired, an interesting session on Functional Traits at the International Association for Vegetation Science meeting in Bozeman, MT. May 4, 2018: Jessika Pettit successfully defended her M.S., congratulations, Jessika! January 2018: Julia co-authors two conceptual papers resulting from North American Forest Ecology Workshop sessions organized by Chris Webster and Yvette Dickinson, and Bob Fahey. Read them here, and here. October 2017: Julia's paper on intraspecific trait variability is published in Functional Ecology, read it here. July 2017: Jessika completes fieldwork on the Markagunt Plateau. June 2017: Julia gives two presentations at North American Forest Ecology Workshop in Edmonton, Alberta. |
