Research Themes

“Biochar” use in environmental restoration.

 

Ongoing research examines biochar use for environmental restoration and remediation of contaminated soils and in urban forestry. Specific projects under development will examine biochar use on mine tailings and industrial brownfields, and biochar to mitigate salt effects on urban tree plantings. In all cases studies include lab, greenhouse, and field components, and focus on the development of “designer” biochars for specific remediation purposes. A strong background in soil science and/or chemistry would be desirable for these studies (e.g., physical chemistry of sorption processes, metals bioavailability, physio-chemical characterization of porous materials).

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Greenhouse gas flux patterns in soils and trees.

 

Ongoing and planned work in this area focuses on fluxes of methane and nitrous oxide from forest soils and from urban and degraded environments, and also on methane and nitrous oxide flux from trees and other plants.

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Spatial ecology of temperate forest systems, and tropical-temperate comparative studies.

 

The lab initiated the first mapped forest “mega-plot” in North America, 13.5-ha plot in old-growth forest along a lake margin at Haliburton Forest in central Ontario with ~50,000 trees/plot mapped. The main motivations for the project are to understand the role of aquatic-terrestrial margins on forest diversity and dynamics, to examine relationships between soil factors and tree distributions and growth patterns, and as basis for parameterization and testing of remote sensing tools and forest simulation models. We are also specifically examining patterns and drivers spatial variation in soil greenhouse gas fluxes at this site. The plot was established in collaboration with the ForestGEO program coordinated by the Smithsonian Institution, and is the basis for large-scale comparative studies of temperate vs. tropical forests.

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