Dr. Matt Cohen

Assistant Professor

Forest HydrologySchool of Forest Resources and

Conservation, UF/IFAS

Current Projects• Spatial Nutrient Loading to Newnans Lake (SJRWMD)

• Nitrogen Effects and Transformations in Spring Rivers (NSF & FDEP)

• Autogenic Ecosystem Feedbacks to Hydrology in the Everglades (USACoE)

• Water Resource Implications of Large Scale Bioenergy Production (UFWI)

• Examination of Wetland Regeneration under Mat Logging BMPs (USEPA)

Ichetucknee River

Idea for Future CFEOR Project

• “Fire and Water Feedbacks in Southeastern Managed Forests”

– Drs. Kobziar, Staudhammer

– How does fire (intensity and frequency) affect water yield?

– How does fire affect water quality?

– How does moisture regime affect combustion dynamics?

– Paired watersheds, BACI design

Submitted to NSF-DEB Jan. 2007 – not funded

Dr. Christina Staudhammer

Assistant Professor of Forest Biometrics

School of Forest Resources and Conservation, UF/IFAS

Current Projects• Wood to energy: utilizing wildland-urban interface fuels

for bioenergy (USDA FS)

• Differences in growth, yield, disease, and size distributions in pure- versus mixed-family stands of Pinus taeda and Pinus elliottii in the Southeastern US (FBRC)

• Stand structure of Pinus elliottii under different management regimes and simulated conversionscenarios (even-aged to uneven-aged) (start-up)

Ideas for Future CFEOR Projects• Fire and Water Feedbacks in SE Managed Forests (NRI – under

review) • Conversion of Even-aged Slash Pine Plantations to

Uneven-aged Slash Pine Stands: Implications for timber production, ecology, and fire risk (FL DOF – under review)

– Can a sustainable harvest be obtained under an un-even aged management regime?

– What is the cost differential? – What are the advantages/disadvantages? – What soils and/or drainage classes are most appropriate?

TheThe Wood to EnergyWood to Energy Outreach Program Outreach Program

• Increase awareness and knowledge about using woody biomass for heat, power, and electricity

• Foster communication, collaboration, cooperation among community leaders, biomass suppliers and potential users, forest managers, and others about the possibilities of wood for bioenergy

• Provide outreach strategies to communities as they begin to discuss new opportunities

• Wildland-urban Interface communities

Program Products• General Technical Report• Biomass Ambassador Guide• 16 Fact Sheets• 14 Case Studies• 13 Economic Profiles• Presentations• CD, Web site:

www.interfacesouth.org/woodybiomass

All outreach materials were designed based on public perceptions research and pilot tests.

How you can join

Florida has a team of Biomass Ambassadors developing outreach activities. You can…

Become an Ambassador

Distribute outreach materials

Encourage nearby communities to consider using wood for energy

Contact: Lauren McDonell; mcdonell@ufl.edu

or Martha Monroe; mcmonroe@ufl.eduwww.interfacesouth.org/woodybiomass

Assistant Professor of Fire Science and Forest Conservation

School of Forest Resources and Conservation, UF/IFAS

Dr. Leda Kobziar

David Godwin Graduate Student

School of Forest Resources and Conservation, UF/IFAS

Current Projects• Fire In the Juniper Prairie

Wilderness: Is it a viable tool for ecosystem management? (UF/IFAS Research Innovation Grant)

• Evaluation of remote-sensing, aerial photography, and ground-based field sampling to assess patterns of fire severity

• Creation of sand pine mortality models for predicting stand volume loss under various fire behavior regimes

• Linkage of Florida scrub jay response to fire severity patterns and vegetation recovery

Veg. recovery two months post-fire

Landscape patterns of burn severity; Aug. 2006

Ideas for Future CFEOR Projects

• Fire and Water Feedbacks in Southeastern Managed Forests (Proposal submitted to NSF last year, but not funded)

• The Impacts of Landscape Scale Wildfire Suppression Resulting from Large Fires Burning in Florida and Georgia (Proposal submitted to UF SNRE Seed Grant Fund; currently under review)

• Assessing the Efficacy of Wildfire Mitigation Treatments in Florida’s Wildland-Urban Interface (Proposal submitted to UF SNRE Seed Grant Fund; currently under review)

Bugaboo Fire, April 20th, 2007

Statewide Conservation Statewide Conservation Education Outreach Education Outreach Dr. Martin Main, FMNP Program LeaderDr. Martin Main, FMNP Program Leader

FMNP course offerings

3 separate courses

- Freshwater Wetlands

- Coastal Systems

- Upland Habitats

- ecological/conservation focus -

- 40 contact hrs/course -

FMNP participating counties

~150 Instructors 80 Organizations 47 Counties

> 3,500 FMNP GraduatesFMNP Course and Graduate Totals

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Dr. Selene Baez

Postdoctoral Associate Department of Zoology

Current Projects

• Dr. Emilio Bruna – WEC

• Regeneration in long-leaf pine savannas in Georgia – Gwen Iacona (PhD student)

• Dr. Michelle Mack – Botany

• Interactions between plant nutrient limitation and fire in scrub communities in Archbold reserve – Jenny Schafer (PhD student)

Ideas for Future CFEOR Projects

Research• Evaluate nutrient limitation in plant and arthropod communities in

slashpine savannas in the Ordway reserve– Forecast the effects of nutrient availability due to urban development in Florida– Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and micronutrients– Species diversity, community structure– Ecosystem functioning: productivity

• Perspectives for long-term experiments on nutrient and species diversity manipulations

– Future experiments within NEON (National Ecological Observation Network) – Cross-site research with LTER and ILTER sites– Opportunities for undergraduate students to conduct senior’s thesis– Graduate students research projects

Dr. Taylor Stein

Associate Professor of EcotourismSchool of Forest Resources and

Conservation, UF/IFAS

Co-director, CFEOR

Current Projects• Florida National Scenic Trail User Assessment and

Marketing Study (USDA Forest Service)

• Planning, Research, and Design of New OHV Recreation Areas (FL DOF)

• Understanding the Human Dimensions of OHV Recreation on the Ocala National Forest to Aid in Management and Planning (USDA Forest Service)

• Visitors’ Preferences and Economic Impact Assessment of OHV Recreation in Florida (FL DOF)

Ideas for Future CFEOR Projects

Research• Expand visitor assessment from FT hikers and OHV users to variety

of users– Motivations and preferences for opportunities– Acceptance and tolerance of management actions– Social, economic, and environmental impacts

• Benefits and costs to natural areas and communities• Identify new markets for public land recreation/tourism.

– Expand work conducted in 2000 with the FWC.– Minority groups, children, tourists, and others.

Outreach• Develop visitor and setting management guidelines for all

recreation use in conserved forests.• Develop planning procedures for new OHV areas.• Assist with community-based planning for nature-based

tourism.

Dr. Wendell CropperAssistant Professor of

Biological Process ModelingSchool of Forest Resources and Conservation,

UF/IFAS

Louise Loudermilk PhD Research Assistant

School of Forest Resources and Conservation, UF/IFAS

Current Projects• Modeling sustainable harvest of a tropical palm.

• Modeling nutrient uptake of pine forests; optimizing fertilizer inputs.

• Evaluation of forest simulation model sensitivity to climate change.

• Modeling longleaf pine population dynamics, fire regimes, and competition with oaks.

Ideas for Future CFEOR Projects

Research

1. Evaluate the above- and below-ground carbon budget of longleaf pine forests with frequent fires. (with the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center)

2. Forest management influence on spatial variation in understory fuels and forest dynamics in a frequent low intensity fire regime (Ordway-Swisher and Jones Center)

4 m

Dr. Shibu Jose

Associate Professor of Forest Ecology

School of Forest Resources and Conservation, UF/IFAS

Director, CFEOR

Current Projects• Management Options for Hardwood Forests of Florida:

Sustaining Timber production (FL DOF)

• Ecological Consequences and Impacts of Invasive Plants on southern forest ecosystems (ECIIP): A regionwide research and educational partnership (Seed grant through SFRP Inc.)

Ideas for Future CFEOR Projects• Management Options for Hardwood Forests

of Florida: Sustaining Timber production, Biodiversity and Wildlife Habitat (FL DOF)

• Developing an adaptive multifunctional uneven-aged management system for the longleaf pine sandhills and flatwoods of the southern U.S. Coastal Plain (Proposal submitted to USDA NRI last year, but not funded)

• Changing face of southern forests: Interactive effect of climate change, land conversions and invasive plants? (Proposal submitted to USDA NRI; currently under review)

Dr. Jason A. Smith

Assistant Professor of Forest Pathology

School of Forest Resources and Conservation, UF/IFAS

Current Projects• Evaluating red bay (Persea borbonia) for natural

resistance to Laurel Wilt Disease (U.S.F.S.)

• Function and ecological fitness costs of avirulence genes in the fusiform rust disease pathogen, Cronartium quercuum fsp. fusiforme (U.S.F.S./S.I.F.G.; RIF/IFAS)

AvrFr1 Fr1

Ideas for Future CFEOR Projects• Causes and incidence of oak

mortality in non-urban forests in Florida (DOF)

• Uneven-aged management and forest tree diseases

• Diversity and specificity of Armillaria root rots in Florida forests

Dr. Debbie Miller

Associate Professor of Plant Ecology

Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, West Florida Research and Education,

Center UF/IFAS

Current Projects

• Maritime forest and coastal scrub ecology and restoration

• Effects of community type, patch size and land use on Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica),

• Fire season effects on flowering and seed germination of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) sandhill grasses

Ideas for Future CFEOR Projects

• Assessing ecological impacts and invasive species threats in hurricane affected coastal systems• Integration of invasive species control and ground-cover restoration

Kimberly Bohn, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Forest Ecology and Silviculture

West Florida Research and Education Center- Milton, FL

School of Forest Resources and Conservation

Current Projects• Recovery and regeneration of forested wetlands

following timber harvest: Evaluation of Best Management Practices in Florida (Collaborator: Matt Cohen; Funding: EPA)

• Ecosystem recovery 10 years after harvest in North Florida bottomland systems (Funding: NCASI)

Ideas for Future CFEOR Projects

• Mapping Forest Structure in Longleaf Pine Ecosystems following Disturbance

• Modelling long-term responses to uneven-aged silviculture in longleaf pine ecosystems (part of a proposal with S. Jose to be re-submitted to USDA-NRI)

• Characterization of bottomland hardwood habitat for Ivory Billed Woodpecker (?)

Dr. Pat MinogueAssistant Professor of Silviculture

North Florida Research and Education Center, Quincy

Dr. Kimberly Bohn Assistant Professor of Silviculture and Forest EcologyWest Florida Research and Education Center, Milton

School of Forest Resources and Conservation, UF/IFAS

Current Projects• Use of low-volume, backpack directed sprays of

glyphosate, metsulfuron, and imazapyr herbicides for selective control of Japanese climbing fern (Lygodium japonicum) in Florida’s natural areas (FL DEP)– Objective:

• To examine the efficacy of amino-acid inhibitors (herbicides) applied alone and in combination for control of Lygodium japonicum and impacts on associated vegetation

• To evaluate application methods to minimize impacts to non-target vegetation

Study Progress

• Apalachicola River Terrace Sites– The Nature Conservancy Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravine Preserve– Torreya State Park

• Hurricane Damaged Lands– Northwest Water Management District– Jay Research Station, UF WFREC

• Application Methods– Joe Budd Wildlife Management Area– Blackwater State Park

Study Locations and Cooperators (Three studies, each at 2 locations)

• Applications are near completion and pre-treatment measurements have been made.

• Preliminary assessments will be done at 60 days after treatment and in the Spring of 2008.

• Meaningful results will be available at one and two years after treatment.

Dr. Tim Martin

Associate Professor of Tree PhysiologySchool of Forest Resources and Conservation, UF/IFAS

Co-director, Forest Biology Research Cooperative

Current Projects• AmeriFlux: Carbon sequestration

in plantation and non-plantation pine ecosystems; roles of forest structure, management, and disturbance (DOE, NSF, USFS)

• Carbon sequestration scoping project (FFA)

• FBRC: Pine plantation production ecophysiology (Industry)

• Interactions between wood quality and water relations (USFS, NSF)

• Genetic control of C allocation and hydraulics in Populus (DOE) Austin Cary Memorial Forest

Flux Tower

Ideas for Future CFEOR Projects

Research• Carbon sequestration and/or water balance effects

of non-plantation management options: – lengthened rotations– prescribed fire– uneven-aged systems– mixed-species systems