Research Interests
I study natural and cultural disturbances of forest ecosystems across a broad range of temporal and spatial scales. I use dendrochronology (tree rings) in combination with other natural archives and documentary sources to reconstruct the histories of fire, insect outbreaks, human land uses, and climate. My research is aimed at improving basic understanding of the history and dynamics of forests and woodlands, particularly for applications in ecosystem management. My students, collaborators and I are currently studying disturbance and climate histories in the Southwestern U.S., northern Mexico, Sierra Nevada of California, Northern Rockies of Idaho and Montana, Blue Mountains of Oregon, Southern Rockies in Colorado, Patagonia region of Argentina, and the Central Plateau of Siberia, Russia.
Current Dendroecology Research Team:
Chris Baisan, Senior Research Specialist
Erica Bigio, MS Graduate Student (currently Fulbright Scholar in Switzerland)
Don Falk, Adjunct Associate Professor of Dendrochronology
Calvin Farris, PhD Graduate Student, Geography & Regional Development
Mark Kaib, PhD Graduate Student, Arid Lands Studies
Troy Knight, PhD Graduate Student, Geography & Regional Development
Keith Lombardo, PhD Graduate Student, Geography & Regional Development
Ellis Margolis, PhD Graduate Student, School of Natural Resources
Teaching
I currently teach colloquia and seminars, give guest lectures in a number of courses, and I present invited lectures annually at several training and continuing education courses for professional fire and natural resource managers around the state. I also team teach (with Don Falk) a summer short course. In addition to this involvement in courses, during most years I typically mentor and teach about 4 to 8 graduate students as a major advisor, and I serve on thesis or dissertation committees for another 6 or more graduate students.
Courses I currently teach:
GEOS/WSM 595E Topics in Dendrochronology (variable units, Spring or Fall depending on graduate student interest)
 | FireClimatology: A statistical investigation of the relations between regional climate and fire occurrence over the past several centuries. We will use tree-ring reconstructions of climate and fire history from the Southwestern United States and the Sierra Nevada of California. Objectives are to (1) learn methods of statistical analysis of tree-ring and document-based records of fire occurrence and climate, (2) learn about sources of tree-ring climate and fire history data and their unique characteristics, and (3) investigate possible relations between seasonal to decadal patterns of fire occurrence and climatic variability. |
| Dendroentomology: Readings and discussions are focused on the use of tree-rings to reconstruct forest insect outbreak history, and the implications of this research to to disturbance ecology, forest ecology, population ecology, and global change studies. |
| Dendroecology: A two week summer course on fundamentals of dendrochronology and applications in ecology. Labs and overnight field trip included. |
I taught the following two courses before assuming the Directorship of LTRR in 2000, and I currently give 1 or two guest lectures in GEOS 464/564 each year:
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GEOS/ANTH/WSM 464/564 Introduction to Dendrochronology (4 units, Fall): Survey of dendrochronological theory and methods. Applications to archaeological, geological, and biological dating problems and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Emphasis on dating methods, developing tree-ring chronologies, and evaluating tree-ring dates from various contexts. Field trips. |
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GEOS 220 Environmental History of the Southwest (3 units, Fall): Environmental and cultural history of the Southwest emphasizing discovery of the past using historical science techniques of tree-ring and packrat midden analyses and repeat photography. |