Neil D. Nelson

Title: Research Plant Physiologist*
Unit: Institute for Applied Ecosystem Studies: Theory and Application of Scaling Science in Forestry
Previous Unit: Physiological Mechanisms of Growth & Multiple Stress Responses in Northern Forest Trees
Address: Northern Research Station
5985 Highway K
Rhinelander, WI 54501-9128

*Please note that this person is no longer an employee of the Northern Research Station.

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Education

• University of Wisconsin, Ph.D. Plant Physiology, 1973
• University of Wisconsin, M.S. Soils, 1968
• Iowa State University, B.S. Forestry, 1966

Civic & Professional Affiliations

Society of American Foresters, American Society of Plant Biologists, Rotary International

Current Research

I returned to the Forest Service and the Rhinelander Forestry Sciences Lab in 2004, after an 18-year hiatus in the private sector and academia. I am a Research Plant Physiologist and Project Leader in the Physiology Unit at Rhinelander. Our work has three thrusts: (1) developing a more predictable understanding of how a changing global atmospheric environment affects the functioning of forest trees and ecosystems, (2) determining physiological and biochemical mechanisms related to tree stress responses, and (3) determining critical physiological and genetic considerations as the bases for new forest management practices. Focus areas include the Aspen FACE (Free-Air Carbon Dioxide and Ozone Enrichment Experiment), located on our Harshaw Research Farm, and Short-Rotation Intensive Culture (SRIC) of Populus for fiber and bioenergy production and environmental remediation. I serve on the Aspen FACE steering committee, which sets research, safety, and management policy for the experiment, a DOE FACE User Facility. My current personal research at Aspen FACE includes collaboration with scientists within and outside the Forest Service in gas exchange experiments and in the recommendation and measurement of physiological parameters for inclusion in the ECOPHYS growth model. Other current personal work includes advanced gene discovery for carbon sequestration, a study tied to the International Populus Genome Project, and an experiment in collaboration with RWU NE-4505 in Durham, NH, on biochemical stress indicators in Aspen FACE trees. I also am working on an infrastructure project at the Rhinelander Lab: the development and completion of an indoor controlled stress facility that can be used for a wide variety of projects.

Why is This Important

The Aspen FACE project is measuring the direct effects on northern hardwood forests of the increased atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (a substrate for photosynthesis)and ozone (a pollutant) expected by 2050. The data is needed by air quality regulators to set ozone controls and by forest managers to plan for possible large changes in tree species composition and growth rates. The SRIC research on poplars is necessary to develop highly productive plantation crops for fiber needed for a vibrant forest products industry in the northern states, to cost effectively remediate polluted soils, and to develop energy crops to launch a large new bioenergy industry in the United States.

Future Research

I plan to continue all current personal research areas. Research on bioenergy feedstock production will increase in emphasis. In addition, through collaboration with others, I hope to bring a range of additional genetics studies into our climate/atmospheric change research, ranging from the whole tree to the molecular level. I also plan to continue an effort in collaboration with the Landscape Ecology (NC-4153) unit at Rhinelander to develop a cooperative institute on scaling our site-level research to landscape, regional, and global scales. This will entail the multi-disciplinary development of scaling theory, relationships, and techniques with the other Rhinelander unit and visiting scientists.

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