Nicanor Saliendra

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
Phone: 715-362-1127
E-mail: Contact Nicanor Saliendra

Jump to Publications

Education

• University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA, Ph.D. Agronomy and Soil Science, 1991
• University of the Philippines at Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines, M.S. Agronomy (Crop Production), 1984
• University of the Philippines at Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines, B.S. Agriculture (Agronomy-Plant Breeding), 1979

Civic & Professional Affiliations

Ecological Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America

Current Research

1. I am currently involved in three research projects: Testing the flux tower upscaling hypothesis at a regional scale in a complex landscape. In this NASA-funded project, we are deploying two roving eddy covariance systems to quantify carbon fluxes in clearcut and wetland sites. We aim to resolve the discrepancies regarding the carbon fluxes measured at the regional scale (using a 400-m tower with a footprint of a heterogenous landscape) and canopy level (using 30-m towers with footprints of old-growth and mature forests, and alder-willow wetland).
2. Modeling and scaling up the effects of tropospheric ozone (O₃) on forest productivity in northern Wisconsin. In this project funded by the North Central Station?s Integrated Programs, we are using high resolution (30-m pixel; species level) forest classification to model (with PnET-II) the impacts of tropospheric O₃ on forest productivity. Simulations of forest productivity will be used in a spatially explicit model (LANDIS-II) to study the role of tropospheric O₃ in forest succession.
3. Studying forest hydrology in response to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) and tropospheric O₃. In this project funded by the USDA National Research Initiative, we are using the Aspen FACE experiment near Rhinelander, Wisconsin to investigate the water balance of aspen and aspen-birch forests under ambient and elevated concentrations of CO₂ and O₃.

Why is This Important

Sustainable forest productivity is one of the key missions of the Forest Service.  A focus of my research is the non-destructive, real-time monitoring (using micrometeorological technique) of productivity across forest ecosystems such as old-growth and mature forests, clearcuts, and wetlands.  It is also essential to collect scientific data and understand the impacts of global climate change (such as elevated CO₂ and tropospheric O₃) on forest productivity, so that appropriate silviculture and ecosystem management practices are undertaken.

Future Research

I will continue my current research as enumerated above. I will pursue extramural funding through collaborative, inter-disciplinary research that will study the impacts of ecosystem management practices on transpiration, water balance, and carbon sequestration in northern Wisconsin.

Featured Publications