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Biological and Environmental Influences on Forest Health and Productivity

We work to provide conceptual and applied tools to maintain and improve the health and productivity of wild, rural, and urban forests. The need for these tools has become more urgent as both the social pressures and the expectations for goods and services continue to increase.

The sustainability of forests and the products, activities, and environmental services we derive from them depend on healthy trees and ecosystems. Disturbances that kill or destroy trees, including fire, storms, native pests and diseases, as well as logging and the subsequent recovery process, can help maintain and improve forest health and productivity. Some of these same disturbances as well as non-native pests and diseases, pollution, and climate change threaten forest health and productivity. We investigate how trees and forests benefit from or are endangered by forest fungi, disease, pollution, and extreme weather conditions.  

Non-native disease pathogens pose special threats due to the frequent lack of natural defenses in the tree and the lack of competitors and parasites. Changes in the chemical environment both above- and belowground can threaten tree nutrition and the ability of trees to respond to the natural range of environmental stress imposed by drought and extreme weather.

We work to provide conceptual and applied tools to maintain and improve the health and productivity of wild, rural, and urban forests. The need for these tools has become more urgent as both the social pressures and the expectations for goods and services continue to increase.

More Information

This site is under development as the Forest Service brings together the Northeastern and North Central Research Stations to form the Northern Research Station, serving the Northeast and Midwest. The links below will take you to pages of the old sites for the The Role of Environmental Stress on Tree Growth and Development; Center for Forest Mycology Research; Forest sustainability and tree response to injury, infection and environmental change; and Understanding & Managing Diseases in Forest Ecosystems units that combined to form the Biological and Environmental Influences on Forest Health and Productivity research work unit. Check back often as we expand our site to reflect our combined commitment to supporting the natural resources and people of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States.

Research Topics

Keystone processes that we investigate include (1) response of trees to stress from normal seasonal change, episodic exposure to drought and cold, and chronic changes in atmospheric and soil chemistry; (2) the relationship of pathogen and vector epidemiology across the scale from molecules to landscapes; (3) linkage of the identity and relatedness of forest fungi to processes of tree health, disease, and soil fertility; (4) elements of an early warning system to identify potential candidates as invasive species; and (5) the role of forest management in resisting or aggravating native and introduced diseases.

Research Areas

• Physiology, detection, and remediation of tree stress
  
• Acid rain and red spruce winter injury
  
• Physiological role of seasonal coloration of deciduous foliage
  
• Biogeochemistry of decaying wood, soil, and living trees
  
• Cold-hardiness and the restoration of American chestnut
  
• Compartmentalization, tree survival, and wood quality
  
• Prediction, risk assessment, prevention, detection, monitoring, and management of invasive diseases
• Habitat restoration in the aftermath of pest and pathogen invasion
• The potential of wood-inhabiting fungi as invasive species
  
• Relationship of forest disease to forest management and land use practices
• Oak health in the Midwest
  
• Taxonomy and identification of important wood decay fungi
  
• The role of wood decay in preventing forest fire