Todd Hutchinson

Title: Ecologist
Unit: Sustaining Forests in a Changing Environment
Previous Unit: Quantitative Methods for Modeling Forest Ecosystems
Address: Northern Research Station
359 Main Road
Delaware, OH 43015
Phone: 740-368-0090
E-mail: Contact Todd Hutchinson

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Education

• Ohio State University, Ecology, Ph.D.
• Miami University, Botany, M.S.
• University of Louisville, Biology, B.A.

Civic & Professional Affiliations

Adjunct Faculty Member, Ohio University, Department of Environmental and Plant Biology

Current Research

My research focuses on the fire ecology of oak forests, in particular the effects of prescribed fire and silviculture on vegetation. I am studying the herbaceous layer response to thinning and prescribed fire at the Ohio Hills site of the national Fire and Fire Surrogates Study (FFS). Also a component of the FFS, I am examining the effects of deer browsing on herbaceous plant communities. In collaboration with Robert Long, I am documenting the relationship between historic fires and the recruitment of oaks and maples. In collaboration with Joanne Rebbeck, I am investigating the use of shelterwood harvests, herbicide, and prescribed fire to improve oak regeneration. I am beginning work on several new projects. Matthew Dickinson, Richard Hallet, Jennifer Pontius, and I have initiated a study that will examine the implications of expanding mesophytic trees on fuels and fire behavior in oak forests.

Future Research

A new project in collaboration with Brian Palik, Dan Dey, John Kabrick, and Robert Haight, will focus on identifying reference targets for restoration in three fire-dependent ecosystems

1. Great Lakes mixed-pine,
2. Ozark central hardwoods,
3. 3) Allegheny Plateau central hardwoods.

The project will employ historical (GLO land records) and current data sources.

Featured Publications

Additional Online Publications