I am broadly interested in ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, forest soils, and climate change causes and consequences in northern environments.  As these interests pre-date my move to the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1996, I am indeed fortunate to live and work among my favorite ecosystems.  In joining the School of Agriculture and Land Resources Management, my research is extending into issues concerning natural resource use in the boreal forest of interior Alaska.

The major thrust of my research program now is to learn more about how boreal ecosystems respond to two similar yet contrasting disturbance types:  fire and logging.  The former has been a major driver of boreal forest dynamics, probably since before forest species occupied Alaska's interior.  The latter has become increasingly important since the turn of the century, and its future in diversifying Alaska's economy seems increasingly bright.  While logging can mimic wildfire in several respects, several important differences have been identified while others have not.  We know that fire alters soil biology and chemistry directly (through converting forest floor to ash) and indirectly (through warming soils and reducing root uptake of nutrients and water).  In addition, Olle Zackrisson and Marie Charlotte-Nilsson have shown that charcoal left by fire can also play a major role in mediating inhibiting chemistry generated by understory species on tree species in Swedish forests.  This rather surprising result has caught my interest, and I am now trying to identify how important this mechanism may be in Alaskan boreal forests, and through what soil processes it primarily operates.