Scott Rupp
Assistant Professor of Forest Measurements and Inventory

Research Interests:
My interests are in ecosystem and landscape ecology emphasizing secondary succession, regeneration, and disturbance dynamics in subarctic and boreal forest. Much of my enthusiasm and excitement for science is directed toward the application of scientific knowledge to resource management issues. My research is directed toward documenting productivity and its controls at the level of individual trees and forest stands and studying the processes that make it possible to extrapolate these results to the landscape level. I have applied computer simulation models to address these issues for treeline ecosystems in northwestern Alaska. I am applying similar modeling constructs to boreal forest dynamics in Interior Alaska as part of the Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program. You can find out more at my research lab's website - Ecosystem Dynamics Modeling Group - including what my collaborators, programmers, and graduate students are doing.

Education

Professional Experience

Education

Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Minnesota (2000)
Ph.D. Forest Ecology, University of Alaska (1998)
B.S. Forest Science, Pennsylvania State University (1993)

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Professional Experience

2001-present: Assistant Professor of Forest Measurements and Inventory, Dept. of Forest Sciences, University of Alaska
1998-2001: Affiliate Assistant Professor, Dept. of Forest Sciences, University of Alaska
1997-2000: Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota
1998-1999: Instructor, Dept. of Forest Sciences, University of Alaska
1995-1997: Teaching Assistant, Dept. of Forest Sciences, University of Alaska
1993-1997: Graduate Research Assistant, Dept. of Forest Sciences, University of Alaska

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Current Projects

Fire-Mediated Changes in the Arctic System: Interactions of Changing Climate and Human Activities - National Science Foundation (Henry click here)
Development of a computer model for management of fuels, human-fire interactions, and wildland fires in the boreal forest of Alaska - Joint Fire Sciences Program
An integrated approach to understanding the role of climate-vegetation-fire interactions in boreal forests responses to climatic change - National Science Foundation
Modeling the role of high latitude terrestrial ecosystems in the arctic system: a retrospective analysis of Alaska as a regional system - National Science Foundation
Feedbacks between ecosystems and the climate system - National Science Foundation
Assessing the vulnerability of human populations to wildfire in the Lake States - US Forest Service (click here for preliminary results)
Understanding the interactions between climate, vegetation and fire in Alaska - US Bureau of Land Management
Evaluating influences of varied wildland fire regimes on caribou forage lichen abundance through state and transition models - US Geological Survey

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Classes

NRM 340 - Natural Resources Measurement and Inventory

NRM 694 - Regional Sustainability

Guest Lectures

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Recent Publications

KEANE, R.E., G.J. CARY, I.D. DAVIES, M.D. FLANNIGAN, R.H. GARDNER, S. LAVOREL, J.M. LENIHAN, C. LI, and T.S. RUPP. 2003. A classification of landscape fire succession models: spatial simulations of fire and vegetation dynamics. Ecological Modelling. Submitted.
DUFFY, P.A., J.E. WALSH, J.M. GRAHAM, D.H. MANN, and T.S. RUPP. 2003. Impacts of the east Pacific teleconnection on Alaskan fire climate. Climatic Change. Submitted.
HAIGHT, R.G., CLELAND, D.T., HAMMER, R., RADELOFF, V.C., and T.S. RUPP. 2003. Assessing fire risk in the wildland urban interface: the case of northern lower Michigan. Journal of Forestry. Submitted.
CHAPIN, F.S., III, T.S. RUPP, A.M. STARFIELD, L. DeWILDE, E.S. ZAVALETA, N. FRESCO, J. HENKELMAN, and A.D. McGUIRE. 2003. Planning for resilience: modeling change in human-fire interactions in the Alaskan boreal forest. Frontiers in Ecology. In Press.
KASISCHKE, E.S., T.S. RUPP, and D.L. VERBYLA. 2003. Fire trends in the Alaskan boreal forest. In: CHAPIN, F.S., III, J. YARIE, K. VAN CLEVE, L.A. VIERECK, M.W. OSWOOD, and D.L. VERBYLA, editors. Alaska's Changing Boreal Forest. Oxford University Press. In Press.
LLOYD, A., T.S. RUPP, C. FASTIE, and A.M. STARFIELD. 2003. Patterns and dynamics of treeline advance on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres. In Press.
TURNER, M.G., S.L. COLLINS, A.L. LUGO, J.J. MAGNUSON, T.S. RUPP, and F.J. SWANSON. 2003. Disturbance Dynamics and Ecological Response: The Contribution of Long-term Ecological Research. BioScience 53(1):46-56.
RUPP, T.S., A.M. STARFIELD, F.S. CHAPIN III, and P. DUFFY. 2002. Modeling the impact of black spruce on the fire regime of Alaskan boreal forest. Climatic Change 55: 213-233.
RUPP, T.S., R.E. KEANE, S. LAVOREL, M.D. FLANNIGAN, AND G.J. CARY. 2001. Towards a classification of landscape-fire-succession models. GCTE News 17: 1-4.
RUPP, T.S., F.S. CHAPIN III, and A.M. STARFIELD. 2001. Modeling the influence of topographic barriers on treeline advance of the forest-tundra ecotone in northwestern Alaska. Climatic Change 48: 399-416.
RUPP, T.S., A.M. STARFIELD, and F.S. CHAPIN III. 2000. A frame-based spatially explicit model of subarctic vegetation response to climatic change: comparison with a point model. Landscape Ecology 15: 383-400.
RUPP, T.S., F.S. CHAPIN III, and A.M. STARFIELD. 2000. Response of subarctic vegetation to transient climatic change on the Seward Peninsula in northwest Alaska. Global Change Biology 6: 451-455.
RUPP, T.S., F.S. CHAPIN III, and A.M. STARFIELD. 1999. LAII researchers model the response of sub-arctic vegetation to transient climatic change in Alaska. Witness the Arctic 7: 10.
RUPP, T.S. 1998. Boreal forest regeneration dynamics: modeling early forest establishment patterns in interior Alaska. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Alaska Fairbanks. Fairbanks, AK.
RUPP, T.S. 1997. A geographic model of white spruce establishment patterns in interior Alaska: Applied use and management implications. In: Proceedings, 17th Annual ESRI User Conference, San Diego, CA, July 8-11, 1997.
YARIE, J. and T.S. RUPP. 1997. Components of a geographic forest ecosystem model used for potential management of interior Alaska's forests. In: Forest management for bioenergy. Edited by P. Hajjila, M. Heino, and E. Puranen. The Finnish Forestry Research Institute. pp. 182-192.
RUPP, T.S. 1996. Landscape-level modeling of spruce seedfall using a geographic information system. In: Proceedings, Third International Conference/Workshop on Integrating GIS and Environmental Modeling, Santa Fe, NM, January 21-26, 1996. Santa Barbara, CA: National Center for Geographic Info. and Analysis.

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Forestry Events
Farthest North Forest Sports Festival - Powerpoint Slides

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Contact Information

Department of Forest Sciences
368 O'Neill Building
Box 757200University of Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775 USA

Tel: (907) 474-7535
Fax: (907) 474-6184

Email: scott.rupp@uaf.edu

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Last Revised: September 21, 2005