Graduate Exit Seminar

Priscilla Nyamai will present her Graduate Exit Seminar on Monday, June 10th beginning at 9:00 a.m. in 333 Kottman Hall. Her presentation will be Factors Affecting Regeneration Layer Dynamics in Mixed-pine Forest Ecosystems of Eastern Upper Michigan and Implications for Forest Ecosystem Restoration. 

The structure and composition of mixed-pine forest ecosystems across the Lake States region has been significantly altered due to changes in the natural fire regime, with legacies including shifts in species composition, inadequate regeneration of historically dominant pine species (red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) and eastern white pine (P. strobus L.)), and accumulation of fuels outside of the natural range of variation. Although there are increasing efforts by scientists and land managers to develop restoration prescriptions to enable these ecosystems to persist across the landscape, there are considerable knowledge gaps in our understanding of the effects of fire history on regeneration dynamics in current stands, and the viability of proposed alternative silvicultural techniques to address restoration and fuel reduction objectives in naturally regenerated mixed-pine forests across the Lake States. I discuss my findings from three studies in mixed-pine ecosystems in eastern Upper Michigan, examining I) the role of fire history, fuels, and overstory characteristics on regeneration layer dynamics, 2) initial regeneration and ecosystem responses to variable retention harvesting as restoration and fuel reduction technique, and 3) stand-related factors that influence regeneration layer dynamics post-harvest treatments.