As part of a multi-year, multi-institution partnership with the USDA Forest Service, Michigan State University (MSU) is taking a leadership role in tree biomass equation development in the North Central region of the country. The nationwide forest inventory conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program provides estimates of changes in the nation’s forest biomass and carbon stocks, extrapolated from a national network of forest monitoring plots. Biomass equations are used to translate measurements of trees on FIA plots into estimates of nationwide forest carbon stocks, but the currently available national biomass equations are inaccurate or have unknown accuracy and do not reflect the diversity of trees and forests in America’s landscapes. The FIA program has launched a national-scale effort to obtain regionally-representative data to develop new tree biomass equations for the nation. The data will be used to developed new tree models for predicting forest biomass and carbon nationwide.
Dr. David MacFarlane, a professor of forest measurements and modeling at MSU, is seeking a graduate research assistant interested in working with him on this project. The work will include both field and laboratory measurements of trees and developing new tree models in a statistical computing environment. The research assistantship will be available starting August 15th, 2014, but start date is negotiable. Please contact him if you are interested (see below): Prof. David W. MacFarlane Director of Undergraduate Studies & Forest Measurements and Modeling Laboratory Department of Forestry Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824, USA phone: 1-517-355-2399 [email protected]
