AFERP Educational
Opportunities
AFERP provides opportunities
for undergraduate research and functions as an in-the-field classroom for forest
scientists, university students, and professional forest resource
managers. Several undergraduate senior
capstone projects have addressed aspects of forest ecology and management in
AFERP research areas. In 2002, Lance
Case analyzed deadwood data collected using fixed-area sampling on permenant plots to characterize spatial pattern in the deadwood
distribution. The dataset was too coarse
in spatial resolution to estimate the parameters of spatial dependence required
to conduct spatial analysis. Although
Lance was unable to generate suitable spatial models, his work helped motivate
adoption of line-intercept sampling to replace the fixed-area inventory. Sarah Lemin in 2004
worked on aging naturally-generated canopy gaps (multiple-tree gaps) using
radial growth increases (i.e. releases) detected from increment cores taken
from trees within gap areas. She
concluded that analyzing increment cores for release dates is an effective and
nondestructive method for aging natural gaps in AFERP research areas. In spring 2006, the forest operations senior
class collaborated on a capstone project looking into the operational feasibility
of expanding-gap silviculture for research areas
treated with a second experimental entry during winter 2006. What the forest operations students found was
that the expanding-gap method is economically feasible and likely more
attractive to the small forest landowner.
In the spring of 2007, UMaine senior and
former AFERP employee Stacy Trosper analyzed data
from AFERP’s deadwood inventory of research area 1 to
describe the spatial distribution of downed deadwood volume for her Honor’s
Thesis. Stacy’s research established a
protocol for characterizing the spatial distribution of deadwood, which will
provide fodder for developing hypotheses on the ecological importance of
sub-stand level structure and its relation to expanding-gap silviculture. Since its inception, AFERP research areas
have been used for field trips to inform university students and faculty and
professionals about the ecological effects of the expanding-gap method.
Caption: Undergraduate members of the