Seminar and Events Schedule

Modeling wood properties: approaches, challenges, and future directions

David Auty
Associate Professor
School of Forestry
Northern Arizona University

Abstract

Statistical, conceptual, and inferential models have many applications in forestry, ecology, biology, and related fields. These include understanding physiological processes, investigating relationships between variables (e.g., tree growth and climate), and predicting the effects of forest management on intrinsic wood properties and product performance. Integrating these diverse approaches into a unified modelling framework is difficult because wood properties have many sources of variation at multiple scales: within and among trees, species, sites, and larger geographies. The wide range of silvicultural practices available to managers   add complexity to patterns in wood properties variation.

In this presentation, Dr Auty will discuss his research in the field of wood properties modelling, including the various methodological approaches designed to consider the effects of silvicultural practices, and the development of wood properties ‘stem maps’. He will highlight some recent technological innovations which facilitate direct or indirect measurement of wood properties. He will demonstrate the importance of developing open-source tools (statistical or otherwise) that can inform forest management decision-making. Finally, he will discuss some current projects he is working on, as well as some potential developments in wood properties research, including integration of wood properties predictions into forest growth and yield models, which are intended to facilitate landscape-scale predictions of wood and fiber characteristics.

Bio and Research Interests

Dr David Auty is an associate professor in the School of Forestry at NAU. He earned his MSc in Forest Ecology at the University of Edinburgh in 2006 and his PhD in Forest Science at the University of Aberdeen in 2011. After graduating he spent three years as a postdoctoral scholar at Laval University in Quebec City. His research interests focus on understanding the effects of forest management activities on wood properties variation at multiple scales. He has worked on diverse species globally, including Scots pine (Scotland), Sitka spruce and western hemlock (Alaska), black spruce and white spruce (Canada), loblolly pine (southeastern US), Douglas-fir (northwestern US), mixed northern hardwood forests (Canada), temperate mixed forests (northeastern China), and ponderosa pine (southwestern US). He is interested in the use of acoustic tools and other nondestructive techniques to assess wood properties and is a co-author of the R package “lidR”.

Google Earth Engine Skills Training

If you plan to participate in the Google Earth Engine Skills Training, you must have a GEE account. It’s best to request an account a few days before the training. You can sign up HERE: https://earthengine.google.com/noncommercial/

Pat Burns

GEODE Lab

School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems

Northern Arizona University

Abstract

Petabytes of geospatial data are being collected/produced every day and cloud-computing services are enabling efficient global analyses. Google Earth Engine has been the leader in this realm for over a decade, with many analyses of high-impact societal issues. The Earth Engine platform combines Google’s massive computing infrastructure with a vast and ever-growing geospatial data catalog. Most users interact with the platform using either the javascript or python API. In this technical session we’ll focus on the interactive, web-based Code Editor which uses the javascript API. We’ll work through a few example scripts that explain the fundamental data structures (Images, Features, Collections, Geometries, and Dictionaries) and commonly-used algorithms (filtering, reducing, mapping, and exporting). Lastly, we’ll check out a few example Earth Engine Apps which can make complex datasets/code more accessible and impactful for non-experts.

Using social science to encourage inclusive conservation

Nia Morales

Assistant Professor

Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

University of Florida

Abstract

The incorporation of social sciences in conservation is still relatively new. However, the social sciences play an important role in describing and understanding human thought and behavior as a means to improve the management of natural resources. Human dimensions (or conservation social science) can also help to address diversity, equity, justice, and inclusion issues by allowing researchers to better understand the underlying systemic inequities that drive certain behaviors or actions and to encourage decisions that provide benefits for diverse communities. This talk will highlight areas of inquiry within the conservation social sciences that are contributing to a more inclusive discipline.

Bio and Research Interests

Dr. Nia Morales is an assistant professor of human dimensions of wildlife in the University of Florida’s Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Department (WEC) where her teaching and research generally focus on the role of social science in the conservation of fish and wildlife as well as issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in conservation. Dr. Morales received her Bachelor’s and PhD from the University of Florida in WEC and has a Masters of Environmental Education from Florida Atlantic University. Previous to her faculty role, Dr. Morales was head of the Center for Conservation Social Science Research within the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, where she led a team of social scientists that provided support for the development and implementation of social science inquiry that helped FWC better understand the complex relationships between humans and the management of natural resources.