Silviculture, applied forest health, invasive species

My research program focuses on silviculture and applied forest health. Topics of interest within these include invasive species, tree regeneration, response to fire and mechanical treatments, bark beetle management, multiaged management, and tree vigor/mortality.

Introductions of forest pests into new environments is not likely to stop, or even slow, in coming years. Research into ecological effects of these pests is integral to management and restoration of affected ecosystems, and is potentially valuable in preventative measures as well. I am interested in how forest ecosystems respond to new pests, and in the development of innovative management strategies used in restoration of affected ecosystems.

Forest stand dynamics in areas affected by white pine blister rust are of particular interest to me; current research in the Lake Tahoe Basin will shed light on the growth of sugar pine regeneration and lead to recommendations for managing stands to promote sugar pine recruitment into the overstory. Additionally, modeling fuel and fire behavior in these stands will help managers better understand the effects of fuel treatments.

White pine blister rust has been spreading through the Southwest in recent years, and my future research plans include the ecology and silviculture of white pines in the Southwest and the effects of both white pine blister rust and other agents on these important ecosystems.

Fire and fuel treatments are both important drivers of management and change in western forests; understanding how forests respond to these is important in directing future management. For example, does the use of prescribed fire in National Parks meet management objectives? What tree species composition and abundance do we find following different fire severities? These questions are part of two current research projects that myself and graduate students are working on.

Education

B.S., University of Montana, 1997
M.S., University of Montana, 2000
Ph.D., University of California-Berkeley, 2005
Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California-Berkeley, 2006

Contact Information

Selected Publications:

Fischer, M.J., K.M. Waring, R.W. Hofstetter and T. Kolb. Ponderosa pine characteristics associated with attack by the roundheaded pine beetle. Forest Science. In revision.

O’Hara, K.L., A. Youngblood, and K.M. Waring. Maturity selection vs. improvement selection:
Lessons from a Mid-20th Century controversy in the silviculture of ponderosa pine. Journal of Forestry. In revision.

Waring K.M., D.M. Reboletti, L.A. Mork, C. Huang, R.W. Hofstetter, A.M. Garcia, P.Z. Fulé, and T. S. Davis. 2009. Modeling the impacts of two bark beetle species under a warming climate in the Southwestern USA: Ecological and economic consequences.  Environmental Management. 44:824-835.
DOI 10.1007/s00267-009-9342-4

Waring, K.M. and K.L. O’Hara. 2009. Stand development and tree growth response to sugar pine mortality in Sierran mixed-conifer forests. Northwest Science. 83(2):89-100.

Battles, J.J., T. Robards, A. Das, K. Waring, J.K. Gilless, G. Biging and F. Schurr. 2008. Climate change impacts on forest growth and tree mortality: A data-driven modeling study in the mixed-conifer forest of the Sierra Nevada, California. Climatic Change. 87 (Suppl. 1): S193-S213.

Waring, K.M. and K.L. O’Hara. 2008. Redwood/tanoak stand development and response to tanoak mortality caused by Phytophthora ramorum. Forest Ecology and Management. 255: 2650-2658.

Waring, K.M. and K.L. O’Hara. 2006. Estimating relative error in growth ring analyses of second-growth coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 36: 2216-2222.

Waring, K.M. and K.L. O’Hara. 2005. Silvicultural strategies in forest ecosystems affected by introduced pests. Forest Ecology and Management. 209:27-42.

Waring, K.M. and D.L. Six. 2005. Distribution of bark beetle attacks following whitebark pine restoration treatments: A case study. Western Journal of Applied Forestry. 20(2):110-116.

Last Updated ( Friday, 20 November 2009 )