Established in 1967 as the Forest Soils Lab at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, our team studies Alaska's boreal forest response to variation in weather and environment.
We are also a shared use facility that supports UAF staff, students, and faculty.
Job opportunities, click here
Our research focuses on the ecophysiological and ecohydrological responses of Interior Alaska's boreal forest to variations in weather, soil properties, and plant community composition.
The boreal forest experiences a lot of variation in seasonal weather conditions, including warm air temperatures and high variability in precipitation. This can lead to longer growing seasons, more wildfires, and intense insect outbreaks. To predict how the boreal forest will respond to variable weather conditions, we need to integrate our understanding of how forests responded to environmental stressors in the past with how forests are responding to current environmental stressors.
The field of Ecophysiology looks at plant, soil, or ecosystem physiological responses, like photosynthesis and water use, to climate, soil conditions, and other factors. Ecohydrology looks at how ecosystems use water from day-to-day, over a season, and over the years, and how this water use impacts soils, weather, and streams.
Specific things we research include how plants use, store, and move water to the atmosphere. This water use impacts many things that are external to the plant, like drying the soil and wetting the atmosphere (contributing to creating clouds and rain). Measuring water use informs us about how the plant is responding to a variety of weather conditions, including very dry and very wet periods. Are they tolerating it, thriving in it, or shutting down? How do different species and plant types (shrubs, deciduous trees, evergreen trees) respond?
We also explore how the timing of water availability and climate conditions affects plant growth, like wood growth and leaf development. We have sensors that let us know precisely when trees start and end their growth for that year. We are finding that changes in weather are impacting how much the trees are growing and when they start and stop.
Click here to learn about all our current projects.
We are applying our data and knowledge about to inform people as to when they should harvest trees for firewood. Since the amount of water in trees varies over the year, the better times to harvest are those when the tree is naturally dry. This reduces the amount of time needed to dry the split and stacked wood before burning it to heat their homes.
Click here to learn about the firewood project.
Our team attended the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in Washington DC. Jessie Young-Robertson presented research on Alaska's bark beetle outbreak; Sam Dempster presented findings on the historic and long-term water isotope dataset collected by the FSL; Kat Mahon presented findings on the spectral properties and physiology of the impact of the leaf miner on Aspen leaves.
Our team attended the fall American Geophysical Union meeting in 2022. Sam Dempster presented his URSA (Undergraduate Research & Scholarly Activity) research and was fully funded to attend with travel grants from URSA and Alaska Fire and Ice Epscor program. Jessie Young-Robertson presented her research on boreal tree water use and her work on wellbeing of people working in STEM fields. Her travel was fully funded by the Alaska Fire and Ice Epscor program and the Office of the Provost faculty travel grant program.
Jessie, Nathaniel, and Sam contributed artwork to IARC's 1st Friday event on December 1st, 2023. Nathaniel displayed cross sections of two tree cores (alder and white spruce), with staining that highlights the xylem cells. Jessie displayed three drawings of the complex Alaskan landscape, with some hidden critters. Sam displayed magnified and stained images of leaf surfaces that highlight their stomata and cells. More art can be found here.
