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Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Understanding Ecosystems for a Sustainable Future

Quantitative Ecology

Principal Investigator

mcmahons@si.edu

443-482-2262

Curriculum Vitae

Forest Dynamics: from Tissues to Biomes

IPMs can be used to create forest growth and survival models to produce an understanding of forest populations and communities

Integral Projection Models
This project seeks to measure the structure of forest canopies throughout the world using a portable LIDAR instrument.

LIDAR Studies of Canopy Structure
This project maps the spatial distribution of more than 33,000 live and dead woody stems with diameters of at least 1.0 cm in the SERC Forest Dynamics Plot.

Spatial Dimensions of Forest Dynamics
Tree growth can be difficult to measure, but it is imperative to understanding forest stability and function. We measure trees in a variety of ways to better understand forest function and stability.

Tree Growth
We are working to model rare mortality events to better understand this aspect of forest dynamics

Tree Mortality
We are studying the timing of growth to understand the importance of seasonal patterns and how they are adjusting to a changing climate

Tree Phenology