Philip Higuera: PaleoEcology and Fire Ecology Lab

Contact: Philip Higuera

Short description: Philip Higuera runs the PaleoEcology and Fire Ecology Lab, where post docs, graduate students, and undergraduate students study the interactions among climate, vegetation, and fire regimes over a range of spatial and temporal scales, in the past, present, and future. Most projects within the lab share a common theme of understanding ecological change over time, revealing patterns and processes unobservable over human life spans, providing context for ongoing environmental change, and helping anticipate the consequences of future environmental change. Current projects are focused on arctic tundra and boreal forests in Alaska, subalpine forests in Colorado and Tasmania, Australia, and low-elevation forests in the Northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest.

There are currently opportunities for undergraduates to pursue research in the following topics:

• Fire history in Alaskan tundra ecosystems, Colorado subalpine forests, or Tasmanian (Australia) subalpine forests.
  
• Climate-growth relationships in white spruce trees from Alaskan boreal forests
• Charcoal dispersal from wildfires in Alaskan boreal forests
  

For more information about past and ongoing research in the lab, you can visit the home page for the PaleoEcology and Fire Ecology Lab.