Our lab is led by Professor Dominik Kulakowski, and investigates the complex interactions between climate, land use, and natural disturbances in mountain forest ecosystems across the United States and Europe. Under the direction of Professor Kulakowski, the lab supports rigorous research and is equipped with a suite of field and lab equipment that supports experimental and observational research on forest ecosystems.
-
Field Instrumentation: Our inventory includes RTK-enabled Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), GPS units, forest canopy densitometers, and near-surface microclimate sensors.
-
Dendroecology: We utilize specialized equipment for long-term growth analysis, including increment borers, sanding units, Velmex Tree Ring Measuring Systems, and CDendro semi-autonomous processing.
-
Geospatial Analysis: We employ advanced computation for remote sensing and modeling using industry-standard and open-source workflows (ArcGIS, QGIS, TerrSet, WebOpenDroneMapping, and Agisoft Metashape), alongside custom scripting in R and Python.
Our research focuses on:
-
Disturbance Dynamics: The causes and consequences of events such as wildfires and insect outbreaks.
-
Climate Impacts: Understanding tree mortality, forest dieback, and ecosystem feedbacks under climatic variability.
-
Future Resilience: Strategies for the management and resilience of ecological systems in the Anthropocene.