Current students working on this project
• Dom Ciruzzi, graduate student
• Brian Schlaff, undergraduate student
• Mike Krellwitz, undergraduate student
Research topics
• Groundwater
• Temperate forests (specifically red oak, big-tooth aspen, red pine, white pine, maple spp. trees)
• Climate change, drought resistance & vulnerability
• Implications for forest and water management & sustainability
Research methods
• Fieldwork (ecohydrological observatory, environmental monitoring)
• Numerical modeling
• Remote sensing
Research description
The overarching goal of this research is to evaluate groundwater as an ecosystem attribute that buffers potential adverse impacts due to changing drought regimes on temperate forests. We are investigating where, when (under what conditions), and how much groundwater trees are using in the temperate forests of northern and central regions of Wisconsin. In northern Wisconsin, we are working out of the Trout Lake Research Station and are studying the interactions among groundwater, forests, and drought. In central Wisconsin, we are studying the effects of drought and high-capacity pumping on groundwater resources and how these are impacting the growth response of forests.
Former students working on this project
Emiliano Rosel, undergraduate student
Patrick Dowd, post-bac researcher
Keith Lyster, undergraduate student
Robert Zabrowski, undergraduate student
Lorenzo Warrington, undergraduate student
Yeline DelCarmen, undergraduate student
Sativa Cruz, undergraduate student
Links to news stories and blog posts
[blog post, summer 2018] – Out of the Woods, Into the Trees: Trout Lake Research on the Streets of Fond du Lac
[blog post, summer 2018] – Pre-Dawn Fieldwork, Pancakes and Pixels: Study Aims to See the Forests and the Trees
[blog post, summer 2018] – Shotgun Sampling: Researchers Bag Leaves to Better Understand Trees’ Response to Drought
[news.wisc.edu] – WRI Researchers track groundwater usage by trees in key Wisconsin regions
[blog post, summer 2017] – Stuck between a hand drill and a hard place
[blog post, summer 2017] – Photo gallery of drought experiment
Funding
National Science Foundation (EAR-1700983)
UW Water Resource Institute (WR17R002)