Forest Management and Conservation: Black Rock Forest
Thursdays, May 8, 15 (6:10-8:10PM) & Saturday, May 10 (9AM-4:30PM)
Forests are a vitally important habitat for much of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. They are sources of goods such as timber and food, and provide services as important as carbon storage and water filtration. However, forests worldwide are threatened by over-exploitation, conversion, climate change and invasive species. In this course taught by Matt Palmer, you will learn key issues in forest ecology and management through the local environment of Black Rock Forest. You will participate in an all-day field trip to Black Rock Forest to study how pathogens and other invasive species affect forest structure and function. Local observations are scaled up to consider how these issues affect forest conservation on a global scale.
Palmer is a faculty member in the department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology (E3B) at Columbia University. His research interests are based in plant community ecology, with emphases on conservation, restoration and ecosystem function. Palmer has done research on the effects of microtopography and plant interactions on centimeter-scale diversity patterns in ferns of the New Jersey Pinelands. He is currently doing research on the community dynamics and ecosystem functions of urban forests and green roofs, the population biology of rare plants and the effects of forest canopy disturbance on understory structure and function.
Interested in learning more? Contact: Desmond Beirne, manager of education programs
E-mail: eices@columbia.edu
Phone: 212-854-0149
Forest Management and Conservation is part of the Earth Institute Certificate Program in Conservation and Environmental Sustainability. Courses may be taken on an individual basis or you may pursue the full 12-course Certificate. Course tuition is $760 for the 2013-2014 academic year.
