EFFECTS OF DISTURBANCE HISTORY ON FOREST STRUCTURE

Anne Rhoads , Ph.D. Candidate

My dissertation research began at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. My colleagues and I quantified the recovery of the forest canopy following the ice storm of January 1998. My research has since expanded to examine the impact of multiple disturbances on the composition and structure of the northern hardwood forest across the White Mountain region of New Hampshire . The project emphasizes a comparison of the long-term impacts of natural and anthropogenic disturbances and focuses on the role of past land use practices. My work combines the use of long-term ecological research and current fieldwork and examines the role of past agriculture, forest harvesting, the ice storm of 1998, the hurricane of 1938, and beech bark disease. The agricultural component of my dissertation has revealed dramatic long-lasting legacies that have become the dominant forest types in the region. These data are helping to inform the successional model for the northern hardwood region, and may, in fact, redefine our current theories.