Pacific Northwest Research Station

Ecosystem Dynamics & Environmental Change Team (EDEC)

Becky Kerns, Team Leader
Forestry Sciences Laboratory
3200 SW Jefferson Way
Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone: (541) 750-7497

About Us

Our mission: To generate and communicate interdisciplinary knowledge about ecosystem dynamics and threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services stemming from fire, climate change, and other natural and human-caused disturbances and their interactions. We conduct research at multiple spatial scales by using a combination of empirical, experimental, and simulation modeling approaches.

Research Focus Areas

Climate change
Hydrologic system response to climate change, and threats to clean water.
Development of models and tools to better manage and mitigate carbon.
Ecosystem and species responses to historic and future climatic variability and change.

Watershed health and sustainability
Restoration of hydrologic and geomorphic systems to reduce threats to aquatic species.

Fire
Ecosystem dynamics and threats to social-ecological systems following wildfires.
Forest hydrologic responses following fires.
Biodiversity and ecological resilience to historical and novel disturbances in fire-prone dry forests.

Landscape assessment, modeling, and management
Potential climate change interactions with vegetation, disturbance and management, and development of adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Interactions between social-ecological drivers of landscape dynamics and animal communities. 

Team Members and Research Interests

Science Staff

Rebecca Kennedy, Research Ecologist: Landscape ecology, biodiversity and habitat relationships.
Becky Kerns, Team Leader/Research Ecologist: Terrestrial plant and disturbance ecology.
John Lehmkuhl, Research Wildlife Biologist: Ecosystem management strategies for dry forests.
David W. Peterson, Research Forester: Fire ecology, dry-forest restoration ecology, dendroecology.
Peter Singleton, Ecologist: Animal -habitat relationships, emphasizing spatial analysis.
Richard Woodsmith (Emeritus), Research Hydrologist: Geomorphic form, process, aquatic stream habitats. 
Michelle Buonopane, Biological Technician (term).

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