Pacific Southwest Research Station

Nick Vaughn
Research Ecologist
nrvaughn@fs.fed.us
Phone: (808) 854-2645

Education

Ph.D. Forest Resources, 2011, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
M.S. Forest Resources, 2008, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
B.S. Forestry (Forest Management), 2001, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA

Research Interests/Duties

• Using modern remote sensing tools, such as Light Distancing and Ranging (LiDAR) and airborne or spaceborne imagers (AVIRIS, LANDSAT, etc) to study ecology of forests at a landscape and patch scale simultaneously.
• Quantitative/precision management of forests for optimizing the sustainable use of forest resources.

Current Emphases, Studies, Projects

• Long-term effects of fragmentation on the canopy structure of a montane tropical Hawaiian forest.
• Examining the spatial variation of canopy nitrogen in a fragmented forest system.

Selected Publications

• Vaughn, N. R., Moskal, L. M. and Turnblom, E. C. (2012). Tree species detection accuracies using discrete point LiDAR and airborne waveform LiDAR. Remote Sensing, 4(2), pp 377–403.
• Vaughn, N. R. and Moskal, L. M. (2010). Fourier transform of waveform LiDAR for species recognition - data requirements. Silvilaser 2010 Proceedings (22 pages). Freiburg, Germany.
• Vaughn, N. R., Moskal, L. M. and Turnblom, E. C. (2010). Fourier transformation of waveform LiDAR for species recognition. Remote Sensing Letters, 2(4), pp 347–356.
• Vaughn, N. R., Turnblom, E. C. and Ritchie, M. W. (2010). Bootstrap evaluation of a young Douglas-fir height growth model. Forest Science, 56(6), 592–602.
• McDonald, P. M. and Vaughn, N. R. (2007). Growth of thinned and unthinned hardwood stands on a good site in Northern California, General Technical Report PSW-GTR-204, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. Albany, CA.
• Vaughn, N. R. and Ritchie, M. W. (2005). Estimation of crown cover in interior ponderosa pine stands: effects of thinning and prescribed fire. Western Journal of Applied Forestry, 20(4), 240–246.