Current Research

My current research focuses on the sustainability, biodiversity, and fire ecology of mixed-oak forests. Field sites are located primarily in the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau of southern Ohio.

• Long-term effects of prescribed fire. We are studying how repeated prescribed fires have altered the structure and regeneration of mixed-oak forests, over 13-years. We are particularly interested in how vegetation responds across the landscape and how fire has altered gap-phase regeneration. Collaborators: Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, Daniel Yaussy, Joanne Rebbeck, and Robert Long.
• Fire and Fire Surrogates Study: We are documenting how fire and thinning, alone and in combination, alter forest structure, regeneration and the herbaceous-layer of mixed-oak forests. Collaborators: Daniel Yaussy, Louis Iverson, Brian McCarthy.
• The use of shelterwood harvests, prescribed fire, and herbicides to promote oak regeneration. This study is investigating the use of spring growing-season fires and targeted herbicide application to improve the competitive status of oak regeneration in conjunction with shelterwood harvests. Collaborator: Joanne Rebbeck.
• The invasive tree Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven) in a managed forest landscape. At Tar Hollow State Forest, we are studying 1) the distribution of Ailanthus in relation to landscape attributes, prescribed fire, and timber harvesting, and 2) the direct effects of fire on Ailanthus. Collaborators: Joanne Rebbeck, Louis Iverson, Daniel Yaussy.
• Other ongoing studies:
• A common garden study of how oak and maple litter affect fire behavior (collaborator: Matthew Dickinson).
• Fire history of the Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest (collaborators: Robert Long, Elaine Kennedy Sutherland).
• The vascular flora of the Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest: 50 years of change (collaborators: Marilyn Ortt, Richard Gardner).
• Response of herbaceous communities in forests impacted by emerald ash borer (collaborators: Kathleen Knight, Alejandro Royo, Robert Long).

Research Interests

Future potential research projects include:

• Predictive mapping of presettlement vegetation in southern Ohio (collaborator: James Dyer)
• 70-years of forest change in Neotoma, Hocking Hills, Ohio (collaborator: Ralph Boerner).
• Competitive interactions between sassafras and oak in response to fire and partial harvesting (collaborator: Joanne Rebbeck)

Education

• Ohio State University, Ph.D. Ecology
• Miami University, M.S. Botany
• University of Louisville, B.A. Biology

Professional Organizations

• Ecological Society of America
• Torrey Botanical Society
• Society of American Foresters

Featured Publications & Products

• Dey, Daniel C.; Royo, Alejandro A.; Brose, Patrick H.; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Spetich, Martin A.; Stoleson, Scott H. 2010. An ecologically based approach to oak silviculture: a synthesis of 50 years of oak ecosystem research in North America.
• Hutchinson, Todd F., ed. 2009. Proceedings of the 3rd fire in eastern oak forests conference.
• Iverson, Louis; Hutchinson, Todd; Prasad, Anantha; Peters, Matthew. 2009. Oak regeneration across a heterogeneous landscape in Ohio: some limited success after thinning, two fires, and seven years.
• Hutchinson, Todd; Long, Robert; Ford, Robert; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy. 2009. Fire history and the establishment of oaks and maples in second-growth forests.

Publications

• Dyer, James M.; Hutchinson, Todd F. 2019. Topography and soils-based mapping reveals fine-scale compositional shifts over two centuries within a central Appalachian landscape.
• Hanberry, Brice B.; Bragg, Don C.; Hutchinson, Todd F. 2018. A reconceptualization of open oak and pine ecosystems of eastern North America using a forest structure spectrum.
• Iverson, Louis R.; Peters, Matthew P.; Bartig, Jarel L.; Rebbeck, Joanne; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Matthews, Stephen N.; Stout, Susan. 2018. Spatial modeling and inventories for prioritizing investment into oak-hickory restoration.
• Rebbeck, Joanne; Hutchinson, Todd; Iverson, Louis; Yaussy, Daniel; Fox, Timothy. 2017. Distribution and demographics of Ailanthus altissima in an oak forest landscape managed with timber harvesting and prescribed fire.
• Iverson, Louis R.; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Peters, Matthew P.; Yaussy, Daniel A. 2017. Long-term response of oak-hickory regeneration to partial harvest and repeated fires: influence of light and moisture.
• Dickinson, Matthew B.; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Dietenberger, Mark; Matt, Frederick; Peters, Matthew P.; Yang, Jian. 2016. Litter Species Composition and Topographic Effects on Fuels and Modeled Fire Behavior in an Oak-Hickory Forest in the Eastern USA.
• Hutchinson, Todd F.; Rebbeck, Joanne; Stout, Susan L. 2016. The devil is in the small dense saplings: A midstory herbicide treatment has limited effects on short-term regeneration outcomes in oak shelterwood stands.
• Rebbeck, Joanne; Kloss, Aaron; Bowden, Michael; Coon, Cheryl; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Iverson, Louis; Guess, Greg. 2015. Aerial detection of Ailanthus altissima: a cost-effective method to map an invasive tree in forested landscapes.
• Huebner, Cynthia D.; Steinman, Jim; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Ristau, Todd E.; Royo, Alejandro A. 2014. The distribution of a non-native (Rosa multiflora) and native (Kalmia latifolia) shrub in mature closed-canopy forests across soil fertility gradients.
• Huebner, Cynthia D.; Hutchinson, Todd; Ristau, Todd; Royo, Alejandro; Steinman, James. 2012. Documenting the Regional and local distribution of Kalmia latifolia and Rosa multiflora in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania Forests along a soil fertility gradient.
• Hutchinson, Todd F.; Yaussy, Daniel A.; Long, Robert P.; Rebbeck, Joanne; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy. 2012. Long-term (13-year) effects of repeated prescribed fires on stand structure and tree regeneration in mixed-oak forests.
• Hutchinson, Todd F.; Long, Robert P.; Rebbeck, Joanne; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy; Yaussy, Daniel A. 2012. Repeated prescribed fires alter gap-phase regeneration in mixed-oak forests.
• Rebbeck, Joanne; Hutchinson, Todd; Iverson, Louis; Yaussy, Daniel; Boyles, Robert; Bowden, Michael. 2010. Studying the effects of management practices on Ailanthus populations in Ohio forests: A research update.
• Hutchinson, Todd F.; Long, Robert P.; Ford, Robert D.; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy. 2008. Fire history and the establishment of oaks an maples in second-growth forests.
• Waldrop, Thomas A.; Yaussy, Daniel A.; Phillips, Ross J.; Hutchinson, Todd A.; Brudnak, Lucy; Boerner, Ralph E.J. 2008. Fuel reduction treatments affect stand structure of hardwood forests in Western North Carolina and Southern Ohio, USA.
• Iverson, Louis R.; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Prasad, Anantha M.; Peters, Matthew P. 2008. Thinning, fire, and oak regeneration across a heterogeneous landscape in the eastern U.S.: 7-year results.
• McEwan, Ryan W.; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Ford, Robert D.; McCarthy, Brian C. 2007. An experimental evaluation of fire history reconstruction using dendrochronology in white oak (Quercus alba).
• Phillips, Ross; Hutchinson, Todd; Brudnak, Lucy; Waldrop, Thomas. 2007. Fire and fire surrogate treatments in mixed-oak forests: Effects on herbaceous layer vegetation.
• McEwan, Ryan W.; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Long, Robert P.; Ford, Robert D.; McCarthy, Brian C. 2007. Temporal and spatial patterns in fire occurrence during the establishment of mixed-oak forests in eastern North America.
• McEwan, Ryan w.; Hutchinson, Todd; Ford, Robert; McCarthy, Brian C. 2006. Experimental evaluation of fire history reconstruction using dendrochronology in white oak (Quercus alba).
• Hutchinson, Todd. 2006. Fire and the herbaceous layer of eastern oak forests.
• Yaussy, Daniel A.; Hutchinson, Todd; Dickinson, Matthew B.; Rebbeck, Joanne. 2006. Fire research on the Raccoon Ecological Management Area.
• Rebbeck , Joanne; Yaussy, Daniel; Iverson, Louis; Hutchinson, Todd; Long, Robert; Bova, Anthony; Dickinson, Matthew. 2006. Use of temperature-sensitive paints as an index of heat output from fire.
• Hutchinson, Todd F.; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy; Yaussy, Daniel A. 2005. Effects of repeated prescribed fires on the structure, composition, and regeneration of mixed-oak forests in Ohio.
• Artman, Vanessa L.; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Brawn, Jeffrey D.; Brawn, Jeffrey D. 2005. Fire ecology and bird populations in eastern deciduous forests.
• Hutchinson, Todd F.; Boerner, Ralph E.J.; Sutherland, Steve; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy; Ortt, Marilyn; Iverson, Louis R.; Iverson, Louis R. 2005. Prescribed fire effects on the herbaceous layer of mixed-oak forests.
• Iverson, Louis R.; Yaussy, Daniel A.; Rebbeck, Joanne; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Long, Robert P.; Prasad, Anantha M. 2004. A comparison of thermocouples and temperature paints to monitor spatial and temporal characteristics of landscape-scale prescribed fires.
• Hutchinson, Todd; Rebbeck, Joanne; Long, Robert. 2004. Abundant Establishment of Ailanthus altissima (Tree-of-heaven) after Restoration Treatments in an Upland Oak Forest.
• Iverson, Louis; Prasad, Anantha; Hutchinson, Todd; Rebbeck, Joanne; Yaussy, Daniel A. 2004. Fire and Thinning in an Ohio Oak Forest: Grid-Based Analyses of Fire Behavior, Environmental Conditions, and Tree Regeneration Across a Topographic Moisture Gradient.
• Sutherland, Elaine K.; Hutchinson, Todd F. 2003. Characteristics of mixed-oak forest ecosystems in southern Ohio prior to the reintroduction of fire.
• Yaussy, Daniel; Rebbeck, Joanne; Iverson, Louis; Hutchinson, Todd; Long, Robert. 2003. Comparison of a low-tech vs. a high-tech method to evaluate surface fire temperatures.
• Hutchinson, Todd F.; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy; Scott, Charles T. 2003. Composition and abundance of tree regeneration.
• Hutchinson, Todd F.; Rubino, Darrin; McCarthy, Brian C.; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy. 2003. History of forests and land-use.
• Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Yaussy, Daniel A. 2003. Introduction, study area description, and experimental design.
• Boerner, Ralph E. J.; Morris, Sherri J.; Decker, Kelly L. M.; Hutchinson, Todd F. 2003. Soil and forest floor characteristics.
• Iverson, Louis R.; Yaussy, Daniel; Rebbeck, Joanne; Hutchinson, Todd; Long, Robert; McCarthy, Brian; Riccardi, Cynthia; Prasad, Anantha. 2003. Spatial and temporal distribution of fire temperatures from prescribed fires in the mixed oak forests of southern Ohio.
• Yaussy, Daniel A.; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy. 2003. Structure, composition, and condition of overstory trees.
• Sutherland, Steve; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Windus, Jennifer L. 2003. Understory vegetation.
• Iverson, Louis R.; Hutchinson, Todd F.; Hutchinson, Todd F. 2002. Soil temperature and moisture fluctuations during and after prescribed fire in mixed-oak forests, USA.
• Sutherland, Elaine K.; Hutchinson, Todd F. 2002. The restoration of oak-hickory forests in the central hardwoods: results of a landscape-scale prescribed burning experiment in Ohio.
• Boerner, Ralph E. J.; Morris, Sherri Jeakins; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy; Hutchinson, Todd F. 2000. Spatial variability in soil nitrogen dynamics after prescribed burning in Ohio mixed-oak forests.
• Hutchinson, Todd F.; Boerner, Ralph E.J.; Iverson, Louis R.; Sutherland, Steve; Sutherland, Elaine Kennedy. 1999. Landscape patterns of understory composition and richness across a moisture and nitrogen mineralization gradient in Ohio (U.S.A.) Quercus forests.

Research Highlights

Highlight	Title	Year
NRS-2017-44	Insights from a 250-year history of fire in the Appalachian Plateau of Ohio and Kentucky In many eastern U.S. forests, undesirable shifts in tree species abundance are occurring. For oaks and pines, it is widely believed that the dec ...	2017
NRS-2012-36	Repeated Prescribed Fires Help Sustain Oak Regeneration in Eastern Forests Research findings can help managers in their quest to sustain this forest type throughout Eastern North America	2012
NRS-2016-170	Shift Toward Mesophytic Species in Oak Forests May Limit Fire Reintroduction Exclusion of fire from eastern mixed-oak forests is widely understood to be an important explanation for difficulty in regenerating oaks. Forest ...	2016
NRS-2015-147	The Devil is in the Details for Regeneration Success in Mixed-oak Forests To improve oak regeneration, Forest Service scientists are studying shelterwood harvest with herbicide and prescribed fire treatments. Although ...	2015