Exploring Oregon Fire Ecology Dynamics

Graduate Student Name: 
Claire Tortorelli
Faculty mentor/Supervisor: 
Meg Krawchuk
Email Address (Faculty mentor/Supervisor): 
Department Affiliation: 
Forest Ecosystems & Society
Job Location: 
Corvallis , OR
Description of project or research opportunity: 
This research opportunity combines projects from two PhD student’s studies focused on understanding forests, fire, and ecology dynamics in Oregon. My project, the invasive grass-fire project, is investigating how invasive species alter fire regimes and plant community dynamics in eastern Oregon by performing field research in burned and unburned invaded ecosystems. Andrew Merschel’s project is focused on reconstructing historic fire regimes in central Oregon through field data collection and tree ring processing and analysis.
Tasks student will perform: 
For the invasive-grass project, the student will have the opportunity to identify plants to species, weigh invasive species biomass in a laboratory setting, enter and perform quality control on data, and potentially collect field data from invaded and burned ecosystems. The dendrochronology project will provide the mentee with a course in tree ring science and provide the opportunity to perform tasks including preparing and analyzing dendrochronological (tree ring) samples including tree cores and fire-scarred cross sections.
Special skills required: 
No special skills are required
Proposed dates of employment (must be between June 19 and September 4): 
Monday, June 22, 2020 to Friday, September 11, 2020
Anticipated hours worked per week: 
8-12