Gregory McGee
Research
My research interests focus on understanding the effects of forest management practices and land-use history on forest biodiversity and ecosystem processes. I have quantified the relationship between disturbance regimes and northern hardwood forest structural heterogeneity (e.g., decaying logs, snags, decadent trees, root throws), and my colleagues and I are determining how these structural features influence the composition of vascular plant, bryophyte, lichen, mycorrhizal fungi, amphibian and invertebrate communities. This research is being applied to develop forest management guidelines that will more effectively maintain biodiversity while permitting the sustained yield of forest products.
Additionally, I’m investigating the capacity of forest herb and fungal communities to reassemble in seral forests that have established after agricultural abandonment. I am particularly interested in knowing whether the assembly of herb communities is constrained by herb dispersal limitations or by a lack of mycorrhizal associates in post-agricultural forests.
I also conduct research on forest biogeochemistry and have a particular interest in nutrient cycling processes within old-growth forests and the effects of excessive atmospheric nitrogen deposition on forest nitrogen cycling.
Potential graduate students should review current research
opportunities in my lab.
