SUNY ESF
Active Research Projects
Project Title: A Reexamination of the Macroinvertebrate Community of Central Adirondack
Streams
Completion year: 2017
Researcher/s: Carrick Palmer, Kim Schulz
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Identify changes induced by Bti application, beaver activity, and other
variables, on the structure and diversity of stream macroinvertebrate communities.
Bti is a larvicide that targets black fly (Simulidae) larvae in streams, and is widely
used across the Adirondacks to reduce the adult stage flies that plague humans. A
study in the 1980s was inconclusive in the effects of Bti on black flies and other
aquatic larvae; this study compares two streams, one with and one without Bti application.
Project Title: New York Moose Project: Movement, Population Demographics and Health
Status
Completion year: 2018
Researcher/s: Heidi Kretser, Jeremy Hurst, Angela Fuller, Krysten Schuler, Jacqueline
Frair
Affiliation: Wildlife Conservation Society, Department of Environmental Conservation,
Cornell and ESF
Description: Tracking of moose movement (GPS radio collars) in NYS, including calf
production and survival, helicopter fly transects (during winter), and scat collection,
with the objective of creating a moose management program for New York State. More
info at: https://ny-moose.weebly.com/
Project Title: Beaver (Castor canadensis) as ecosystem engineers: Modeling potential impoundments and impacts
Completion year: 2019
Researcher/s: Rachel Zevin, John Stella
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Build spatial ecosystem models, based on field data collected on Huntington
Wildlife Forest, to find areas where beavers might occupy, potential ecosystem impacts
(e.g., increased habitat diversity), and impacts on human infrastructure.
Project Title: Evaluating virulence of beech bark disease pathogens
Completion year: 2018
Researcher/s: John Castello
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Collection of beech bark patches to isolate the fungal pathogens Neonectria faginata and N. ditissima
Project Title: Role of Comammox Bacteria in Northeast Forest Nitrogen Cycling
Completion year: 2019
Researcher/s: Hyatt Green
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Characterization of environmental variation in Nitrogen and Phosphorus
and the relation with abundance of any of the five groups of nitrifiers in soil.
Project Title: The Price of Wilderness? Exploring the Relationship Between Wilderness
and Community Well-Being in the Central Adirondacks
Completion year: 2017
Researcher/s: Cheryl Sandrow, Elizabeth Vidon
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Evaluate what values residents attribute to wilderness areas that are
adjacent to their communities, if there is a relationship between recently classified
wilderness areas and economic stability of adjacent communities, and if attitudes
about wilderness and community vitality result in (potential) changes in economic
strategies.
Project Title: Effects of Soil Acidification on Forest Health and Biodiversity in
the Adirondack Mountains
Completion year: 2016
Researcher/s: Michael Whalen, Martin Dovciak
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Investigate the impact of soil acidification on beech bark disease infection
rate, severity, and beech thicket density, and on songbird abundance, species richness,
and species composition.
Project Title: The Sky is Falling: Invasive-induced Forest Biodiversity Loss and Evaluation
of Stand RehabilitationCompletion year: 2020
Researcher/s: Ravyn Neville, Stacy McNulty, Greg McGee, Shannon Farrell, Rene' Germain
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Study the ecological benefits of a mechanical treatment to remove a recalcitrant
understory of American beech. Understand how this treatment impacts plant diversity
(vascular and epiphyte) and a suite of wildlife taxa (including bats, birds, and small
mammals) sensitive to forest structural changes.
Project Title: Lake Hadlock Fish Community Survey
Completion year: 2018
Researcher/s: Margaret Murphy
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Fish community assessment and evaluation of water quality of Lake Hadlock,
for comparison to fish on Huntington Wildlife Forest
Project Title: Beaver influence on small mammal habitat in the Adirondack Mountains
Completion year: 2018
Researcher/s: Michael Rosenthal, Shannon Farrell
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Investigate the impact of beaver activity, through changes to hydrology
and forest structure, in occurrence and habitat use of terrestrial mammals in the
Adirondack Mountains. Employ live-capture of small mammals in and around beaver habitats
of different sizes and ages.
Project Title: Revegetation of iron mines
Completion year: 2017
Researcher/s: Jessica Saville – Lee Newman
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Identify the best methods to revegetate abandoned iron mines, including
Tahawus, NY.
Project Title: Brook Trout Distribution and Habitat use in an Adirondack River System,
New York
Completion year: 2017
Researcher/s: Carriane Pershyn, Neil Ringler
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Characterization of the brook trout population of the headwaters at the
Adirondack Mountain Reserve (AMR), to determine the habitat value of the near river
reaches of tributaries of the East Branch. Sampling of fish community on Huntington
Wildlife Forest for comparison.
Project Title: Estimation of a nutritionally-based carrying capacity of moose in Adirondack
Park
Completion year: 2018
Researcher/s: Samuel Peterson, Jacqueline Frair
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Determine where and what is the best forage for moose in the growing
and dormant seasons by sampling plants in plots across the park and combining estimations
of available total browse biomass, digestible energy and digestible protein with moose
browse selectivity and energetic requirements.
Project Title: Soil carbon dioxide fluxes in a northern hardwood forest: fine-scale
microclimatic controls and impacts of intense rainfall events
Completion year: 2018
Researcher/s: Will Saunders, Colin Beier
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Evaluate how weather conditions impact CO2 fluxes through changes in
microclimate exerted by soil-saturating, high magnitude rain events.
Project title: American marten and fisher ecology and management in New York State
Completion year: 2018
Researcher/s: Paul Jensen, Stacy McNulty
Affiliation: NYS DEC, SUNY ESF
Description: Characterize marten habitat selection at several spatial scales, and
home range, foraging and harvest dynamics responses to beech mast cycles and fluctuating
small mammal populations.
Project Title: Hydrological patterns of two related sub-catchments in the Arbutus
Lake Watershed in the Adirondacks
Completion year: Open
Researcher/s: Colin Beier, Patrick McHale, LJ Mills, Greg Lawrence, Charles Driscoll
Affiliation: SUNY ESF, USGS, Syracuse University, New York State Research and Development
Authority
Description: Biogeochemistry sampling in stream, lake and uplands to understand temporal
and spatial heterogeneity of two different but proximal streams in Arbutus watershed.
Project Title: Articulating Two-Aged Silviculture in Northern Hardwood Stands
Completion year: 2017
Researcher/s: Ralph Nyland, Chris Nowak
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Evaluation of deciduous tree stocking, diameter distribution, and other
silvicultural aspects with management alternatives at long-term plots on Huntington
Wildlife Forest.
Project Title: The effects of Riparian Management Zone (RMZ) delineation on timber
value and ecosystem services in diverse forest biomes across the United States
Completion year: 2020
Researcher/s: Maneesha Jayasuriya, Renè Germain
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Determine the final forest area delineated by different RMZ guidelines,
and the volume of forest stocking, living biomass, and stumpage value for forest areas
under different RMZ guidelines, using GIS.
Project title: Common Loons - A sentinel of mercury pollution in New York's aquatic
ecosystems
Completion year: 2017
Researcher/s: Nina Schoch
Affiliation: Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation
Description: Capture, blood and tissue extraction with non-lethal techniques, banding,
and release of Common Loons (Gavia immer), to assess the impact of mercury pollution an acid deposition to New York's aquatic
ecosystems using the species as an indicator.
Project title: Developing an exposure profile for mercury and calcium in New York
songbirds and bats, and understanding methylmercury availability in herpetofauna of
New York
Completion year: 2017
Researcher/s: David Evers, Melissa Duron
Affiliation: Biodiversity Research Institute
Description: Sampling mercury and calcium levels in songbirds and bats to understand
the exposure of species to mercury.
Project title: Monitoring spatial gradients and temporal trends of mercury in songbirds
of New York State
Completion year: 2017
Researcher/s: Amy Sauer
Affiliation: Biodiversity Research Institute, Maine
Description: Document spatial gradients and temporal trends of mercury concentrations
within insectivorous, songbird communities throughout various habitat types in New
York State. Sample songbird blood and feathers and invertebrate prey.
Project title: Nitrous oxide consumption in acid forest soils
Completion year: 2018
Researcher/s: Armanda Roco
Affiliation: Cornell University
Description: Collection of soil cores to characterize bacterial yield, and bacterial
ability to reduce nitrous oxide.
Project title: Proactive risk assessment of the next amphibian threat: understanding
species and population-level susceptibility, environmental suitability, and development
of disease mitigation tactics to combat the salamander-eating fungus (Bsal)
Completion year: 2018
Researcher/s: Cait McDonald, Kelly Zamudio
Affiliation: Cornell University
Description: Develop an understanding of the threat to salamander diversity by the
potentially invasive fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal).
Project Title: Determining the importance of vernal pools across geophysical and urbanization
gradients to inform regulation, conservation, and management
Completion year: 2018
Researcher/s: Matthew Schlesinger, James Gibbs, Stacy McNulty
Affiliation: NY Natural Heritage Program
Description: Collect available data on pools across New York State to create a comprehensive
database of known vernal pools. Target sampling of existing and potential pools for
salamander and wood frog breeding populations, as well as in and near-pool habitat,
to inform future conservation and wetland management planning.
Project title: Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation
Completion year: open
Researcher/s: Susan Capone
Affiliation: NYS DEC
Description: Lake and stream chemistry monitoring for various parameters to document
long-term recovery from acidification and to understand ecosystem functioning across
the Adirondacks.
Project title: Investigating the presence of the Columbia silk moth (Hyalophora columbia)
Completion year: 2017
Researcher/s: Janet Mihuc
Affiliation: Paul Smiths College, NY
Description: Document location and timing of adult moth flight across northern New
York, a region where little is known about this large, charismatic species.
Project title: Tree mycorrhizal associations control a broad suite of important ecosystem
processes: a collaborative study of Adirondack forest types
Completion year: 2020
Researcher/s: Kurt Smemo
Affiliation: Skidmore College
Description: Determine the relationship between the type of mycorrhizal fungi and
ecosystem processes such as decomposition and nutrient cycling. Soil and litter sampling
through natural gradients and mixed forest at two sites on Huntington Wildlife Forest.
Project Title: Diversity of malaria parasites (Haemosporidia) in Catharus thrushes in the Adirondack Mountains
Completion year: 2018
Researcher/s: Naima Starkloff, Jeremy Kirchman
Affiliation: SUNY Albany, NYS Museum
Description: Determine diversity, prevalence, and distribution of malaria parasites
of four species of thrushes (Catharus spp.)and how these relate to host identity, relatedness or habitat. Collect blood
samples from mist-netted birds to compare to other elevations/habitats across the
region.
Project Title: Changes in water clarity and DOC of Adirondack lakes over a 30-year
span
Completion year: 2017
Researcher/s: Paul Bukaveckas
Affiliation: Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia
Description: Obtain limnological data including temperature and light profiles, chlorophyll-a,
dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) during
a revisit of Adirondack lakes that were and were not chronically acidified during
the 1980's.
Project Title: Determining Sources of Mercury Contamination within Terrestrial Habitats
in the Adirondack Park of New York State
Completion year: 2016
Researcher/s: Amy Sauer
Affiliation: Biodiversity Research Institute, Maine
Description: Identify the origin and types of mercury entering and transferring through
wetlands and terrestrial food webs of the Adirondack systems via analysis of blood
and tissue samples from bats and insectivorous songbirds.
Project Title: From "take back the town" to "lock up the lake": Investigating shifting
perspectives towards environmental protection in Lake George, NY.
Completion year: 2018
Researcher/s: Audrey White, Elizabeth Vidon
Affiliation: SUNY ESF
Description: Interviews of voters and local politicians from Lake George to identify
the impact of proposed environmental policies on local election outcomes
Project Title: Long-term Regeneration Dynamics in Northern Hardwood Forests of the
Northeast
Completion year: 2016
Researcher/s: Nichole Rogers, Tony D'Amato
Affiliation: University of Vermont, Vermont
Description: Evaluate the influence of uneven-aged silvicultural systems and repeated
harvest on seedling establishment and recruitment with seedling regeneration measurements.
Project Title: Tracing the spread of European earthworms into North America using
molecular markers and field experiments
Completion year: 2017
Researcher/s: Andreas Klein
Affiliation: Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Germany
Description: Characterization of the role of recent and historical introduction events
in the invasion of two European earthworm species using molecular markers with large
and small scale resolution
Project Title: The Role of Beaver in Sediment and Carbon Budgets of the Adirondack
Mountains, NY
Completion year: 2016
Researcher/s: Matthew Jungers
Affiliation: Denison University, Ohio
Description: Analysis of sedimentation and catchment-level carbon budget indicators
to evaluate the effect on catchments of active and inactive beaver ponds on carbon.
Project Title: Hemlock Ground-Verification Surveys
Completion year: 2019
Researcher/s: Ezra Schwartzberg
Affiliation: Adirondack Research
Description: Provide ground verification data to improve the success of remote-sensed
hemlock distribution models created by NASA. Assess field and spatial methods for
hemlock presence/absence as well as under- and over-story species composition and
abundance.
Project Title: Limnology of Lakes and Wetlands Dissolved Organic Material
Completion year: 2019
Researcher/s: Jon Stetl, Kevin Rose
Affiliation: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Description: We are asking 1) How much phosphorus and nitrogen (and in what forms)
are bound to DOM in these lakes and in the watersheds that feed them? 2) How does
the amount of organically bound nutrients vary across lakes of a wide range of DOM
concentrations? and 3) How does nutrient availability and light availability interact
to affect lake primary production? We will quantify the characteristics of DOM in
Adirondack lakes, including the nutrients associated with DOM and its light absorbing
characteristics, by taking water and soil samples in lakes on HWF and elsewhere.