Faculty Profile
Ruth Yanai
Distinguished Professor
Department of Sustainable Resources Management
176 Baker
Highest Education
Ph.D. Yale University (Forest Ecology), 1990.
Areas of Study
- Multiple-Element Limitation in Northern Hardwood Ecosystems (MELNHE)
- Quantifying Uncertainty in Ecosystem Studies (QUEST)
- Forest ecology, ecosystem nutrient cycling, roots, and forest soils.
Courses Taught
- Writing for Scientific Publication (FOR 694)
- Capstone in Natural Resources (FOR 692)
Current Graduate Advisees
Erica Albertson
egalbert@syr.edu
- Degree Sought: MS
- Graduate Advisor(s): Yanai
- Area of Study: Forest Resources Management
Sofia Arreaga
asarreag@syr.edu
- Degree Sought: MS
- Graduate Advisor(s): Stehman and Yanai
- Area of Study: Forest Resources Management
Jake Beidler
jbeidler@syr.edu
- Degree Sought: MS
- Graduate Advisor(s): Yanai
- Area of Study: Forest Resources Management
Graduate Research Topic
Microbial communities in decomposing wood
Favorite Quote
"It's okay to get butterflies in your stomach, you just teach them to fly in perfect formation." - Trixie Matel
Oswaldo Carrillo
oicarril@syr.edu
- Degree Sought: PHD
- Graduate Advisor(s): Yanai and Stehman
- Area of Study: Forest Resources Management
Personal Statement
Oswaldo Carrillo has a master's degree in applied statistics from the Colegio de Postgraduados, he has 10 years of experience in the area of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) for REDD+. He has carried out different statistical analyzes on MRV for REDD+ and has carried out MRV trainings in different countries in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. From 2016 to 2021, he was the head of CONAFOR's MRV system for REDD+, in which he coordinated the preparation of two national GHG inventories in the land sector, a national Forest Emission Reference Level (NREF), a subnational Forest Reference (NRF), a national REDD+ performance report, among others. He is an active member of the roster of experts of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for the technical assessments of FREL / NRF. Currently, he is a member of the Latin-American and Caribbean SilvaCarbon team (through the US Forest Service) as a Latin America SilvaCarbon Greenhouse Gas Estimation Statistical Expert and he is a doctoral student at the Environmental Sciences and Forestry Collage of the State University of New York.
Graduate Research Topic
Methods to improve uncertainties estimation of land GHG emission reductions
Sara Sternick
sisterni@syr.edu
- Degree Sought: MS
- Graduate Advisor(s): Yanai
- Area of Study: Forest Resources Management
Personal Statement
I graduated with a BS in Biology from UMass Amherst in 2020, with a minor in natural resource conservation. I have worked at ecology research stations in both Georgia and Oregon doing seasonal technician work, and now I am pursuing an MS at SUNY ESF!
Favorite Quote
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir
Selected Publications
Yanai, R.D., G.E. Walsh, Y. Yang, C.A. Blodgett, K. Bae, and B.B. Park. 2018. Nutrient concentrations of roots vary with diameter, depth, and site in New Hampshire northern hardwoods. Can. J. For. Res., 48: 32-41. DOI: 10.1139/cjfr-2017-0223 PDF
Yanai, R.D., C.R. See, J. L. Campbell. 2018. Current practices in uncertainty analysis in ecosystem ecology. Ecosystems, 21(5): 971-981. DOI: 10.1007/s10021-017-0197-x PDF
Yanai, R.D., N. Tokuchi, J.L. Campbell, M.B. Green, E. Matsuzaki, S.N. Laseter, C.L. Brown, A.S. Bailey, P. Lyons, C.R. Levine, D.C. Buso, G.E. Likens, J. Knoepp, and K. Fukushima. 2015. Sources of uncertainty in estimating stream solute export from headwater catchments at three sites. Hydrol. Processes 29: 1793–1805. DOI: 10.1002/hyp.10265 PDF
Yanai, R.D., M.A. Vadeboncoeur, S.P. Hamburg, M.A. Arthur, M.A. Fuss, P.M. Groffman, T.G. Siccama, and C.T. Driscoll. 2013. From missing source to missing sink: long-term changes in a forest nitrogen budget. Environ. Sci. Technol. 47(20): 11440–11448. DOI: abs/10.1021/es4025723 PDF
Yanai, R.D., C.R. Levine, M.B. Green, and J.L. Campbell. 2012. Quantifying uncertainty in forest nutrient budgets. J. For. 110(8): 448–456. DOI: 10.5849/jof.11-087 PDF
Yanai, R.D., M.A. Arthur, M. Acker, C.R. Levine, and B.B. Park. 2012. Variation in mass and nutrient concentration of leaf litter across years and sites in New Hampshire northern hardwoods. Can. J. For. Res. 42(8): 1597–1610. DOI:10.1139/x2012-084 PDF
Yanai, R.D., J.J. Battles, A.D. Richardson, E.B. Rasetter, D.M. Wood and C. Blodgett 2010. Estimating uncertainty in ecosystem budget calculations. Ecosystems 13(2): 239–248 PDF
Yanai, R.D., W.S. Currie, and C.L. Goodale. 2003. Soil carbon dynamics after forest harvest: an ecosystem paradigm reconsidered. Ecosystems 6: 197–212
Yanai, R.D., M.A. Arthur, T.G. Siccama, and C.A. Federer. 2000. Challenges of measuring forest floor organic matter dynamics: repeated measures from a chronosequence. For. Ecol. Manage. 138: 273–283 PDF
Yanai, R.D., T.G Siccama, M.A. Arthur, C.A. Federer, and A.J. Friedland. 1999. Accumulation and depletion of base cations in forest floors in the northeastern US. Ecology 80: 2774–2787 PDF
Yanai, R.D. 1992. Phosphorus budget of a 70-year old northern hardwood forest. Biogeochemistry 17: 1–22 PDF