Research Activities
FER Home : Conservation & Restoration : Research Activities
The Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources (FER) is successfully confronting some of the most difficult challenges in conservation and restoration today through numerous group and individual research projects.
In pursuing conservation and restoration research, our faculty has conducted field projects in the wetlands and suburbs of North Carolina, the production forests of the Atlantic coastal plains, the Appalachian ridge, tropical forests in Costa Rica, the jungles of Indonesia, montaine forests in Tanzania. We have also studied ecosystems across the Southeast, from wetlands and wetland forests to bogs, swamps, urban forests, commercial timber stands plus many other life systems ranging in size from microbial communities to huge pine and hardwood forests. These activities have produced numerous publications over the past decade that have provided a statistical basis for understanding the cause and effect factors at play within ecosystems and led to policy recommendations that guide individuals and organizations charged with overseeing land use or preserving ecosystems.
Research Partners
Our conservation and restoration area frequently works with environmental and greenway management agencies, local and state governments, the NC Department of Environmental Resources and a variety of non-profit agencies such as the Triangle Land Conservancy. We help these partners conduct research, implement field activities and formulate effective conservation and planning policies.
Publications
To access past research papers and published articles written by FER faculty on topics related to conservation and restoration, please click on a topic below:
- Camcore offers a library of publications on topics related to international conservation and restoration.
Camcore
Some of our more notable research initiatives are conducted by Camcore, an FER cooperative program that is globally recognized as the world leader in ex situ conservation. Over the past 26 years, Camcore has collected seeds from more than 450 different populations of forest trees in isolated regions that range from the countries of Mexico to Myanmar, then planted these seeds in new environments in other parts of the world where the seedlings can be better protected.
In many ways, the Camcore effort provides “zoos for trees”. As the conservation plantings become older, they are measured and students have the opportunity to study their growth, adaptability, genetic structure, taxonomy, evolutionary history and potential uses.
Camcore also works in the southern United States in the conservation of Carolina and Eastern hemlock, which is being destroyed by an aphid-like insect called an adelgid. Camcore staff developed the sampling protocol for the collection of seeds in threatened hemlock stands and now have conservation parks established in places like Chile and Brazil.
Other Current Projects
FER faculty and students are currently conducting the following conservation and restoration research projects. For more information on these prjects, please visit our Faculty Directory and explore the individual bio pages of the faculty members listed:
- Genetic diversity and conservation of Pinus oocarpa (Dvorak, Potter & Lopez)
- Conservation and genetic diversity of Eastern and Carolina Hemlock in the southern US (Dvorak, Potter, Jetton & Whittier)
- Conservation and genetic diversity of Eucalyptus urophylla (Kitt Payn, South African graduate student on a Camcore stipend)
- Development of long-term ex situ conservation strategy for the Camcore species (Dvorak)
Graduate Student Research
Graduate students have played an important role in our conservation and restoration research by studying a variety of topics as part of their hands-on education. For example, recent grad student projects have focused on the evaluation of montane stream and bog complex restoration, Piedmont Prairie areas, human-made multi-species tropical ecosystems plus a host of other topics involving conservation and restoration challenges affecting domestic and tropical forests, rivers, streams, wetlands, mountainous regions and other environments.
For a look at completed graduate student research in this area, please visit the On-line Dissertation Library of the NC State Graduate School.
Research Facilities
In addition to FER’s other Forests & Facilties, our conservation and restoration area often uses the following field facilities when conducting research:
Schenck Memorial Forest: this 245 acre tract is located in western Wake County about 10 minutes from the NC State campus. Students of forestry, botany, zoology and recreation all use the forest for educational purposes.
The Hill Demonstration Forest, a 2,400-acre tract in Bahama, N.C. about one hour from the NC State campus. This forest is home to a number of research intitiatives as well as a full-time summer school residential program held each year.
The Bull Neck Swamp Research Forest: this waterfront property on NC’s Albemarle Sound is a unique wetlands research site that covers 5,500 acres, including more that seven miles of rare, undisturbed shoreline. Here FER students and faculty study critical environmental issues, including coastal water quality, wildlife management, forest regeneration and environmentally sound timber management.
