Forest and Wildlife Sciences are unique in that the faculty have maintained a distinction between these two concentrations to allow students to identify themselves, and some of the research still follows these traditional lines.  However, the faculty have chosen to collaborate and have meetings as a whole to encourage more interdisciplinary work.

Students wishing to concentrate in the area of Forest Science can study a diversity of topics ranging from sustainable forestry to stress ecology of forest ecosystems. Professors Keeton, Hughes, Schaberg, DeHayes, Capen and Wang have been actively advising students in thesis and project topics that can be viewed under the link to recent student work. Other faculty affiliated with the concentrations have been important contributors to students' Graduate Studies Committee.

A recent initiative headed by its director, David Brynn, is entitled the Green Forestry Education Initiative. This exciting opportunity has been funded by an external grant to the School and focuses on studying and promoting "sustainable" forestry with a variety of approaches.

Wildlife Science has a long history at the University of Vermont. Current faculty are engaged in research or management projects that center around terrestrial ecosystems: the processes that drive these systems, their management, and their conservation. Faculty expertise spans a diversity of disciplines and includes interdisciplinary research. Thus topics students work on vary broadly including population dynamics, sustainable forest ecosystem management, wildlife behavior, wildlife-habitat relationships, and landscape ecology. Some students, however, might pursue research projects on wildlife species that occur in wetlands or other aquatic environments; there is also faculty expertise in these disciplines and involvement with faculty in other concentrations is likely (e.g., Aquatic Ecology and Watershed Science).

As an example, students are currently involved in the following topics through thesis or project work:
• Effects of agricultural management on wildlife populations
• Trophic level interactions
• Effects of land use change on wildlife populations
• Avian foraging ecology
• Effects of forest structure on carnivore populations
• Habitat associations of wetland-dependent bird communities
• Predicting species occurrences through remote sensing
• Predicting biodiversity through landscape analysis
• Genetics of black bear populations
• Habitat use by Indiana bats

Contact for More Information:

Allan.Stong@uvm.edu

William.Keeton@uvm.edu