Robert E. Froese

Contact

 

Robert E. Froese

Associate Professor, School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science

  • Registered Professional Forester No. 3531, Association of BC Forest Professionals
  • Certified Forester, Society of American Foresters
  • PhD, Forestry, Wildlife and Range Sciences, University of Idaho
  • MS, Forestry, University of British Columbia
  • BS, Forestry, University of British Columbia
"Every ecosystem is now a managed ecosystem, even preserves, as human influences may be seen across the globe."

Re-designing the future

A teacher of mine once claimed that there is no longer such a thing as an unmanaged ecosystem; every corner of the globe is impacted by human activity in some fashion. My research and teaching is driven by the perspective that we must manage our interrelationship with our environment, even in places where we seek to minimize change. Clear, quantitative assessments of current and future condition are key to sensible management and informed decision making.

My research program is organized around forest productivity and forest production. I study and model forests and forest silvicultural systems. Models can be great tools in applied ecosystem science, of which Forestry is a part, in the development and assessment of management systems. But models are also excellent frameworks for holding, testing and advancing scientific hypotheses about ecosystems. Emerging issues in management of the global carbon cycle, biomass for alternative fuels, and the economic, social and ecological consequences of future uses of forests are all questions that will involve simulation studies.

Recent Publications

  • Witt, J.C., C.R. Webster, R.E. Froese, T.D. Drummer and J.A. Vucetich. 2012. Scale-dependent drivers of ungulate patch use along a temporal and spatial gradient of snow depth. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 90: 972-83.
  • Froese, R.E., D.R. Shonnard, C.A. Miller, K.P. Koers and D.M. Johnson. 2010. Greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants in the US Great Lakes States. Biomass & Bioenergy 34(3): 251-262.
  • Pokharel, B and R.E. Froese. 2009. Representing site productivity in the basal area increment model for FVS-Ontario. Forest Ecology and Management 258: 657-666.
  • Holmes, S.A., Webster, C.R., Flaspohler, D.J., and R.E. Froese. 2009. Death and Taxus: the cost of high palatability in an era of population decline. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 39: 1366-1374.
  • Johnson, D.M, R.E. Froese, J. Waterstraut, A. Martin-Garcia J.H. Whitmarsh and C.A. Miller. 2009. Business viability of biomass co-firing and gasification for electricity generation. International Journal of Environmental Engineering 1: 405-431.
  • Webster, C.R., J.H. Rock, R.E. Froese and M.A. Jenkins. 2008. Drought-herbivory interaction disrupts competitive displacement of native plants by Microstegium vimineum, 10 year results. Oecologia 157: 497-508.
  • Froese, R.E., J.R. Waterstraut, D.M. Johnson, D.R. Shonnard, J.H. Whitmarsh and C.A. Miller. 2008. Lignocellulosic ethanol: Is it economically and financially viable as a fuel source? Environmental Quality Management 18(1): 23-45.
  • Pokharel, B. and R.E. Froese. 2008. Evaluating alternative implementations of the Lake States FVS diameter increment model. Forest Ecology and Management 255(5-6): 1759-1771.
  • Froese, R.E. and A.P. Robinson. 2007. A validation and evaluation of the Prognosis individual-tree basal area increment model. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 37: 1438-1449.
  • Robinson, A.P. and R.E. Froese. 2004. Model validation using equivalence tests. Ecological Modelling 176: 349-358.