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Scientists & Staff

James Smith

Title: Plant Physiology/Modeling
Unit: Forest Inventory & Analysis
Address: NRS
271 Mast Road
Durham, NH 03824
Phone: 603-868-7663
E-mail: Contact James Smith

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Education

Ph.D. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. 1992. Plant Physiology, with an emphasis on physiological ecology of weed and crop interactions.
M.S. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. 1985. Botany, research on whole-plant physiological response to resources and stress.
B.A. Rice University, Houston, TX, 1982, Biology.

Current Research

I am a member of a team that has been assigned the problem of conducting research to develop inventory based estimates and projections of carbon budgets for forests of the United States. My research is focused on aspects of estimating forest carbon principally through ongoing development of the model FORCARB2, a framework for a number of submodels that simulate components of forest carbon budgets.
Results of this research are intended to address some of the management and policy issues of forest carbon sequestration that are of concern to government policymakers, industrial and nonindustrial landowners, and conservation groups. Additional work focuses on the development of quantitative uncertainty analyses of carbon estimates at a regional or national scale.

Future Research

Plans for the immediate future are to expand the FORCARB-based carbon budgets to incorporate effects of disturbance or scale of estimate on carbon totals and the associated levels of uncertainty.

Featured Publications

Domke, Grant M.; Woodall, Christopher W.; Smith, James E.; Westfall, James A.; McRoberts, Ronald E. 2012. Consequences of alternative tree-level biomass estimation procedures on U.S. forest carbon stock estimates. Forest Ecology and Management. 270(15): 108-116.
Domke, Grant M.; Woodall, Christopher W.; Smith, James E. 2011. Accounting for density reduction and structural loss in standing dead trees: Implications for forest biomass and carbon stock estimates in the United States. Carbon Balance and Management. 6:14. [11 p.]
Zheng, Daolan; Heath, Linda S.; Ducey, Mark J.; Smith, James E. 2011. Carbon changes in conterminous US forests associated with growth and major disturbances: 1992-2001. Environmental Research Letters. 6(1) 014012. 10 p.
Heath, Linda S.; Smith, James E.; Woodall, Christopher W.; Azuma, David L.; Waddell, Karen L. 2011. Carbon stocks on forestland of the United States, with emphasis on USDA Forest Service ownership. Ecosphere. 2(1): article 6. 21 p.
Zheng, Daolan; Heath, Linda S.; Ducey, Mark J.; Smith, James E. 2011. Effects of land use/cover change and harvests on forest carbon dynamics in northern states of the United States from remote sensing and inventory data: 1992-2001. Forest Science. 57(6): 525-534.

Additional Online Publications

Heath, Linda S.; Smith, James E.; Skog, Kenneth E.; Nowak, David J.; Woodall, Christopher W. 2011. Managed forest carbon estimates for the US greenhouse gas inventory, 1990-2008. Journal of Forestry. 109(3): 167-173.
Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S. 2010. Exploring the assumed invariance of implied emission factors for forest biomass in greenhouse gas inventories. Environmental Science and Policy. 13: 55-62.
Heath, Linda S.; Nichols, Michael C.; Smith, James E.; Mills, John R. 2010. FORCARB2: An updated version of the U.S. Forest Carbon Budget Model. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-67. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 52 p. [CD-ROM].
Heath, Linda S.; Maltby, Van; Miner, Reid; Skog, Kenneth E.; Smith, James E.; Unwin, Jay; Upton, Brad. 2010. Greenhouse gas and carbon profile of the U.S. forest products industry value chain. Environmental Science and Technology. 44: 3999-4005.
Zheng, Daolan; Heath, Linda S.; Ducey, Mark J.; Smith, James E. 2009. A preliminary investigation of forest carbon changes associated with land-use change in northern New England. In: McWilliams, Will; Moisen, Gretchen; Czaplewski, Ray, comps. Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Symposium 2008; October 21-23, 2008; Park City, UT. Proc. RMRS-P-56CD. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 11 p.
Woodall, Christopher W.; Smith, James E.; Miles, Patrick D. 2009. Attributes of standing dead trees in forests of the United States. In: McRoberts, Ronald E.; Reams, Gregory A.; Van Deusen, Paul C.; McWilliams, William H., eds. Proceedings of the eighth annual forest inventory and analysis symposium; 2006 October 16-19; Monterey, CA. Gen. Tech. Report WO-79. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 191-196.
Heath, Linda S.; Hansen, Mark; Smith, James E.; Miles, Patrick D.; Smith, Brad W. 2009. Investigation into calculating tree biomass and carbon in the FIADB using a biomass expansion factor approach. In: McWilliams, Will; Moisen, Gretchen; Czaplewski, Ray, comps. Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Symposium 2008; October 21-23, 2008; Park City, UT. Proc. RMRS-P-56CD. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 26 p.
Zheng, Daolan; Heath, L.S.; Ducey, M.J.; Smith, J.E. 2009. Quantifying scaling effects on satellite-derived forest area estimates for the conterminous USA. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 30(12): 3097-3114.
Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S. 2008. Carbon stocks and stock changes in U.S. forests. In: U.S. Department of Agriculture. U.S. Agriculture and Forestry Greenhouse Gas Inventory: 1990-2005. Technical Bulletin No. 1921. Washington, DC: Office of the Chief Economist: 65-80, C1-C7.
Woodall, C.W.; Heath, L.S.; Smith, J.E. 2008. National inventories of down and dead woody material forest carbon stocks in the United States: Challenges and opportunities. Forest Ecology and Management. 256: 221-228.
Woodbury, Peter B.; Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S. 2007. Carbon sequestration in the U.S. forest sector from 1990 to 2010. Forest Ecology and Management. 241: 14-27.
Woodbury, Peter B.; Heath, Linda S.; Smith, James E. 2007. Effects of land use change on soil carbon cycling in the conterminous United States from 1900 to 2050. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 21: GB3006. [unpaginated].
Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S.; Nichols, Michael C. 2007. US forest carbon calculation tool: forest-land carbon stocks and net annual stock change. Revised. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-13. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 34 p. [DVD-ROM].
Woodbury, Peter B.; Heath, Linda S.; Smith, James E. 2006. Land use change effects on forest carbon cycling throughout the southern United States. Journal of Environmental Quality 35:1348-1363
Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S.; Skog, Kenneth E.; Birdsey, Richard A. 2006. Methods for calculating forest ecosystem and harvested carbon with standard estimates for forest types of the United States. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-343. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 216 p.
Proctor, Patrick; Heath, Linda S.; Van Deusen, Paul C.; Gove, Jeffery H.; Smith, James E. 2005. COLE: A Web-based Tool for Interfacing with Forest Inventory Data. In: McRoberts, Ronald E.; Reams, Gregory A.; Van Deusen, Paul C.; McWilliams, William H.; Cieszewski, Chris J., eds. Proceedings of the fourth annual forest inventory and analysis symposium; Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-252. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station. 167-172
Spinney, Michael P.; Van Deusen, Paul C.; Heath, Linda S.; Smith, James E. 2005. COLE: Carbon On-line Estimator, Version 2. In: Kenefic, Laura S.; Twery, Mark J., eds. Changing Forests - Challenging Times: Proceedings of the New England Society of American Foresters 85th Winter Meeting; 2005 March 16-18; Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-325. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station: 28
Skog, Kenneth E.; Pingoud, Kim; Smith, James E. 2004. A method countries can use to estimate changes in carbon stored in harvested wood products and the uncertainty of such estimates. Environmental Management. 33(Supplement 1): S65-S73.
Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S. 2004. Carbon Stocks and Projections on Public Forestlands in the United States, 1952-2040. Environmental Managment. 33(4): 433-442.
Heath, Linda S.; Smith, James E. 2004. Criterion 5, Indicator 26: total forest ecosystem biomass and carbon pool, and if appropriate, by forest type, age class and successional change. In: Darr, David R., coord. Data report: a supplement of the national report on sustainable forests--2003. FS-766A. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 14 p. http://www.fs.fed.us/research/sustain/contents.htm
Heath, Linda S.; Smith, James E. 2004. Criterion 5, Indicator 27: contribution of forest ecosystems fo the total global carbon budget, including absorption and release of carbon. In: Darr, David R., coord. Data report: a supplement of the national report on sustainable forests--2003. FS-766A. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 7 p. http://www.fs.fed.us/research/sustain/contents.htm
Mickler, Robert A.; Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S. 2004. Forest carbon trends in the Southern United States. In: Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS?75. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. Chapter 33. p. 383-394.
Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S.; Woodbury, Peter B. 2004. How to estimate forest carbon for large areas from inventory data. Journal of Forestry. July/August: 25-31.
Heath, Linda S.; Smith, James E.; Birdsey, Richard A. 2003. Carbon trends in U.S. forestlands: a context for the role of soils in forest carbon sequestration. In: Kimble, J.M.; Heath, Linda S.; Birdsey, Richard A.; Lal, R., eds. The potential of U.S. forest soils to sequester carbon and mitigate the greenhouse effect. Boca Raton: CRC Press: 35-45.
Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S.; Jenkins, Jennifer C. 2003. Forest volume-to-biomass models and estimates of mass for live and standing dead trees of U.S. forests.. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-298. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 57 p.
Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S. 2002. A model of forest floor carbon mass for United States forest types. Res. Pap. NE-722. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 37 p.
Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S. 2001. Identifying influences on model uncertainty: an application using a forest carbon budget model. Environmental Management. 27(2): 253-267.
Heath, Linda S.; Smith, James E. 2000. An assessment of uncertainty in forest carbon budget projections. Environmental Science and Policy. 3: 73-82.
Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S. 2000. Considerations for interpreting probabilistic estimates of uncertainty of forest carbon. In: Joyce, Linda A.; Birdsey, Richard, technical editors. 2000. The impact of climate change on America's forests: a technical document supporting the 2000 USDA Forest Service RPA Assessment. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-59. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 102-111
Heath, Linda S.; Smith, James E. 2000. Soil carbon accounting and assumptions for forestry and forest-related land use change. In: Joyce, Linda A.; Birdsey, Richard, technical editors. 2000. The impact of climate change on America's forests: a technical document supporting the 2000 USDA Forest Service RPA Assessment. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-59. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 89-101
Smith, James E.; Heath, Linda S. 1998. Multidisciplinary views in modeling response to climate change: A workshop summary. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-251. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 18 p.

Last Modified: 02/15/2012