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Northern Research Station
11 Campus Blvd., Suite 200
Newtown Square, PA 19073
(610) 557-4017
(610) 557-4132 TTY/TDD

You are here: NRS Home / Scientists & Staff / Todd Hutchinson
Scientists & Staff

[image:] Todd Hutchinson Todd Hutchinson

Title: Research Ecologist
Unit: Sustaining Forests in a Changing Environment
Address: Northern Research Station
359 Main Road
Delaware, OH 43015
Phone: 740-368-0064
E-mail: Contact Todd Hutchinson

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Education

  • Ohio State University, Ecology, Ph.D.
  • Miami University, Botany, M.S.
  • University of Louisville, Biology, B.A.

Civic & Professional Affiliations

  • Adjunct Faculty Member, Ohio University, Department of Environmental and Plant Biology
  • Member, Ecological Society of America, Torrey Botanical Society, Society of American Foresters

Current Research

My current research focuses on the sustainability, biodiversity, and fire ecology of mixed-oak forests. Field sites are located primarily in the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau of southern Ohio.

  • Long-term effects of prescribed fire. We are studying how repeated prescribed fires have altered the structure and regeneration of mixed-oak forests, over 13-years. We are particularly interested in how vegetation responds across the landscape and how fire has altered gap-phase regeneration. Collaborators: Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, Daniel Yaussy, Joanne Rebbeck, and Robert Long.
  • Fire and Fire Surrogates Study: We are documenting how fire and thinning, alone and in combination, alter forest structure, regeneration and the herbaceous-layer of mixed-oak forests. Collaborators: Daniel Yaussy, Louis Iverson, Brian McCarthy.
  • The use of shelterwood harvests, prescribed fire, and herbicides to promote oak regeneration. This study is investigating the use of spring growing-season fires and targeted herbicide application to improve the competitive status of oak regeneration in conjunction with shelterwood harvests. Collaborator: Joanne Rebbeck.
  • The invasive tree Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven) in a managed forest landscape. At Tar Hollow State Forest, we are studying 1) the distribution of Ailanthus in relation to landscape attributes, prescribed fire, and timber harvesting, and 2) the direct effects of fire on Ailanthus. Collaborators: Joanne Rebbeck, Louis Iverson, Daniel Yaussy.
  • Other ongoing studies:
    • A common garden study of how oak and maple litter affect fire behavior (collaborator: Matthew Dickinson).
    • Fire history of the Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest (collaborators: Robert Long, Elaine Kennedy Sutherland).
    • The vascular flora of the Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest: 50 years of change (collaborators: Marilyn Ortt, Richard Gardner).
    • Response of herbaceous communities in forests impacted by emerald ash borer (collaborators: Kathleen Knight, Alejandro Royo, Robert Long).

Future Research

Future potential research projects include:

  • Predictive mapping of presettlement vegetation in southern Ohio (collaborator: James Dyer)
  • 70-years of forest change in Neotoma, Hocking Hills, Ohio (collaborator: Ralph Boerner).
  • Competitive interactions between sassafras and oak in response to fire and partial harvesting (collaborator: Joanne Rebbeck)

Featured Publications

Additional Online Publications

Last Modified: 02/15/2012