Wason Lab

Updated video link: youtube.com/watch?v=MJg_Rx…

Checkout this awesome new video about our exciting work on a Northeastern States Research Cooperative funded project studying how drought and heat waves impact tree regeneration! youtube.com/watch?v=bsCYN8…

Finished our overhead irrigation system! Should have some happy trees... before we stress them out in the name of science!

All seedlings are now in place! Planting is complete for our Northeastern States Research Cooperative-funded project examining effects of heat and drought on tree regeneration across Maine. Many thanks to our volunteers for over 200 hours of hard work to make this possible!

Excellent article in the UMaine News about one of our star lab members! umaine.edu/news/blog/2023…

Make that three! Announcing an open assistantship (M.S. or PhD) using remote sensing to study coastal forest dynamics as part of this @WasonLab, @PeterRNelson et al. project team. forest.umaine.edu/wp-content/upl…

Two graduate positions open at UMaine. Come join our collaborative team to study the beautiful forests of the coast of Maine! forest.umaine.edu/wp-content/upl…

Publication now out from former Wason Lab MS student Kelly French et al.! Physiological response of mature red spruce trees to partial and complete sapwood severing: link.springer.com/article/10.100…

Seedlings from our 2022 #physiology study are overwintering well under the snowpack...some a bit more under than others.

I am looking for a new MS student to join our research team studying how extreme climate events impact tree regeneration in the Northern Forest. Summer or fall 2023 start. Full advertisement: forest.umaine.edu/wp-content/upl…

If you can't get up to the canopy, bring the canopy down to you! #throwback to August slingshot sampling for canopy phys, where the rules are wear a hard hat and have fun (in that order).

Two years goes fast. Congratulations on graduating, Katie! You have learned a lot about how to kill trees to help us manage for more resilient forests!

Ready to plant trees next spring! Four more sites to go for our Northeastern States Research Cooperative funded project to determine how heat waves and drought impact tree regeneration across Maine!

Undergraduate field tech and @UMaine_CUGR fellow Bean has been trying their hand this summer at SEM imaging of our greenhouse seedlings. Pictured are stomata and a trichome on paper birch (left), and open stomata on a northern red oak.

@lflory Prelim analysis suggested this method was pretty reliable in a short-term greenhouse study, giving us temps of 2-5 C above ambient temps. Recent work by Werkmeister et al. (2022) shows success with a similar method of passive heating. Further analysis to come post-field season!

@WasonLab Nice! How reliable is this warming method? Can you point to a particular publication on it? (looking to set up something similar, also in a greenhouse)

The heat is on. Four chambers heated by passive radiation and four experimental control chambers deployed today to study the effects of elevated temperature on northeastern tree species!

MS student Peter (shown here downloading iButton data) can confirm: it's mosquito season.

Special delivery! This week we're planting a couple hundred red spruce, northern red oak, and paper birch seedlings in the Drought House for a climate and competition study. Say hello to the new babies...

dendrometer dream team: successfully installed 30 point dendrometers at Howland Forest this weekend. happy 2022 field season!

Now recruiting a masters student to work on ecophysiology and silviculture at the University of Maine starting Fall 2022! Co-advised with Dr. Nicole Rogers. Interviews begin immediately! More information here: forest.umaine.edu/wp-content/upl…