Thomas G. Siccama
Professor in the Practice of Forest Ecology and Director of Field Studies
Research Statement
I have been involved with the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study since 1967. My research interests have involved soils, particularly the forest floor mass and chemistry, long-term population and structural patterns in the forest and trace metals, particularly with respect to their accumulation in the forest floor. I have been responsible for collecting, analyzing and archiving thousands of plant and soil samples related to the above mentioned research. These samples are stored in the archive building at Hubbard Brook and are available for future researchers. I have also been and continue to be involved with the study of tree growth rates in the Hubbard Brook region and its changes over time. In the last several years, one of my major interests has been the conversion of 30+ years of various data related to the above projects into the World Wide Web. I am planning to continue this as a major activity.Previous work also involved research related to the spruce decline research in the 1980’s and continues with studied related to the possibilities of sugar maple decline in the watersheds at Hubbard Brook. I have also been involved with establishing and following long-term forest plots on a regional basis (NY, VT and CT) and related regional plant tissue chemistry analysis. This also involved the collection and maintenance of an archive of quantitatively collected forest floor samples such that long term regional patterns may be followed. The latter efforts have been in cooperation with researchers at Dartmouth and The University of Pennsylvania.
