Nebraska's forests house a diversity of herbs, trees, and wildlife, but they are rapidly changing due to environmental stresses, such as altered fire and climate regimes, invasive species, and drought. Graduate student positions are available to conduct research in permanent forest monitoring plots in Nebraskan forests as part of the Smithsonian ForestGEO plot network (www.forestgeo.si.edu) in order to investigate changes in growth, survival, and recruitment rates of trees and understory herbs in response to these environmental drivers. This project involves multi-disciplinary collaborative teams and offers the opportunity to gain skills in areas such as geographic information systems and modeling, in addition to plant ecology, ecophysiology, and demography. Email Sabrina Russo at srusso2@unl.edu for more information, and send a resume listing relevant coursework and work or research experience.

We are looking for motivated undergraduate student researchers (research for credit or UCARE) to participate in a project on biodiversity and change in Nebraska's forests. Nebraska is well-known for its prairies but the State also has ecologically important forests that are home to herbaceous plants, trees, and wildlife, but they are rapidly changing due to environmental stresses, such as altered fire and climate regimes, invasive species, and drought. The goal of this project is to monitor these changes in order to develop effective conservation and management strategies. Email Sabrina Russo at srusso2@unl.edu for more information, and send a resume listing relevant coursework and work or research experience.