Doctoral Students Using Advanced Technology to Study Forests

Tyson Swetnam is using advanced technology to conduct an investigation that draws on 400 gigabytes of information gathered from an 80,000-acre stretch of the Santa Catalina Mountains to better understand the historical cycles of the range. Swetnam is among a number of researchers at the University of Arizona who the Coronado National Forest has enlisted to investigate mountain ranges in southern Arizona using Light Detection and Ranging, or LiDAR, data. For a number of reasons, the investigation is highly complex. "LiDAR is so powerful. And this is the first time that we've been able to measure nearly every tree," said Swetnam, a doctoral degree candidate in the UA's School of Natural Resources and the Environment. He is working alongside Christopher "Kit" O'Connor, another doctoral student in the same school, who is studying the top 85,000 acres of the Pinaleño Mountains near Safford, Ariz..Where scientists have long conducted land surveys, collecting random samples and data to measure the height, density and biomass of forest trees, Swetnam and O'Connor are combining these traditional methods with LiDAR data. Collectively covering about 150,000 acres of land, their investigation could answer critical questions necessary to aid forest managers who need to know when and when not to set controlled burns while also leading to advancements in the ways forests are studied...read more