Dr. Christina Staudhammer, PhD
Dr. Christina Staudhammer
Christina Staudhammer received her B.S. in Applied Mathematics from University of California Davis in 1990, and after a stint as an actuary, went on to receive her M.S. and Ph.D. in Forest Biometrics from the University of British Columbia in 2004. She was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Alabama in 2010. Prior to joining the University of Alabama, Dr. Staudhammer was a faculty member at the University of Florida in the School of Forest Resources and Conservation. She was promoted to full professor in August 2017.
Her research interests include: Statistical Modeling, Forest Biometrics, Ecological Sampling Methods, Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) population dynamics, Analysis of carbon dynamics via eddy covariance methods, and Urban and community forestry. She has >65 refereed publications and has received funding from the USDA Forest Service, National Science Foundation, and USDA CSREES. She was a Special Visiting Researcher at Universidade Federal do Acre, Rio Branco, Brazil funded through CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Educação, Brazil) from 2014-2017. In 2018, she was a Visiting Researcher in the ECOSYS group, Institut national de la recherche agronomique in Versailles-Grignon, France. In spring 2018, she received a 2018 President’s Faculty Research award, recognizing outstanding faculty researchers from across the University of Alabama’s Colleges and Schools.
contact me at cstaudhammer *at* ua.edu
staudhammer_cv-14april2022.pdf
Her research interests include: Statistical Modeling, Forest Biometrics, Ecological Sampling Methods, Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) population dynamics, Analysis of carbon dynamics via eddy covariance methods, and Urban and community forestry. She has >65 refereed publications and has received funding from the USDA Forest Service, National Science Foundation, and USDA CSREES. She was a Special Visiting Researcher at Universidade Federal do Acre, Rio Branco, Brazil funded through CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Educação, Brazil) from 2014-2017. In 2018, she was a Visiting Researcher in the ECOSYS group, Institut national de la recherche agronomique in Versailles-Grignon, France. In spring 2018, she received a 2018 President’s Faculty Research award, recognizing outstanding faculty researchers from across the University of Alabama’s Colleges and Schools.
contact me at cstaudhammer *at* ua.edu
staudhammer_cv-14april2022.pdf
Current Students
Hazhir Karimi
Hazhir Karimi (left) at our Macrosystems project meeting in Montana, with committee members Drs. Michael Binford, Christina Staudhammer, William Kleindl, and Gregory Starr (not pictured: Dr. Nate Jones).
Hazhir received his Master's degree in Environmental Science from the Isfahan University of Technology. For several years, he worked as a consultant and project manager, and was also a lecturer at the University of Zakho, a visiting researcher at the University of Koya in Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and a guest lecturer at Tehran Metro University (University of Applied Science and Technology) in Iran. His research focuses on using geographical information systems (GIS) and satellite observations in environmental changes, land use planning, environmental disasters, and natural resources management. Based on his background and experience, I asked him to join my NSF-Funded Macrosystems project “The Future of US Forest Function under Changing Climate, Disturbance, and Forest Management”. Welcome Hazhir!
David Yannick
David Yannick in the field during his undergraduate studies.
David is a recent graduate from the University of Central Florida and with a BS in Environmental Studies with a minor in Statistics. During his BS, he was an undergraduate research assistant in the Aquatic Biogeochemistry Lab at UCF, and completed an honors thesis on the relationship of organic matter in wetland soils and sulfate, and the potential to lead to toxic aquatic conditions. Post-graduation, he worked as a lab technician. During his MS, he will expand our knowledge of anthropogenic impacts on wetland systems to understand long-term implications and potential solutions. He joins our long-term research project monitoring carbon dynamics in Everglades marshes. He is co-advised by Dr. Gregory Starr.
Olufemi (Ebenezer) Fatunsin
Ebenezer (left) and other members of the Starr and Staudhammer labs
Ebenezer has recently joined the lab, having completed a M.Sc. Forest Economics and Management at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and a B.Agric. in Forestry and Wildlife at Ekiti State University, Nigeria. Ebenezer is still deciding on a project, but will likely be studying the relationship between structural diversity and growth and yield in longleaf pine ecosystems of the southeastern US.
Recent Alumni
Zhuoran Yu
Zhuoran Yu, with Post-doc Sean Charles at our Everglades fresh-water marsh site in Taylor Slough
Zhuoran graduated in Environmental Studies in 2018 from Mount Holyoke College. She is co-advised with Dr. Gregory Starr. She started her studies in May 2019, and focussed on modeling CH4 flux data collected via a variety of sources (eddy covariance flux towers, static chamber and sediment measurements). These are will be the basis for creating models of the drivers of methane flux in two freshwater marsh sites, and be used to scale estimates to the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. Her research enhances the scientific communities’ understanding of how climate change, including variation in water levels and climate extremes, affect the Everglades now and into the future.
In 2020, Zhuoran was the recipient of a ForEverglades Research Fellowship! With these funds, Zhuoran has been able to make additional research field outings, as well as perform outreach activities to educate the public about the importance of understanding methane fluxes from natural wetlands.. Her thesis paper is currently under review in Ecosystems - hopefully published soon. Zhuoran graduated in December 2021, and started a PhD program at the University of Notre Dame.
In 2020, Zhuoran was the recipient of a ForEverglades Research Fellowship! With these funds, Zhuoran has been able to make additional research field outings, as well as perform outreach activities to educate the public about the importance of understanding methane fluxes from natural wetlands.. Her thesis paper is currently under review in Ecosystems - hopefully published soon. Zhuoran graduated in December 2021, and started a PhD program at the University of Notre Dame.
Casey Lambert
Casey Lambert
Casey graduated in 2018 from the University of Connecticut in Environmental Studies, with a concentration in Sustainable Systems. She started her studies in August 2019, and focused on completing research in support of an NSF-RAPID grant "Resilient and resistant urban forests: the role of landscape configuration and socioeconomic legacy in understanding tree response to hurricane". The primary goal of this research was to understand how tree failure relates to urban forest structure, topography, and socioeconomic variables in large-scale storms like Hurricane Irma. Using existing field data, pre-and post-storm remotely sensed images, post-storm field-based damage assessments, and sociodemographic census data, Casey assessed urban forest resilience and resistance as it relates to tree, landscape, and socioeconomic factors. Her thesis paper was recently published in Landscape and Urban Planning. Casey graduated in December 2021, and started a PhD program at Marquette University in fall 2022.
Yuan Gong
Dr. Yuan Gong
Yuan spent a year at UA as a visiting Ph.D. student from Nanjing Forestry University's Department of Ecology. Yuan parameterized a phenological model for subtropical forest using eddy covariance data to constrain the growing season. He published three papers during his year at UA - WOW! After his year with me and Dr. Starr (Global Change Ecology lab), he returned to China, graduated, and became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geographic Information Science, Chuzhou University, Chuzhou, China.
Flora Magdaline Romero
Flora Magdaline was a visiting student in the lab during 2018. I was honored to be a Member of her PhD committee at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa) Dissertation, “Avaliação da contribuição do manejo sustentável em floresta do bioma amazônico para minimização da concentração de gases de efeito estufa na atmosfera”. Magdaline has gone on do a Postdoc at
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia - Inpa/Mctic
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia - Inpa/Mctic
Sontosh Kumar Deb
Sontosh Deb
Sontosh was a PhD student under my supervision from January 2017-November 2018. Sontosh received BS and MSc degrees in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Science at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh. Sontosh was tackling a very challenging project, studying the effects of drought on isoprene emission of trees along an urban-rural gradient of southeastern US. Specifically, his intent was to use Quercus phellos as a study species, using trees in both urban and rural forest areas and measuring leaf gas exchange, as well as a suite of micrometeorological variables. My lab installed weather stations on campus and at the university's Tanglewood Biological Station expressly for this purpose. Sontosh had intended to develop a mechanistic model of the isoprene emission of this species. However, he has since decided to focus on evolutionary genetics in another lab. While we wish him well, we are looking for a committed, technologically savvy student to take over this challenging and interesting project.
Nick Caruso
Nick Caruso
Nick was a PhD student under my co-advisement; his primary supervisor, Dr. Leslie Rissler, is a Program Director in the Division of Environmental Biology at the National Science Foundation. Nick received an MSc degree in Biology at University of Maryland College Park. Prior to receiving his PhD, he had already had several high impact papers. Nick’s interests lie in understanding the spatial and temporal distribution of salamanders using, and is very interested and skilled in using the R language for statistical programming to answer ecological questions. Nick focused on applying quantitative techniques to understand how the environment affects terrestrial salamander survivorship, growth, and reproduction and how changes in the environment will likely impact populations and communities. Nick received numerous awards, including an E. O. Wilson Fellowship. He is currently a post-doctoral scientist at Virginia Tech.
Amy Blood
Amy, pictured with a group of famous forest biometricians and the 2014 Southern Mensurationists' Meeting
Amy joined the lab in 2014, after receiving degrees in Environmental Science and Marine Science from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Amy's research is focused on furthering our understanding of urban tree structure, and how it differs from natural forests. She has been working diligently on a funded USDA Forest Service project, using a large urban forest database compiled by the Southern Urban Tree and Canopy Working Group. Amy has published two papers from her Masters, in Urban Forestry and Urban Greening and Forests.
Amy began PhD studies at Virginia Tech, but moved with her advisor to my Alma mater, the University of British Columbia.
Amy began PhD studies at Virginia Tech, but moved with her advisor to my Alma mater, the University of British Columbia.
Sujit Kunwor
Sujit Kunwor joined the lab in 2014, after receiving degrees in Mathematics and Biology from Caldwell College (New Jersey). Sujit's Masters research was focused on improving methods of imputing missing data in eddy covariance studies, which are important for accurate estimation of carbon budgets and their associated uncertainty. His work utilized data from longleaf pine forest at the Joseph Jones Ecological Research Center (JJERC; Georgia, USA). Sujit published one paper for his Masters, in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. Sujit also co-authored another paper with JJERC collaborators which published in Forests. Sujit now has a PhD in Data Science.
During my time at U. Alabama, as well as my tenure at U. Florida, I have worked with many amazing students who have gone on to do wonderful things. Here are a few of my direct advisees:
- Blood, Amy (spring 2016) – Chair (MS) Thesis: “Regional models of urban tree crown characteristics.”
- Kunwor, Sujit (spring 2016) – Chair (MS) Thesis: “Preserving variance structure in gap-filling methods for carbon flux data”
- Malone, Sparkle (spring 2014) – Co-Chair (PhD) Dissertation: “Changes in the greenhouse carbon balance of Everglades freshwater marshes in response to natural and anthropogenic alterations in hydrological conditions.” current position: Assistant Professor, Florida International University.
- Hyman, Michael (fall 2013) – Co-chair (PhD, University of Florida) Dissertation: “Estimation of Confidence Intervals for Ripley's K-function of Spatial Point Processes”. current position: Mathematical Statistician at the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
- Timilsina, Nilesh (fall 2010) – Chair (PhD, University of Florida) Dissertation: "Stand structure of slash pine (Pinus elliottii) under different management regimes and conversion of even-aged slash pine stands into uneven-aged management". current position: Associate Professor at Clemson University.
- Malone, Sparkle (summer 2010) – Co-chair (MS, University of Florida) Thesis: "Effect of fire size and severity on subsequent fires using difference normalized burn ratios in Florida pine dominated flatwood forests". current position: Assistant Professor, Florida International University.
- Lawrence, Alicia Bowen (summer 2010) – Co-chair (MS, University of Florida) Thesis: "Development of urban tree growth, mortality, and carbon sequestration rates in the Southeastern United States"
- Bush, Todd (summer 2010) – Co-chair (MS, University of Florida) Thesis: "Self heating of wood pellets made from southern yellow pine: causes and prevention"
- Thompson, Benjamin (fall 2009) – Co-chair (MS, University of Florida) Thesis: "Modeling hurricane-caused tree debris in Houston, Texas". current position: Urban Forestry Specialist at the Washington Department of Natural Resources
- Londres, Marina (spring 2009) – Co-chair (MS, University of Florida) Thesis: "Population structure and fruit production variation of Andiroba (Carapa guianensis Aubl.) in tidal floodplain forest of the Amazon estuary". current position: PhD student at University of Florida.
- Valle, Denis (spring 2008) – Chair (MS, University of Florida) Thesis: "Assessing uncertainty in forest dynamic models". current position: Associate Professor at University of Florida.
- Tohver, Ingrid Marisa (summer 2006) – Co-chair (MS, University of Florida) Thesis: "Understory tree response to throughfall precipitation exclusion in the Eastern Amazon"