Al Freeman

NE CASC Graduate Fellow

Ph.D. Student

University of Vermont

Research Interests

Broadly, I am interested in the intersection of forest management, climate change, and ecophysiology. More specifically, my research focuses on understanding physiological mechanisms underpinning adaptability of species to changing climate regimes and adaptive forest management. Research areas include: utilizing manipulative experiments to determine mechanistic mortality thresholds of species predicted to have population and range expansions under future climatic conditions; determining physiological responses of species used in assisted migration and adaptive management to competition control and site conditions; and understanding the influence of both traditional and adaptive management on herbaceous understory community composition.

Project

Effects of climate, disturbance, and management on the growth and dynamics of temperate and sub-boreal forest ecosystems within the Lake States and New England

Education

M.Sc.: Botany – Plant Biology, Ecology, and Evolution, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 2018

B.S.: Organismal Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2013

Affiliations

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, Silviculture and Applied Forest Ecology Lab

Experience

Research and Teaching Assistant, School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, 2020 to Present

Extension Program Specialist, Los Lunas Agricultural Science Center, New Mexico State University, 2018-2020

Research and Teaching Assistant, Plant Biology, Ecology, and Evolution, Oklahoma State University, 2016 to 2018

Research Technician, 2011 to 2013

Publications

Clark, P.W., Freeman, A.J., D’Amato, A.W., Schaberg, P.G., Hawley, G.J., Evans, K.S., Woodall, C.W. (2022). Restoring a keystone tree species for the future: American chestnut assisted migration plantings in an adaptive silviculture experiment. Forest Ecology and Management, 523, 120505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120505.

Freeman, A.J., Hammond, W.M., Dee, J.R., Cobb, R., Marek, S., & Adams, H. (2019). The effect of prescribed fire on Biscogniauxia infection and δ13C in an upland oak-pine forest. Forest Ecology and Management, 451, 117525.