Matthew Powers

Powers, Matthew

Position Type:
Faculty
Job Title:
Associate Professor
Department:
Forest Engineering, Resources & Management
Office Location:
254 Peavy Forest Science Center (PFSC)
Phone Number:
Graduate Major Advisor
Education
PhD, 2008, Forest Science, Michigan Technological University
MS, 2005, Forest Ecology and Management, Michigan Technological University
BS, 2002, Biology, Ball State University
Research Areas
Silviculture, Fire, Forest Health and Biodiversity
Silviculture is a discipline focused on meeting diverse and shifting management objectives ranging from promoting sustainable wood or biomass production to conserving biodiversity, altering wildfire activity, promoting adaptation to climate change, and increasing carbon storage. My research revolves around understanding how different silvicultural practices influence changes in forest structure and function so we can evaluate potential tradeoffs among these diverse objectives.

My specific research interests focus on understanding how processes related to forest growth, productivity, and stand development respond to management activities or disturbances that create different stand structures. I am particularly interested in understanding the mechanisms that drive stand development following management activities and other disturbances that create spatial complexity in forests, but I am generally interested in any research that investigates the impacts of different management activities on basic processes that influence patterns of forest growth and stand dynamics.
Selected Publications:
  1. Williams, NG, and Powers, MD. 2019. Medium-term effects of active management on the structure of mature Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) stands. Ecosphere 10(8): 1-31.

  2. Priebe, JE, Powers, MD, and Cole, EC. 2018. Species, tree size, and overstory environment affect likelihood of ice storm damage to understory trees in a mature Douglas-fir forest. Forest Ecology and Management 409: 777-788.

  3. Nagel, LM, Palik, BJ, Battaglia, MA, D’Amato, AW, Guldin, JM, Swanston, CW, Janowiak, MK, Powers, MD, Joyce, LA, Miller, CA, Peterson, DL, Ganio, LM, Kirchbaum, C, Roske, MR. 2017. Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change: A national experiment in manager-scientist partnerships to apply an adaptation framework. Journal of Forestry 115(3): 167-178.

  4. Powers, MD, Kolka, RK, Bradford, JB, Palik, BJ, Fraver, S, and Jurgensen, MF. 2012. Carbon stocks across a chronosequence of thinned and unmanaged red pine (Pinus resinosa) stands. Ecological Applications 22(4): 1297-1307.

  5. Powers, MD, Pregitzer, KS, Palik, BJ, Webster, CR. 2011. The physiological basis for regeneration response to variable retention harvest treatments in three pine species. Forestry. 84(1): 13-22.