Zald, Harold

Position Type: 
Faculty
Job Title: 
Courtesy Faculty
Department: 
Forest Engineering, Resources & Management
Research Interests: 
  • Disturbance Ecology
  • Fire Ecology
  • Forest Management
  • Landscape Ecology
  • Remote Sensing
Research Statement: I use field measurements, tree-rings, and remotely sensed imagery to inventory and monitor forest ecosystems, and understand how they respond to disturbance agents, management activities, and climate change. My broad mission is to conduct applied research to develop forest inventory and monitoring methods, assist forest management decision-making, and inform land management policy.
Bio: 
My research focuses on: Integrating field and remotely sensed data to generate spatial predictions of forest composition, structure, and change; Ecology and management of Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forests with emphasis on responses to climate change, alterations of natural disturbance regimes, and ecosystem restoration; Tree Invasion of mountain meadows in response to climate change; Responses of large old trees to long-term climate change and short-term drought events; and The role of complex terrain and diverse ecosystem configurations in mediating resilience of forests to disturbance agents and climate stressors.
Selected Publications: 
  1. Goodwin MJ, North MP, Zald HSJ, Hurteau MD. (2020). Changing climate reallocates the carbon debt of frequent-fire forests. Global Change Biology: doi:10.1111/gcb.15318.
  2. Zald HSJ, Dunn CD. (2018). Disentangling drivers of wildfire severity in a multi-owner forest landscape, Oregon USA. Ecological Applications 28: 1068-1080.
  3. Zald HSJ, Wulder MA, White JC, Hilker T, Hermosilla T, Hobart GW, Coops NC. (2016). Integrating Landsat pixel composites and change metrics with lidar plots to predictively map forest structure and aboveground biomass in Saskatchewan, Canada. Remote Sensing of Environment 176:188-201.
  4. Zald HSJ, Spies TA, Huso M, Gatziolis D (2012) Climatic, landform, microtopographic, and overstory canopy controls of tree invasion in a subalpine meadow landscape, Oregon Cascades, USA. Landscape Ecology 27:1197-1212.
  5. Zald HSJ, Gray AN, North M, Kern RA (2008) Initial tree regeneration responses to fire and thinning treatments in a Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forest, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 256:168-179.