Dr. Melissa S. Lucash
near Oakridge, Oregon
I began my research career studying how elevated carbon dioxide affects leaf morphology and physiology (M.S. in Environmental Science at Oregon State University). While working as a plant physiologist with Dynamac Corporation (US EPA Laboratory- Western Ecology Division in OR), I became interested in understanding belowground processes, which led me to pursue a Ph.D. in biogeochemistry at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry with Dr. Ruth Yanai. I studied nutrient uptake by trees, both in the laboratory and in the field (Calhoun Experimental Forest in SC and Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in NH). After graduation, I worked as Research Faculty and later Research Assistant Professor at Portland State University, quantifying spatial patterns of resilience after windstorms, estimating the magnitude and direction of disturbance interactions (between wind, insects, fire and harvest), and quantifying the ability of forest management to promote resilience under climate change.
Now, as a Research Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program and Geography department at UO, my research focuses on projecting future changes in forests and wildfire under a changing climate and understanding how historical legacies have shaped the spatial pattern of current forest conditions. A significant component of our work in in the lab involves spatial modeling, with Dr. Lucash serving as both a lead developer of the LANDIS-II model and the president of the LANDIS-II Foundation. LANDIS-II is the most widely used forest landscape model in the U.S., with a community of over 1,800 registered users publishing >220 papers. This powerful tool simulates forest succession and disturbances (e.g. fire, wind, and insect outbreaks) across spatial scales ranging from hundreds to millions of hectares and temporal scales spanning decades to centuries.