Plantation site and resource evaluation
The Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science (University of Melbourne) and the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry are seeking a suitably qualified and motivated PhD candidate to undertake research on new methods for plantation site evaluation, forest inventory by high resolution remote sensing, and application of process-based models for decision support systems in forest management.
The CRC for Forestry is a national, seven-year initiative to apply next generation technologies to management challenges across the forestry business chain - from site selection to delivery of wood at mill gate. The prospective student will work together with a multi-disciplinary research team within Program 1 of the CRC. This program will research new applications of information and remote sensing technologies for planning and decision making in forest management. The student will be supervised by staff from the University of Melbourne and CSIRO Land and Water.
The student will have some flexibility in defining the research area, within the milestones of CRC Program 1. Possible areas include using current and emerging technologies to monitor and measure tree growth and environmental site variables important to plantation productivity, to quantify the effects of forest growth on water, soil nutrients and carbon through successive plantation rotations, and to capture this information into decision support tools for future management. Prospective students will have a background in forestry, plant and soil sciences, natural resource management or related discipline, with demonstrated ability in modeling and computer programming.
For further information, please contact Dr Tom Baker, (03) 9450 8687, tgbaker@unimelb.edu.au or Dr Paul Feikema, (03) 9450 8692, pfeikema@unimelb.edu.au .
