Michael R Saunders

Forestry and Natural Resources

Associate Professor of Ecology and Natural Resources

Phone

765.430.1440

Fax

765.494.9461

Office

PFEN Room 221C

Address

715 W State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907

Email

msaunder@purdue.edu

Curriculum Vitae

More on Dr. Mike Saunders

Research Group - Ecology of Natural Systems, Forest Biology

Facilities - Forest Ecology, Soils, and Silviculture Lab

Related Centers - Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center

Purdue Extension - FNR Extension

Michael R. Saunders is an Associate Professor of Silviculture in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources (FNR) at Purdue University. Michael holds a B.S. in Forestry from Iowa State University in 1994, a B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology from Iowa State University in 1994, a M.S. in Forest Management with a minor in Wildlife Conservation from the University of Minnesota in 1998, and a Ph.D. in Forest Management with an emphasis in Silviculture from the University of Maine in 2006. He joined the faculty in July 2007.

Michael’s main research emphasis includes: 1) the development of silvicultural systems that increase the range of variability within natural stands and/or emulate natural disturbance regimes within a given region, 2) improvement of growth and yields within intensively managed systems, and 3) the influence of silviculture on wildlife habitat requirements. He also is involved in projects concerning precommercial thinning in spruce-fir stands within the Northeast and improvement of growth and yield models in the eastern U.S.

Awards & Honors

(2016) 2015 Outstanding Paper Award - Invasive Plant Science and Management. Weed Science Society of America.

(2007) Faculty Associate. University of Maine.

(2006) Graduate Faculty. University of Maine.

Selected Publications

Kane, J. M., Varner, J., & Saunders, M. R. (in press). Resurrecting the lost flames of American chestnut. ECOSYSTEMS.

Greenler, S. M., & Saunders, M. R. (2019). Short-term, spatial regeneration patterns following expanding group shelterwood harvests and prescribed fire in the Central Hardwood Region. FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT, 432, 1053-1063. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2018.10.043

Belair, E. P., Saunders, M. R., & Landhausser, S. M. (2018). Growth traits of juvenile American chestnut and red oak as adaptations to disturbance. RESTORATION ECOLOGY, 26(4), 712-719. doi:10.1111/rec.12625

Webster, C. R., Dickinson, Y. L., Burton, J. I., Frelich, L. E., Jenkins, M. A., Kern, C. C., . . . Willis, J. L. (2018). Tamm Review: Promoting and maintaining diversity in contemporary hardwood forests: Confronting contemporary drivers of change and the loss of ecological memory. FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT, 421, 98-108. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2018.01.010

Frank, G. S., Rathfon, R., & Saunders, M. R. (2018). Ten-year responses of underplanted northern red oak to silvicultural treatments, herbivore exclusion, and fertilization. FORESTS, 9(9), 571. doi:10.3390/f9090571

Swaim, J. T., Dey, D. C., Saunders, M. R., Weigel, D. R., Thornton, C. D., Kabrick, J. M., & Jenkins, M. A. (2018). Overstory species response to clearcut harvest across environmental gradients in hardwood forests. FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT, 428, 66-80. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2018.06.028

Murray, B. D., Webster, C. R., Jenkins, M. A., Saunders, M. R., & Haulton, G. S. (2016). Ungulate impacts on herbaceous-layer plant communities in even-aged and uneven-aged managed forests. Ecosphere, 7(6), e01378. doi:10.1002/ecs2.1378

Shao, G., Shao, G., Gallion, J., Saunders, M. R., Frankenberger, J. R., & Fei, S. (2018). Improving Lidar-based aboveground biomass estimation of temperate hardwood forests with varying site productivity. Remote Sensing of Environment, 204, 872--882. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2017.09.011

Shields, J., Jenkins, M. A., Saunders, M. R., Gibson, K. D., Zollner, P. A., & Dunning, J. B. (2015). Influence of intensity and duration of invasion by Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) on mixed-hardwood forests of Indiana. INVASIVE PLANT SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT, 8, 44-56. doi:10.1614/IPSM-D-14-00044.1

Morrissey, R. C., Jenkins, M. A., & Saunders, M. R. (2014). Accumulation and connectivity of coarse woody debris in partial harvest and unmanaged relict forests. PLOS ONE, 9(11), e113323. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0113323