Dr. Andrew Burton | Michigan Tech Research Forum

| October 9, 2023 | Theme: | Long Term Value of Ecological Research

Andrew J. Burton

Lecturer

Distinguished Lecturer, Dr. Andrew Burton

Topic

Long-term ecological research – the gift that keeps on giving

Research Statement

In February 1987, as a young research scientist, I walked into a northern hardwood forest in lower Michigan to assess it as a possible location for a three-year research project at multiple northern hardwood forests across Michigan. In mid-September, 2023, I was back in the same location, as three years had become thirty-six. The initial project on acid rain led to a renewal and then new manipulative research, investigating the effects of chronic nitrogen additions on forest ecosystems. The project's long-term nature has enabled the investigation of many additional topics, including climate change, carbon sequestration and the impacts of exotic invasive pests. Even today, the data generated over many years is aiding instruction of my undergraduate and graduate courses and is critical for new research proposals that need the long-term data to help develop proof-of-concept examples. Thirty-six years later, having driven more than the distance from the earth to the moon, much of it to study roots less than 0.3 mm in diameter, we’re still observing new things and developing new ideas to test that would not be possible without the continuous long-term data.

Six Questions for Dr. Andrew Burton

You focus your work on forest ecosystems. How did you come to choose this focus? Or did it choose you?

I always visited and enjoyed forests growing up, as my father worked for the US Forest Service. After investigating a few other possible majors in college, I turned back to forestry. My interest in understanding how things work, then led me to forest ecology, which investigates all interactions and mechanisms that help create the forests we see and dictate how they change over time in response to both internal and external factors.

How do your research and teaching complement each other?

Results from my research are often integrated into lectures in my undergraduate Forest Ecology course. I’m involved with several long-term research projects, one that’s been ongoing since 1987 in northern hardwood forests. When you’ve been taking measurements at the same location for that long, you generate a lot of data and make observations that are relevant to many basic ecological principles, which helps be present real-world local examples to my classes.

What has changed the most in your field over the past decade (or two)?

One of the biggest changes is the increase in the use of technology, especially remotely-sensed data. Foresters have long used aerial imagery and even some satellite data, but the more recent availability of UAVs with a wide array of sensor platforms in really opening up new avenues for research, education and application in forestry and ecology.

What is the biggest challenge in your fields of expertise?

The biggest challenge now is to try to take advantage of all the new types of investigation and knowledge that can be applied to forest ecology and build collaborations with the many disciplines needed to really do groundbreaking work. I used to work with plant physiologists and soil scientists and a few other closely related fields two address basic ecological questions at specific field locations, but now need to expand that to include much greater involvement with collaborators in field such as remote sensing, social science, machine learning, genetics, and economics, to work on complex global ecological issues that involve forests.

How does Michigan Tech work for you as a home base?

We live right in the middle of a wonderful forest ecology field lab. The number of unique ecosystems I can visit with my class and the nearby access of suitable locations for research make Michigan Tech a perfect place for me.

What's next in your research?

I have about four major topics I want to tackle if time permits and if I can obtain funding. It would be a little difficult to quickly explain them, but they all would involve multi-disciplinary collaborations to address issues that exist at a large spatial scale involving ecosystem sustainability, carbon sequestration and improving our overall understanding of carbon allocation to root systems related to aboveground resource (water and nutrients) needs.