Faculty: Kim J. Brown

Kim J. Brown
Assistant Professor

Ph.D., University of Washington, 2000
Ecosystem Ecology and
Forest Ecophysiology

Phone: 740.593.1122
Fax: 740.593.1130
Email: kim.brown@ohio.edu

My Research Web Site
OU Forest Ecophysiology and Ecosystem Function Lab

Faculty Research Focus Area
Eastern Deciduous Forest Ecology

Dr. Brown's CV

Courses

PBIO 103 Plants and People
PBIO 109 Americans and Their Forests
PBIO 209 Plant Ecology
PBIO 369L/569L Ecosystem Ecology
PBIO 426/526 - Plant Physiological Ecology
ES692 - Ohio University's Greenhouse Gas Inventory - a service learning project in support of OU's participation in the President's Climate Commitment

Service

Chair, PBIO Recruitment Committee
OU Ecology and Energy Conservation Committee
Representative to the MSES Board

Research Program Summary

Research in my lab focuses on: plant architecture, tree ecophysiology, forest canopy leaf area and structure, forest carbon processes, and climate change impacts on forest function. I am increasingly interested in the quantification, valuation, and permenence of forest systems as carbon sequestration offset projects.

I work to apply my knowledge of forest ecophysiology to quantifying and predicting carbon effluxes from forest ecosystems. Forest carbon credit projects are currently playing a role in mitigating some greenhouse gases linked to global change (because forests are our planet's biggest terrestrial sink for absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere). Future mitigation approaches will most likely include biogenic and geologic approaches, so increasing our understanding of the processes that limit forest carbon gain is essential.

Currently my main projects are in Ohio (Forest Carbon flux measures and modeling in thinned and burned oak forests in Vinton County; Forest carbon accounting and biohydrology of Dysart Woods; Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) ecophysiology and fecundity in southeast OH; Tree of Heaven (Ailianthus altissima) invasion in TNC's Edge of Appalachia Preserve). I have other interesting projects elsewhere (ecophysiology and functional anatomy of Hawaiian Viola; American Chestnut stand structure and ontogenetic ecophysiological change in WI).

Selected References

J. Chiang * and K.J. Brown. Thinning and burning treatments influence within canopy leaf traits in
5 seven hardwood species in Ohio. Submitted June 2007, Tree Physiology.
H. Joesting *, B.C. McCarthy, and K.J. Brown. The photosynthetic response of American chestnut (Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh.) seedlings to either high or low light conditions . Accepted to the Canadian Journal of Forest Research, MS# 07-42 Feb 2007
J. Chiang * and K.J. Brown.(2007) Evaluation of budburst phenological models in PnET forest carbon simulations. Ecological Modeling 515-526.
D. McCarthy* and K.J. Brown. (2006) Soil respiration responses to topography, canopy cover, and prescribed burning in an oak-hickory forest in Southeastern Ohio. Forest Ecology and Management Vol. 237, pp. 94-102.
A.S. Walcroft , K.J. Brown , W.S.F. Schuster, D.T. Tissue, M.H. Turnbull, K.L. Griffin, D. Whitehead “Radiative transfer and carbon assimilation in relation to canopy architecture, foliage area distribution and clumping in a mature temperate rainforest canopy in New Zealand” Submitted to Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Sept. 2004
M. Gathany* and K.J. Brown, “Sources of variation in ecosystem carbon pools: A comparison of adjacent old- and second-growth forests” Submitted to Forest Ecology and Management, Dec. 2004
R. Giuliani, M.B. Thornton, K.J. Brown. Monitoring and modeling short-wave radiation in a broad-leaf forest. In preparation for the peer-reviewed journal Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. Estimated to be submitted March 2005.
D. Lieurance * and K.J. Brown, Physiology, leaf structure, and gas exchange capacity in Lonicera maackii (Rupr.) Maxim grown in varying light habitats. In preparation for Oecologia, Dec 2004.
Brown, K.J., Roberts, D.A., McClintick, A. Cocke, A., and Hinckley, T.M. Contrasts in biomass, canopy architecture, and light interception in two hybrid poplar clones. Submitted, Canadian Journal of Forest Research.
J. Nagel, K.J. Brown, W.F. Schuster, D.T. Tissue, M.H. Turnbull, D. Whitehead, and K.L. Griffin. "Energy investment in leaves of red maple and co-occuring oaks within a forested watershed." Tree Physiology, 22: 859-867.
Turnbull, M.H., Whitehead, D., Tissue, D.T., Schuster, W.S.F, Brown, K.J., Griffin, K.L. (2002) Scaling foliar respiration in two contrasting forest canopies. Functional Ecology (in press).
Turnbull, M.H., D. Whitehead, D.T. Tissue, W.S.F. Schuster, K.J. Brown, V.C. Engel, and K.L. Griffin. Photosynthetic characteristics in canopies of Quercus rubra, Quercus prinus and Acer rubrum differ in response to soil water availability. Oecologia, (2002) 130:515–524.
Whitehead, D., Walcroft, A.S., Griffin, K.L., Tissue, D.T., Turnbull, M.H., Engel, V., Brown, K.J., and Schuster, W.S.F. Scaling carbon uptake from leaves to canopies: insights from two forests with contrasting properties. (in press as book chapter, proceeding from: "Forests at the Land-Atmosphere Interface." Edinburgh, CAB International.
Whitehead, D, Hall, G.M., Griffin, K.L., Walcroft, A.S., Schuster, W., Brown, K.J., Carswell, F.E., Landsburg, J.J., James, I.L., Tissue, D. T., Norton, D.A., Turnbull, M.H. Analysis of the growth of rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum) in south Westland, New Zealand, using process-based simulation models. 2002 Intl. Journal of Biometeorology. 46:6675.
Turnbull, M., D. Whitehead, D.T. Tissue, W.S.F. Schuster, K.J. Brown and K.L. Griffin 2001. Responses of leaf respiration to temperature and leaf characteristics in three deciduous tree species vary with site water availability. Tree Physiology. 21:571-578.
Martin, T. A., K. J. Brown, Hinckley, T.M., J. Kucera, F. C. Meinzer, D. G. Sprugel. (2000) Control of transpiration in an old growth Abies amabilis forest. Forest Ecology and Management, 152: (1-3) 211-224.
Roberts, D.A., K. J. Brown, R. Green, S. Ustin, and T. Hinckley. 1998. Investigating the Relationship between Liquid water and Leaf Area in Clonal Populus, Proc. 7th AVIRIS Earth Science Workshop JPL 97-21, Pasadena, CA 91109, 10 p.
Hinckley, T. M., D.G. Sprugel, J.R. Brooks, K. J. Brown, T.A. Martin, D.A. Roberts, W. Schaap, and D. Wang. 1998. Scaling and integration in trees in D. L. Peterson and V. T. Parker, eds. Ecological Scale: Theory and Application. Columbia University Press, New York.
Martin, T. A., K. J. Brown, J. Cermák, R. Ceulemans, J. Kucera, F.C. Meinzer, J.S. Rombold, D.G. Sprugel, and T. M. Hinckley. 1997. Crown conductance and tree and stand transpiration in a second growth Abies amabilis forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 27: 797-808.
Dizengremel, P., T.W. Sasek, K.J. Brown, C.J. Richardson. 1994. Ozone-induced changes in primary carbon metabolism enzymes of Loblolly pine needles. J. Plant. Physiol. 144 (300-306)
Brown, K.J. 1994. Diurnal fluctuations in guiacol peroxiase, Ribulose-1,5-bis-phosphate carboxylase, stomatal conductance and net photosynthesis from chronically ozonated Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.). MS thesis. Duke University, Durham North Carolina. Dr. C.J. Richardson, Advisor.

last updated by KJB: 14 oct 2007