Kevin Willson

I join the ESEL as a Ph.D. student after receiving my Master’s degree from the University of Alabama’s Forest Dynamics Lab and my Bachelor degrees from the University of Maryland. My research interests broadly focus around forests and disturbances, with a specific interest in forest and fire interactions. For my Master’s, I studied the temporal patterns of ground flora recovery post-prescribed fire, but also had secondary projects quantifying the vertical light structure of a stand after a tornado and the response of macrofungal communities after a tornado and salvage harvesting. I am now interested in quantifying forest recovery rates after a fire, including effects of abiotic patch characteristics on regeneration distance into high-severity burn scars and overstory tree growth rates after fire and drought.


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Publications:
Willson, K.G., Hart, J.L., Zengel, B. A longing for the natural past: Unexplored benefits and impacts of a nostalgic approach towards restoration in ecology. Restoration Ecology, In Press. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12985
 
Willson, K.G., L.E. Cox, J.L. Hart, D.C. Dey. Three-dimensional light structure of an upland Quercus stand post-tornado disturbance. Journal of Forestry Research, In Press.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-019-00907-y
 
Barefoot, C.R., Willson, K.G., Hart, J.L., Schweitzer, C.J., Dey, D.C., 2019. Effects of thinning and prescribed fire frequency on ground flora in mixed Pinus-hardwood stands. Forest Ecology and Management, 432, 729-740. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.09.055
 
Willson, K.G., C.R. Barefoot, J.L. Hart, C.J. Schweitzer, D.C. Dey., 2018 Temporal patterns of ground flora response to fire in thinned Pinus-Quercus stands. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 48, 1171-1183. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2018-0132
 
Willson, K.G., Perantoni, A.N., Berry, Z.C., et al., 2017. Influences of reduced iron and magnesium on growth and photosynthetic performance of Phragmites australis subsp. americanus (North American common reed). Aquatic Botany, 137, 30-38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquabot.2016.11.005