Research Programs

Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Develop and disseminate knowledge about aquatic animals and their habitats, including aquaculture; interactions between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems; and fates and effects of pollutants; and appropriate management practices for the protection and use of aquatic ecosystems.

Natural Resource Social Science
Social, political, and economic implications of alternative public policies with regard to the protection, management and use of natural resources.

Forest Measurement and Assessment/Geographic
Information Systems
Develop integrated systems of quantitative techniques for assessing and analyzing forest and associated ecosystems and the resources they contain and evaluating forest management strategies.

Forest Biology and Silviculture
Advance basic knowledge of forest ecosystems, as well as the physiology, genetics, and growth of hardwood trees, to provide for the health and sustained productivity of the forests of the Central Hardwood Region, both in rural and urban settings.

Genetics
Molecular as well as analytical methods are applied to a variety of genetic questions (e.g., genetic diversity, relatedness, heritability) in both natural and captive populations; a variety of plants and animals are studied in modern laboratory facilities that are enhanced by Departmental field sites

Wildlife Science 
Increase and disseminate knowledge about wildlife species, populations, and communities and how they relate to ecosystem structure and functioning and respond to environmental changes.

Wood Products and Wood Products Manufacturing Technology
Assist wood products manufacturers and consumers in gaining the greatest benefit from responsible use of wood by developing new knowledge to reduce raw material costs, improve processing technologies, and encourage innovation in product development, thus integrating industrial competitiveness with natural resource conservation through science and engineering.