Current Doctoral Students

Kazi Nazrul Islam

education

B.Sc. in Forestry, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh

M.S. in Forestry, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh.
research interests

Nazrul is a second-year PhD student at Yale School of the Environment. He is interested in delving deep into forest disturbance ecology in tropical moist deciduous forests in Bangladesh.

publications

Islam, K. N., Jashimuddin, M., Hasan, K. J., Khan, M. I., Kamruzzaman, M., & Nath, T. K. (2022). Stakeholders’ Perception on Conservation Outcomes of Forest Protected Area Co-management in Bangladesh. Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 41(3-5), 240-256.

Jashimuddin, M., Islam, K. N., & Nath, T. K. (2022). Local Level Forest Governance and Conservation Outcomes in a Co-managed Protected Area of Bangladesh. Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 41(3-5), 302-318.

Chowdhury, F. I., Islam, K., Faroque, M. A., Islam, K. N., Rahman, M. F., Arif, M. T. A., … & Jashimuddin, M. (2022). Assessing the Impacts of Co-management on Protected Area Landscape Under Socio-imagery lens: Evidence from Bangladesh. Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 41(7), 553-572.

Rudra, S., Islam, K. N., Rahman, M. M., & Uddin, S. B. (2021). Medicinal plant diversity and their therapeutic uses in selected village common forests in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. Journal of Herbs, Spices & Medicinal Plants, 27(1), 83-107.

Miah, M. D., Islam, K. N., Kabir, M. H., & Koike, M. (2020). Allometric models for estimating aboveground biomass of selected homestead tree species in the plain land Narsingdi district of Bangladesh. Trees, Forests and People, 100035.

Islam, K. N., Rahman, M. M., Jashimuddin, M., Islam, K., & Zhang, Y. (2020). Impact of co-management on tree diversity and carbon sequestration in protected areas: Experiences from Bangladesh. Trees, Forests and People, 100033.

Islam, K., Rahman, M. F., Islam, K. N., Nath, T. K., & Jashimuddin, M. (2020). Modeling spatiotemporal distribution of Dipterocarpus turbinatus Gaertn. F in Bangladesh under climate change scenarios. Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 39(3), 221-241.

Islam, K. N., Rahman, M. M., Jasimuddin, M., Hossain, M. M., Islam, K., & Faroque, M. A. (2019). Analyzing multi-temporal satellite imagery and stakeholders’ perceptions to have an insight into how forest co-management is changing the protected area landscapes in Bangladesh. Forest Policy and Economics, 101:70-80.

Jacob Peters

Email: jacob.peters@yale.edu

Education

M.S. in Biology, James Madison University

B.S. in Environmental Science, University of Virginia’s College at Wise

Research Interests

Jacob is a third year PhD student studying liana (woody vine) ecology, impacts, and distribution using field experiments and remote sensing with satellites and UAVs. His current projects regard the effect of releasing temperate forests from lianas, large scale species distribution modelling using Google Earth Engine, and UAV LiDAR and multispectral data analysis to detect lianas in forest canopies. Before beginning his studies at Yale, Jacob worked with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Conservation International, and taught biology and ecology at James Madison University and Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia.

Publications

Peters, J.D.J., J. Portmann, B.W. Griscom (2022). Lianas (Vitis spp.) reduce growth and carbon sequestration of light-demanding tree species in a temperate forest. Restoration Ecology.

Peters, J.D.J., H. Griscom (2021). Highlighting an overlooked hotspot for American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) in Virginia. Natural Areas Journal. 

Peters, J.D.J., S. Schoen, M. Rhodes, H. Griscom (2021). Up Smith Creek without a paddle: a case study on the barriers to stream restoration assessment. Journal of Ecological Restoration, 39(3), 151-155.

Peters, J.D.J., R. Huish, D. Taylor, B. Munson (2020). Comparative Analysis of Four Maple Species for Syrup Production in South-Central Appalachia. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(2), 267-276.

Thomas Harris

education

B.S. North Carolina State University - Forest Management

M.S. University of Georgia - Forestry and Natural Resources (Forest Biometrics)

 
research interests

Thomas Harris is a fifth year PhD candidate at the Forest School in the Yale School of the Environment. He is interested in balancing the protection of natural forests with the production from industrial timber land. Thomas grew up in North Carolina and earned a BS in Forest Management at N.C. State, MS in Forest Resources at the University of Georgia. His current research is focused in Brazil working in the landscape mosaic of eucalyptus, native forest, and agricultural land in southern Bahia.

publications

Harris, T.B., Bullock, B.P., Montes, C.R., Dahlen, J. & Dickens, E.D. (2024). Planted longleaf pine individual tree taper, volume, and green weight equations. Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research. (In review).

Nagele, E., Ashton, M.S., Harris, T.B., Forrest, T.A., DeLuca, E.A., Martello, M.E. and Duguid, M.C., 2024. A Century of Change in a Mature Urban Forest: the Thain Family Forest of the New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York. Journal of Forestry, 122(3), pp.258- 272.

Nagele, E., Co, M., Forrest, T.A., DeLuca, E.A., Ashton, M.S., Harris, T.B. and Duguid, M.C., 2024. Using Geologic Features to Visualize Long-Term Changes in Urban Forest Structure and Composition: Thain Family Forest of the New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York. Journal of Forestry, 122(3), pp.314-317.

Zhang, B., Lan, K., Harris, T.B., Ashton, M.S. and Yao, Y., 2023. Climate-smart forestry through innovative wood products and commercial afforestation and reforestation on marginal land. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(23), p.e2221840120.

Holl, K. D., M. S. Ashton, J. J. Bukoski, K. A. Culbertson, S. R. Curran, T. B. Harris, M. D. Potts, Y. L. Valverde, J. R. Vincent. 2022. Redefining “abandoned” agricultural land in the context of reforestation. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. 5, 933887.

Harris, T. B., and H. L. Munro. 2020. Needle deformation in longleaf pines. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 19(1), pp. 29-29.

David Woodbury

education

B.S. University of Washington - Environmental Science and Terrestrial Resource Management

M.F.S. Yale School of the Environment- Forest Restoration Ecology
research interests

David is a PhD candidate studying the effects of landuse history and tropical forest fragmentation on tree biomass and diversity in South Asia. He previously graduated with a Master of Forest Science degree from Yale School of the Environment where he worked on the restoration of mine lands in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

publications

Woodbury, D. J., Jayawickrama, H., Ediriweera, S., Martin, M. P., Queensborough, S. A., Comita, L. S. & Ashton, M. S. (in-prep). Land tenure and human management shape tree communities in Sri Lankan rainforest fragments.

Woodbury, D. J., Jayawickrama, H., Ediriweera, S., Martin, M. P., & Ashton, M. S. (2024). Land tenure and human disturbance influence the current distribution of aboveground biomass in Sri Lankan rainforest fragments. Forest Ecology and Management, 572, 122285. 

Ediriweera, S., Bandara, C., Lakkana, T., Jayasinghe, S., Woodbury, D. J., Dayanandan, A., Singhakumara, B. M. P., Mi, X., Gunatilleke, I. A. U. N., Gunatilleke, C. V. S., & Ashton, M. S. (2024). Old-growth mixed dipterocarp forests show variable losses and gains in aboveground biomass and standing carbon over forty years. Forest Ecosystems, 11, 100163.

Timsina, S., Hardy, N. G., Woodbury, D. J., Ashton, M. S., Cook-Patton, S. C., Pasternack, R., & Martin, M. P. (2022). Tropical surface gold mining: A review of ecological impacts and restoration strategies. Land Degradation & Development, 33(18), 3661–3674.

Sheban, K. C., Woodbury, D. J., & Duguid, M. C. (2022). Importance of environmental factors on plantings of wild-simulated American Ginseng. Agroforestry Systems, 96(1), 147– 160.

Martin, M. P., Woodbury, D. J., Doroski, D. A., Nagele, E., Storace, M., Cook-Patton, S. C., Pasternack, R., & Ashton, M. S. (2021). People plant trees for utility more often than for biodiversity or carbon. Biological Conservation, 261, 109224.

Martin, M. P., Woodbury, D. J., Glogower, Y., Duguid, M., Frey, B., & Ashton, M. (2021). Within-gap position shapes fifty years of forest dynamics in a temperate hardwood forest in Connecticut, USA. Forest Ecology and Management, 494, 119311.

Woodbury, D. J., Yassir, I., Arbainsyah, Doroski, D. A., Queenborough, S. A., & Ashton, M. S. (2020). Filling a void: Analysis of early tropical soil and vegetative recovery under leguminous, post‐coal mine reforestation plantations in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Land Degradation & Development, 31(4), 473–487.

Ediriweera, S., Bandara, C., Woodbury, D. J., Mi, X., Gunatilleke, I. A. U. N., Gunatilleke, C. V. S. & Ashton, M. S. (2020). Changes in tree structure, composition, and diversity of a mixed-dipterocarp rainforest over a 40-year period. Forest Ecology and Management, 458, 117764.