A Mississippi State University undergraduate has furthered research on the flammability of hardwood forests. The Association of Fire Ecology recently honored senior forestry major Zach Senneff of Caledonia for that research with the Harold Weaver Undergraduate Student Excellence Award, which is granted to a single student each year from a global pool of students pursuing research in fire ecology.
Senneff, who is now doing a summer internship at Weyerhaeuser, researched which leaves encourage fire and which hamper fire. In fire-prone ecosystems, flammable leaf litter kills competing trees. Senneff investigated the flammability of leaf litter from 10 hardwood species common to the eastern U.S.
Morgan Varner, fire ecologist and assistant professor in the university’s Forest and Wildlife Research Center, directed Senneff’s research. “Zach’s research is important when considering restoration of eastern forest ecosystems,” Varner said in a news release. “Trees that have low flammability characteristics may not be adapted to survive in fire-prone ecosystems.”
Fire is an important management tool, and many wildlife species are dependent on the habitat created by prescribed fire, Varner said. Senneff said in the news release that the undergraduate research program helped him think differently about problems that may arise.
From The Clarion-Ledger: https://www.clarionledger.com/story/money/business/2014/07/12/msu-student-honored-forest-fire-research/12573927/