Adams Home

Education

PhD, 1984, Forest Ecology, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

MA, 1977, Biology, SUNY Plattsburgh

BS, 1970, Biology, Heidelberg College

Research Interests

Disturbance impacts on forest stand composition and structure

Ecological effects of the 1998 ice storm on the Flat Rock Ecosystem

Use of prescribed burning to manage fire-prone ecosystems

Habitat selection by songbirds

Ken Adams teaching his Field Ecology
class at the Altona Flat Rock jack pine
and pitch pine barrens.

Courses

ENV 330 Wildlife Ecology and Management: The consequences of human activities on wildlife populations and habitats deserve more attention. This course examines the principles of wildlife ecology with emphasis on birds and mammals in the following ways; the factors affecting animal health, population dynamics, analysis of habitat management, and the role of wildlife ecology in the preservation of biodiversity.

ENV 332 Plant Ecology: This course is designed to prepare students for graduate study in a specialized area of plant ecology or a related discipline. Lecture topics include interactions between plants and their biotic and abiotic environment, models of plant strategies, and roles of vegetation as an ecosystem component. Laboratories emphasize vegetation sampling techniques and data analysis.

ENV 337 Field Ecology: The ability to identify plants and animals is essential to most ecological research and enhances everyone's outdoor experience. This course is a first-hand study of plants and vertebrates in the major terrestrial ecological communities of northern New York and the Adirondacks. This course is taught for the Applied Environmental Science Program (AESP) at Miner Institute.

Jack pine branch showing the yearly
accumulation of serotinous cones

ENV 480 Advanced Topics: Restoration Ecology: Interactions between natural processes can culminate in an event or disturbance during which the structure and composition of plant communities are greatly modified. The ice storm of 1998 was an extensive and intensive disturbance, affecting forested ecosystems across a regional landscape. The objectives of this course are to: 1) Quantify ecological impacts of the ice storm in forests owned by the Miner Institute; 2) Predict pathways for natural ecosystem recovery; 3) Assess the short-term effects of managed recovery and restoration strategies on plant communities and wildlife habitat. Restoration Ecology is an AESP course.

ENV 480 Advanced Topics: Fire Ecology: With a few notable exceptions, descriptions of terrestrial ecosystems include some type of fire regime. This course covers the basics of fire science, fire weather, models of fire behavior and rates of heat release, quantifying fire intensity for correlation with ecological effects, fire-dependent species and ecosystems, prescribed burning, and the role of fire in ecosystem management.