Current research at Alice Holt Research Forest

 

Ongoing research by Forest Research includes:

• Forest carbon dynamics
• Environmental change
• Woodfuel research.

Climate change mitigation

The combination of conventional tree measurement plots, remote sensing data, state-of-the-art facilities such as the ‘Straits flux station’ and model development are improving understanding of the carbon balance of forests and helping to predict how carbon exchange will alter in the future.

Further information about the climate change mitigation programme

Environmental change

Observations from the national and international monitoring networks represented in Alice Holt Forest are improving our understanding of how woodland ecosystems respond to environmental drivers such as air pollution and climate change.

Open-air growth chambers also enable manipulation of the gaseous environment.

Further information about the environmental change network programme

Woodfuel research

Biomass energy is an area of current research focus. Alice Holt Forest has a range of experiments and demonstration plots where potential woodfuel is being investigated using conventional woodlands and short-rotation coppice plantations of fast-growing tree species such as poplar and willow.

The national collection of poplar species and cultivars is also located in the Forest.