Environmental Science and Forestry

The Department of Environmental Science and Forestry conducts fundamental and applied research in diverse areas related to soil and water quality, tick-borne diseases, aquatic invasive plants, microbial ecology, forest management, and crop research. The department was formed in June 2022 when the Department of Environmental Sciences and the Department of Forestry and Horticulture merged.

Environmental Science and Forestry department scientists associated with the Center for Vector Biology and Zoonotic Diseases are studying tick ecology and integrated tick management practices, with the goal of reducing the risk of tick-borne infections in humans and domesticated animals. The department’s Environmental Chemistry group detects and studies behaviors of chemical contaminants in the environment, including binding to soil particles, biological availability in soil, mechanisms of natural breakdown and novel physical and chemical methods for their removal or destruction in soil and water. Department scientists in the Invasive Aquatic Plant program are examining the ecology of invasive aquatic plants and their impacts to water chemistry and habitat, as well as evaluating methods for their control. The department also has research programs in environmental microbiology involving carbon cycling in soils, molecular mechanisms of host specificity enabling the parasitic behavior of microsporidia, forest health including tree-fungus interactions, and novel production systems in urban agriculture.

A free service for Connecticut taxpayers the department runs is the Soil Testing Laboratory which analyzes samples from farms, homes, and commercial grounds for nutrient levels, and then recommends steps to improve soil fertility.  

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