Research

Concentration Area

The Graduate School in Forest Science, at Master and PhD levels, involves the Forestry Engineering Department, Biology, Plant Biology, Rural Economics, Phytotechnics, Informatics, Chemistry and Soils. The student will join the Forestry Engineering Department, under the supervision of the Guidance Committee. The Graduate School has four concentration area, with the following specializations: Forest Management (Mensuration, Forest Inventory and Management of Equine and Unequal Forests; Policy, Economics, Administration, Planning, Forest Optimization, Ergonomics, Harvesting, ForestvRoads and Forest Transport) Remote Sensing and Geoprocessing); Silviculture (Seeds, Propagation and Physiology of Forest Species; Genetics and Forest tree improvement; Silvopastoral and Agroforestry Systems; Dendrology and Phytosociology) Wood Technology and Forest Biomaterials (Forest Products Technology, Cellulose and Paper; Energy and Forest Biomass) and Environment and Nature Conservation (Ecology, Hydrology, Wathershed management; Management and Fauna Conservation and Environmental Management Systems; Environmental Impacts and Recovery of Degraded Areas; Parks, Outdoor Recreation and Urban forests).

Concentration area and research guidelines

Silviculture

- - Seeds, Propagation and Physiology of Forest Species
    - Survey and forest species identification. Dormancy, storage and germination of forest seeds to obtain metabolic information, as well as the mechanisms that control seed germination and dormancy.
  - Genetics and Forest tree improvement
    - Genetic parameters definition and criteria for growth characteristics selection, nutritional efficiency and quality wood characteristics. Use of biochemical marker techniques applied to breeding.
  - Silvocultural and Agroforestry Systems;
    - Diagnosis and design of agroforestry systems researchs, silvicultural systems with native or exotic species.
  - Dendrology and Phytosociology
    - Tree species in forest communities survey and phytosociological studies.

Forest Management

- - Mensuration, Forest Inventory and Management of Equine and Unequal Forests;
    - Studies on mensuration and forest measurement, forest growth rate, forest management and planning.
  - Policy, Economics, Administration, Planning, Forest Optimization
    - Optimal harvesting age determination, optimum level of fertilization and spacing, economic damage assessment, economic location, evaluation of product costs, economic and social assessments of reforestation and forest sector.
  - Ergonomics, Harvesting, Forest Roads and Forest Transport
    - Exploration systems development, system productivity optimization and reduction of timber transportation cost. Rationalization and safety at work.
  - Remote Sensing and Geoprocessing
    - Software development for interpreting orbital images to assess the land cover. Database establishment in geographic information systems

Wood Technology and Forest Biomaterials

- - Forest Products Technology
    - The goal is to define the properties of the wood and the effects of factors that interfere in the quality and use indexes of the wood. Chipboard properties and composition determination with raw material.
  - Cellulose and Paper
    - Traditional procedure and development of new pulping and bleach procedure; wood chemistry; pollution control in the pulp and paper industries
  - Energy and Forest Biomass
    - Wood as an energy source. Forest residues use for energy production.

Environment and Nature Conservation

- - Ecology, Hydrology, Wathershed management; Management and Fauna Conservation and Environmental Management Systems.
  - Natural resources conservation studies emphasizing water, soil and improvement of environmental management systems.
  - Environmental Impacts and Degraded Areas recovery
  - Environmental measures diagnosis and listing to mitigate forest impacts, degraded areas techniques recovering.
  - Parks, Outdoor Recreation and Urban forests
  - Parks and recreation;Stands studies, agglomeration and isolated trees ir urban areas; sociological phyto-human relationship.

Research areas

The Graduate School in Forest Science, at the Forestry Engineering Department, at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa, offers Master and PhD degrees, in the followings research areas: