Benjamin Knapp, PhD

Interim Director & Associate Professor

203S ABNR, Forestry
Columbia, MO 65211
(573) 882-0867
knappb@missouri.edu

Dr. Knapp is the Interim Director of the Center for Agroforestry and an Associate Professor in the School of Natural Resources. His research focuses on integrating silviculture with restoration ecology, with particular interest in addressing issues with tree regeneration and with refining the use of prescribed burning as a management tool. His research includes evaluating practices for establishing silvopasture and integrating silvopasture with restoration of natural communities. He regularly teaches courses in silviculture and fire ecology. Since 2015, he has also served as Faculty Manager of the Baskett Forest, where he has led an annual maple syrup production project that brings together faculty, staff, and students to learn about maple ecology and syrup production.

Google Scholar Profile
Silviculture & Restoration Ecology Lab

Research Foci

  • Tree regeneration
  • Restoration of forested ecosystems
  • Application of fire as a management tool
  • Forest stand dynamics

Selected Publications

  • Hayford, I., Knapp, B.O., Kabrick, J.M. 2023. Responses of natural and artificial pin oak (Quercus palustris) regeneration to a sequence of silvicultural release treatments in bottomland hardwood forests in southern Missouri. Forest Ecology and Management. 529:120699 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120699
  • Anderson, S.E., Knapp, B.O., Kabrick, J.M. 2022. Stand density effects on aboveground carbon dynamics in second-growth Pinus and Quercus forests of central USA. Forest Science. fxac053 https://doi.org/10.1093/forsci/fxac053
  • Aguilar, F.X., Sudekum, H., McGarvey, R., Knapp, B.O., Domke, G., and Brandeis, C. 2022. Wood pellet industry effects on local forest carbon stocks: evidence from the US coastal southeast. Scientific Reports 12:19449. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23870-x
  • Knapp, B.O., Maginel, C.J., Graham, B., Kabrick, J.M., Dey, D.C. 2022. Escaping the fire trap: does frequent, landscape-scale burning inhibit tree recruitment in a temperate broadleaf ecosystem? Forest Ecology and Management. 513:120191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120191
  • Crouch, Connor, Knapp, B.O., Cohen, S.A., Glitzenstein, J., Walker, J., and Wang, G.G. 2022. Longleaf pine restoration on hydric sites: understory plant community responses to site preparation through 15 years. Applied Vegetation Science. 21:e12637. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12637
  • Dibala, R. Jose, S., Gold, M., Kallenbach, R., and Knapp, B.O. 2022. Initial performance of red mulberry (Morus rubra L.) under a light gradient: an overlooked alternative livestock forage? Agroforestry Systems. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-021-00699-3
  • Lyczak, S.J., Kabrick, J.M., Knapp, B.O. 2021. Long-term effects of biomass removal, compaction, and vegetation control on tree survival and growth in coarse-textured, low-productivity soils. Forest Ecology and Management. 15: 119428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119428
  • Dibala, R., Jose, S., Gold, M., Hall, J., Kallenbach, R., and Knapp, B.O. 2021. Tree density effects on soil, dry matter production, and nutritive value of understory Megathyrsus maximus in a seasonally dry tropical silvopasture in Panama. Agroforestry Systems 95: 741-753. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-021-00628-4
  • Vickers, L.A., Knapp, B.O., Kabrick, J.M., Kenefic, L.S., D’Amato, A.W., Kern, C.C., MacLean, D.A., Raymond, P., Clark, K.L., Dey, D.C., Rogers, N.S. 2021. Contemporary status, distribution, and trends of mixedwoods in the northern United States. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2020-0467
  • Wang, S., Knapp, B.O., Ehlers, S., Graham, B., Gao, X., Timm, S. 2021. Forest management effects on downed dead wood at stand and landscape scales in a temperate forest of the central United States. Forest Ecology and Management 482: 118905. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118905
  • Kenefic, L.S., Kabrick, J.M., Knapp, B.O., Raymond, P., Clark, K.C., D’Amato, A.W., Kern, C.C., Vickers, L.A., Dey, D.C., Rogers, N.S. 2021. Mixedwood silviculture in North America: the science and art of managing complex, multi-species temperate forests. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2020-0410
  • Refsland, T., Knapp, B.O., Stephan, K., Fraterrigo, J. 2020. Sixty-five years of fire manipulation reveals climate and fire interact to determine growth rates of Quercus spp. Ecosphere. 11 e03287. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3287
  • Rives, R.G., Knapp, B.O., Olson, M.G., Weegman, M.D., and Muzika, R.M. 2020. Regenerating mixed bottomland hardwood forests in north Missouri: effects of harvest treatment on structure, composition, and growth through 15 years. Forest Ecology and Management 475, 118371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118371
  • Curtin, P.J., Knapp, B.O., Jack, S.B., Vickers. L.A., Larsen, D.R., and Guldin, J.M. 2020. Recruiting under a canopy: effects of overstory competition on tree recruitment patterns of naturally regenerated longleaf pine on two site types. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 50(7). https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2019-0343
  • Crouch, C.D., Knapp, B.O., Cohen, S.A., Stambaugh, M.C., Walker, J.L., and Wang, G.G. 2020. Site preparation for longleaf pine restoration on hydric sites: stand development through 15 years. Forest Ecology and Management 461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.117928
  • Newbold, C., Knapp, B.O., and Pile, L.S. 2019. Are we close enough? Comparing prairie reconstruction chronosequences to remnants following two site preparation methods in Missouri, USA. Restoration Ecology. 28(2): 358-368. https://doi.org/10.111/rec/13078
  • Wang, S., Qi, G., and Knapp, B.O. 2019. Topography affects tree species distribution and biomass variation in a warm temperate, secondary forest. Forests 10: 895. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10100895
  • Vickers, L.A., McWilliams, W.H., Knapp, B.O., D’Amato, A.W., Dey, D.C., Dickinson, Y.L., Kabrick, J.M., Kenefic, L.S., Kern, C.C., Larsen, D.R., Royo, A.A., Saunders, M.R., Shifley, S.R., and Westfall, J.A. 2019. Are current seedling demographics poised to regenerate northern US forests? Journal of Forestry 117(6): 592-612. https://doi.org/10.1093/jofore/fvz046
  • Knapp, B.O., Anderson, S.E., Curtin, P.J., Ghilardi, C., and Rives, R.G. 2019. Can clearcutting reset successional trajectories in upland oak-hickory forests? A case study from mid-Missouri. Journal of Forestry 117(5): 435-442. https://doi.org/10.1093/jofore/fvz041
  • Vickers, L.A., Larsen, D.R., Knapp, B.O., Kabrick, J.M., and Dey, D.C. 2019. Height development milestones for canopy recruitment after overstory removal in the Missouri Ozarks. Forest Ecology and Management 445:122-133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2019.04.049
  • Maginel, C.J., Knapp, B.O., Kabrick, J.M., and Muzika, R.M. 2019. Landscape and local responses of ground flora to 16 years of prescribed fire in the Missouri Ozarks. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 48(8): 1004-1014. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2018-0492
  • Dey, D.C., Knapp, B.O., Deal, R.L., Hart, J.L., Battaglia, M.L., Schweitzer, C.J., and Schuler, T.M. 2019. Barriers to natural regeneration in temperate forests across the United States. New Forests. 50:11-40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-018-09694-6
  • Vickers, L.A., McWilliams, W.H., Knapp, B.O., D’Amato, A.W., Saunders, M.R., Shifley, S.R., Kabrick, J.M., Dey, D.C., Larsen, D.R., and Westfall, J.A. 2019. Using a tree seedling mortality budget as an indicator of landscape-scale forest regeneration security. Ecological Indicators. 96:718-727. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.06.028
  • Knapp, B.O. and Pallardy, S.G. 2018. Forty-eight years of forest succession: tree species change across four forest types in mid-Missouri. Forests. 9:633, https://doi.org/10.3390/f9100633
  • Knapp, B.O., Pile, L.S., Walker, J.L., and Wang, G.G. 2018. Fire effects on a fire-adapted species: response of grass stage longleaf pine seedlings to experimental burning. Fire Ecology. 14:2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-018-0003-y
  • Wood, J.D., Knapp, B.O., Muzika, R.M., Stambaugh, M.C., and Gu, L. 2018. The importance of drought-pathogen interactions in driving oak mortality events in the Ozark Border Region. Environmental Research Letters 13: 015004. http://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa94fa

Explore more resources from Dr. Knapp and the Center for Agroforestry team.

READ

Our online tree sugaring resource hub highlights some of the region’s most robust sugaring guides, including a 2022 survey of MO syrup makers.

Check out the hub
WATCH

Dr. Knapp shows the maple tapping operation at MU’s Baskett Forest, an outdoor silviculture and forest ecology laboratory near Ashland.

Watch on YouTube
LISTEN

In this episode of The Agroforestry Podcast, Dr. Knapp and Missouri syrup makers share their sugarbush successes and ongoing challenges.

Listen on your favorite podcast platform
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