Abstract
Graduate M.S. theses and Ph.D. dissertations were searched to provide a body of information associated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) database. Authors' abstracts were included if available in electronic form and published since 1974. Novel technical and nontraditional FIA data uses, as well as the geographic region of the reported studies, were highlighted in keywords and annotations. The search yielded the 103 citations included in this report. Dominating efforts were in economics, Geographic Information Systems, timber production, and selected States, with a broadening array of subjects in more recent years. Research institutions in States with regional FIA survey unit offices granted one-third of the graduate degrees. Providing an overview of the uses of FIA data in student research, the results show that a body of knowledge based on the data is evolving, whereas the distribution of subjects and study regions has been somewhat limited.
Keywords
Bibliography,
dissertation,
historical synthesis,
interdisciplinary,
MRI (multi-purpose resource inventory),
thesis
Citation
Rudis, Victor A. 2003. Fresh Ideas, Perspectives, and Protocols Associated with Forest Inventory and Analysis Surveys: Graduate Reports, 1974 to July 2001. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-61. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 49 p.