Masato Miwa

Assistant Scientist in Forest Hydrology

Education

• Ph.D., Forest Hydrology, Virginia Tech, 1999
• M.S., Wetland Soils and Hardwood Regeneration, Mississippi State University, 1993
• B.S., General Forest Management, University of Arkansas, 1991

Biography

Masato Miwa is an Assistant Scientist in Forest Hydrology with a joint appointment with The University of Florida North Florida Research and Education Center (NFREC) and School of Forest Resources and Conservation (SFRC). He supports the NFREC’s research mission by developing new knowledge for management and conservation of forest resources in an environmentally-sound, socially-acceptable, and economically-sustainable manner. He also teaches fundamental principles and cutting-edge technologies in SFREC’s core undergraduate forestry program.

Masato manages a large, multiyear, federally-funded study (EPA 319 Silviculture Best Management Practices project) under Dr. Minogue’s supervision. This study evaluates the effect of intensive forest fertilization practice for pine straw production on ground water quality and stand biomass productivity, pine straw production, and nutrient budgets. Masato’s research has focused on hydrological and ecological assessment of various forested wetlands and headwater systems, physical and chemical characterization of wetland soils, evaluation of silvicultural operations and forestry BMP effectiveness, and assessment of hardwood regeneration on wetland mitigation sites. His primary research interests include:

• Land management effects on surface and ground water quantity, quality, and riparian/aquatic biological communities of low-order streams (small-scale process studies)
• Long-term cumulative effects of land use on large watershed hydrology, water quality, and riparian/aquatic ecosystem functions (large-scale metadata analysis).