“The Nondestructive Assessment of the Internal Condition of Trees” by Dr. Robert Marra

Spring Seminar: “The Nondestructive Assessment of the Internal Condition of Trees” by Dr. Robert Marra, Assoc. Agricultural Scientist, CT Agricultural Experiment Station

• Feb. 27, 2020 4:00pm
• SC 120
• Dr. Marra has expertise in plant pathology, mycology, fungal genetics, population biology, evolution, and molecular biology.  While forest pathology is his principle research interest, Dr. Marra studies a range of plant pathosystems from various perspectives, including population biology, ecology, and mating system evolution. Dr. Marra earned a BS from SUNY-Binghamton (1990) in Biology/Russian and a PhD from Cornell (1998) in Plant Pathology/Mycology. 
• Dr. Marra has developed knowledge and expertise in the use of a new technology for nondestructively assessing the internal condition of trees, identifying cavities, rot, and incipient decay, long an elusive goal of forest pathologists, arborists, and others interested in knowing the extent of internal decay and defect in trees.  The advent of tomographic technologies has made this goal attainable.  Similar to CAT scans used in medical diagnostics, sonic and electrical impedance tomography use sound waves and electrical currents to detect irregularities in structure and composition, as well as water content.  Combining the results of both types of measurements can result in a remarkably accurate depiction of the tree’s internal condition.