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Keith Gilland PhD Student Dept. of Environmental and Plant Biology Ohio University Adviser: Dr. Brian C. McCarthy |
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Measuring height of a 3 Year old American chestnut seedling growing on a reclaimed mine site in Zanesville Ohio |
Current Research I am investigating the performance of American Chestnut on former coal mine sites reclaimed using the FRA End-Dump method. Essentially this method of reclamation leaves a loose substrate that should be more suitable for tree growth than traditional methods that leave a highly compacted surface that has proven to be a hindrance to tree establishment. Additionally, these sites are serving as a springboard for the reintroduction of American Chestnut to the Eastern forest after its demise due to the arrival of the Chestnut blight in the early part of the 20th Century. A comprehensive breeding program conducted by the American Chestnut Foundation has yielded a blight resistant hybrid tree is becoming available for this reintroduction and my studies will provide insight into its suitability as a tool for mine reclamation. |
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Research Interests Restoration Ecology, Ecology of the Eastern Deciduous Forest, Reintroduction of the American Chestnut |
Contact
Info : Skype: kg548007
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Education BS (Botany) 2007, Miami University, Oxford Ohio. |
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Professional Activities Ohio Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation: Secretary (2008-present) |
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TA
Experience Plant Community Ecology (PBIO 436/536): Fall 2008,2009 Quantitative Methods (PBIO 415/515): Winter
2009,Spring 2009, Winter 2011 Woody Plants (PBIO 220): Summer 2008 Plants and People (PBIO 103): Spring 2008 General Biology Lab (BIO 101): Fall 2007,Winter 2008 |
Ongoing
Research:
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Jockey Hollow Wildlife Management Area March 2008 after planting 1,000 American Chestnut Seedlings |
American chestnut seedling growing at Jockey Hollow Wildlife Management Area , August 2008 |
Jockey Hollow Wildlife Management Area Winter 2008 Prior to reclamation (during mining operations) |
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West Salem
Wisconsin, July 2005, largest surviving American chestnut |
Planting American
chestnut seeds at JHWMA in Spring 2009 |
Vegetation sampling at JHWMA Summer 2010: examining the influence of
microsite conditions created at the time of reclamation on plant community
development |
