1. Mixed species systems – their stability in relation to climate change and understanding how they can be managed to be more productive than monocultures by using nutrients, water and light more efficiently.
- Do mixed-species and uneven-aged forests offer more ecological stability in the face of climate change? Focusing on stands in central Europe containing Norway spruce (Picea abies), Silver fir (Abies alba) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica) (funded by an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship).
- Increasing the water-use-efficiency of mixed species plantations of Eucalyptus globulus and Acacia mearnsii compared to their monocultures (funded by CSIRO-University of Melbourne Collaborative Grant; Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment Grant (DSE); Institute of Foresters of Australia; ANU).
- Canopy photosynthetic capacity of Eucalyptus globulus and Acacia mearnsii growing in mixtures in relation to their monocultures (funded by CSIRO-University of Melbourne Collaborative grant).
- Modelling the inter- and intra-specific interactions in mixed species plantations (funded by Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Forestry).
- Nitrogen fixation and nutrient cycling in mixed species plantations of Eucalyptus and nitrogen-fixing Acacias (funded by CRC for Greenhouse Accounting; Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation Grant; ANU).
- Above- and belowground carbon partitioning in mixed and monospecific plantations of Eucalyptus and Acacia (funded by CRC for Greenhouse Accounting; Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation Grant; ANU).
- Review of mixed species plantations containing Eucalyptus and nitrogen-fixing species (funded by CRC for Greenhouse Accounting; Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation Grant; ANU).
- Influence of nitrogen, phosphorus and water availability on the growth of mixed and monospecific plantings of Eucalyptus and Acacia (funded by CRC for Greenhouse Accounting; Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation Grant; ANU).
2. Silviculture for producing solid wood products from Eucalyptus plantations (all funded by CRC for Forestry or DSE).
- Interactions between thinning, pruning and fertilizing in terms of growth, canopy physiology, biomass allocation, water use and water use efficiency.
- Competition from coppice on retained trees in thinned Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus sideroxylon plantations.
- Growth responses to thinning and pruning in Eucalyptus plantations in relation to retained basal area, age thinned and site quality.
- Using spatially-explicit competition indices to examine competition in Eucalyptus plantations determine optimal planting designs and thinning regimes.
3. Quantifying and modelling plantation growth and water use
- Water use and water use efficiency of Eucalyptus globulus plantations along an age series (funded by DSE).
- Allometric biomass equations for plantations of Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus nitens in Australia (funded by CRC for Forestry).
- A comparison of process-based models to predict growth of Eucalyptus globulus plantations (funded by CRC for Forestry).
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