Prof. Ben du Toit

 

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Research

Focus areas for ongoing research

Starting date  

Focus Area

Description of current projects

1994 →

Plantation nutrition

a) Fertilization in commercial plantation forests

b) Use of Controlled-release fertilizer sources to limit environmental impacts of plantation forestry

c) Effects of silvicultural operations on nutrient availability and stand nutrient status

1998 →

Forest biogeochemistry & sustained productivity

a) Forest nutrient dynamics and forest biogeochemical cycles

b) Nutrient input-output budgets

c) Nutritional sustainability

1998 →

Forest eco-physiology

a) Light capture and resource use efficiency

b) Water use efficiency

c) Influence of resource availability on tree allometry and carbohydrate allocation.

d) Relationship between soil water supply and isotopic δ13C signature

1992→

Applied Plantation silviculture

a) Intensive silvicultural management at plantation establishment and its effects on seedling survival and stand productivity.

b) Productivity of semi-mature pine stands across gradients of water and nutrient availability.

c) Effects of spacing and thinning regimes on stand productivity and wood quality.

2008 →

Tree crops for the production of woody biomass for renewable energy

a) Site-genotype matching experiments

b) Silvicultural systems for biomass production

c) Effects of climate and silviculture on wood quality of tree taxa.

2002 →

Fire research

a) Nutrient losses under single and repeated prescribed burning events,

b) Long term impacts on biogeochemical nutrient cycles following repeated prescribed burning under semi-mature pine forests.

2012 →

Silviculture of natural forests

a) Ecological Processes in wet evergreen and dry deciduous natural forests

b) Silvicultural systems used in natural forests

c) Carbohydrate allocation and storage in natural forest systems

2013 →

Carbon  sequestration

a) Carbon sequestration in various biomass pools of forest and plantation ecosystems:

  • Above-ground biomass
  • Below-ground biomass
  • Forest floor and slash
  • Forest soils

b) Carbon dynamics following silvicultural interventions

c) Carbon dynamics when fires of varying intensities are used as a management tool.

2014 →

Dendrological studies

a) Dendrochronology

b) Dendro-ecology

c) Tree architecture.