SNRE Seminar: Plants, place, people, and publicity: A story about mineland reclamation

Title: Plants, place, people, and publicity: A story about mineland reclamation

Date: 4/1/2011
Time: 12:00-1:00
Place: BSE 225
Speaker: Jeffrey Fehmi, SNRE

Abstract: This seminar will report work on the options for revegetating minelands in southern Arizona, along with how the projects unfolded.  A greenhouse  experiment, testing the effects of three soil types, three rainfall scenarios, and three amendments on seeding success showed distinct differences in different soils and that a threshold level of rainfall is needed for plant establishment.  A related field experiment testing two soil types, two surface roughnesses, two elevations, and three amendments on seeding success on simulated minelands showed significant interactions among  the variables.  A separate pair of greenhouse and field experiment investigated Agave palmeri reproduction and transplant success on disturbed soils.  Agave were tested in a greenhouse using three soil types, shade or no shade, three rainfall levels, and three mulches.  The common reclamation condition of bare soil without mulch or shade resulted in no germination, while the addition of straw mulch resulted in 42% Agave germination.   Agave transplants had low mortality (~7%).  Establishing a viable plant community on heavily disturbed soils can be successful in the normal conditions found in southern Arizona.   

Bio: Dr. Jeffrey S. Fehmi joined the faculty of the University of Arizona in August 2005. He is in the School of Natural Resources and Environment and teaches Rangeland Inventory and Monitoring, Rangeland Planning, and Vegetation Management. He has an active research program in restoration and reclamation.  Previously, Dr. Fehmi was a research ecologist in the military lands research program with US Army Corps of Engineers in Champaign, Illinois. His research program there focused on the impacts of military training activities on military lands across the west and mid-west.  Dr. Fehmi was also a Range Scientist at the Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory in Mandan, North Dakota, and completed a post-doctoral appointment at the University of California at Davis.  He received his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 1998.  He recently returned from serving in Iraq with the US Army Reserve.

http://www.snr.arizona.edu/people/fehmi