Dr. P. Charles Goebel, Assistant Professor
Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center
Forest Ecosystem Restoration and Ecology Lab
School of Environment and Natural Resources
 

 
Dr. David M. Hix, Associate Professor
School of Environment and Natural Resources

Dr. David Hix and Dr. Charles Goebel, Professors with the School of Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University are currently working as a team investigating the factors that control the structure and function of natural and managed forest ecosystems, and developing tools and methodologies to restore the natural structure and function of ecosystems in disturbed landscapes. This includes restoring the structure and function of forest ecosystems on formerly mined-lands of Ohio.

    Since the 1940s, there is a long legacy of mined-land reforestation research in Ohio  by researchers associated with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC). Dr. Hix and Dr. Goebels' interests are to continue and to build-upon this extensive research, with a particular focus on ecosystem responses to reclamation and restoration treatments (e.g., changes in biodiversity, productivity, soil development, nutrient cycling, etc.). They are interested in revisiting many of these plantations, as well as naturally regenerated stands, and evaluating how forest composition and structure have changed over time.

    Additionally, they are currently developing an annotated bibliography of the earlier research, including the work done in the 1980s by Mel Larson, Jack Vimmerstedt, and Jim Brown. Finally, as members of Ohio’s Reforestation Initiative team, they will be involved in efforts to promote the use of the current Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) technology.

More information about OSU's research program can be found online at Forest Ecosystem Restoration and Ecology Lab, School of Environment and Natural Resource's

To speak to someone further about surface mine reforestation research at The Ohio State University, please contact:

Dr. P. Charles Goebel
School of Environment and Natural Resources
Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC)
The Ohio State University
1680 Madison Avenue
Wooster, OH 44691
Telephone: 330-263-3789
Email: goebel.11@osu.edu
OSU Bio: http://snr.osu.edu/fac_staff/cv/goebel.html

Dr. David M. Hix
School of Environment and Natural Resources
The Ohio State University
2021 Coffey Road
Columbus, OH 43210-1085
Telephone: 614-292-1394
Email: hix.6@osu.edu
OSU Bio: http://snr.osu.edu/fac_staff/cv/hix.html

Dr. Brian C. McCarthy, Professor Forest Ecology Department of Environmental and Plant Biology

Dr. Brian McCarthy is a professor of Forest Ecology at the Ohio University Department of Environmental and Plant Biology. Dr. McCarthy is broadly trained and teaches in the area of botany, ecology, forestry, and biostatistics. He has a B.S. degree from Saint Peter’s College in Biology, an M.S. degree in Botany from Ohio University, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from Rutgers University. His long-term research interests have and continue to center around the ecology of central Appalachian hardwood forests; specifically, his interests lay with disturbance ecology, community succession, tree autecology, and herb community dynamics.

Recent research projects include studies on the:

(1) effects of fire and thinning on mixed oak forest fuel loads and understory regeneration patterns;
(2) evaluation of the long-term disturbance history of mixed oak forests;
(3) restoration ecology of the American chestnut in second-growth forests and adjacent reclaimed mine lands;
(4) effects of invasive species on hardwood establishment and growth;
(5) natural and anthropogenic factors affecting the distribution and abundance of forest herbs communities. Dr. McCarthy has published more than 75 peer-reviewed articles in the area of forest ecology and co-authored over 200 presentations at scientific meetings.

For more information about surface mine reforestation research at Ohio University, please contact:

Dr. Brian C. McCarthy
Ohio University
Department of Environmental and Plant Biology
317 Porter Hall Athens, OH 45701-2979
Telephone: (740) 593-1615
E-mail: mccarthy@ohio.edu
Ohio Univ. Bio: http://www.plantbio.ohiou.edu/epb/faculty/faculty/bcm.htm