Joanne Rebbeck

Title: Plant Physiologist
Unit: Sustaining Forests in a Changing Environment
Previous Unit: Multiple Stress Interactions and their Effects on Forest Health and Sustainability
Address: Northern Research Station
359 Main Road
Delaware, OH 43015
Phone: 740-368-0054
E-mail: Contact Joanne Rebbeck

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Education

• Ph.D. Botany, Ecology Minor, North Carolina State University, 1987
• M.S. Plant Pathology, Rutgers University, 1983
• B.S. Plant Science, Cook College, Rutgers University, 1980

Civic & Professional Affiliations

• Adjunct faculty member, Dept. of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University
• Member of the Ecological Society of America, Sigma Xi, Society of American Foresters, and Ohio Member of Invasive Plant Network and Southeastern Ohio Non-native Invasive Species Interest Group

Current Research

I am studying the influence of forest management practices, specifically prescribed fire, shelterwood harvests, and herbicides on oak regeneration in Central Appalachian mixed oak forests in Ohio and Pennsylvania. At the Ohio Hills site of the national Fire and Fire Surrogates Study (FFS), I am studying the impact of prescribed fire and overstory thinning on the survival and growth of oak and hickory seedlings as well as their competitors (red maple, yellow-poplar, beech and blackgum). In collaboration with Todd Hutchinson, I am investigating the use of shelterwood harvests, prescribed fire and herbicides to promote oak regeneration. I have recently begun a new project with Todd Hutchinson, Daniel Yaussy, Louis Iverson and Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry, to study the interactions of prescribed fire in managed oak forests with the invasive tree, Ailanthus altissima.

I am actively involved in educational outreach programs with local schools. I am partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio, Wayne National Forest, US Fish and Wildlife, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry, Columbus and Delaware City Schools to provide fifth graders overnight camping and environmental education experiences with funding through a More Kids in the Woods grant. In 2006, Kathleen Knight and I initiated a research project with local middle school students to study the impacts of Emerald Ash Borer within the school's woodlot.

Future Research

• Study the ecophysiology of the major eastern hickory species.
• Compare the responses of hickory and oak species to prescribed fires and other forest management practices.

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