Dr. Nosko earns award

Dr. Peter Nosko, Associate Professor of Biology / Environmental Studies, has been selected to receive a Faculty Research Exchange award from the Ontario/Baden-Württemberg (OBW) program. Nosko is one of only 12 Ontario university professors to receive the award.

The funding will support a one-month stay for Nosko and a Nipissing University student who is working with him, at the Institute of Silviculture, University of Freiburg, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Here is a snapshot of Nosko’s research profile: A Comparison of Natural Regeneration in Native (Ontario) and Introduced (Baden-Württemberg) Populations of Red Oak

Successful regeneration of northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.), a species having intermediate shade tolerance, requires occasional disturbance such as fire to open the canopy and allow the moderate light conditions that provide this species with an advantage over its shade-tolerant competitors. Decades of fire suppression have maintained closed canopies allowing shade-tolerant competitors to suppress red oak regeneration and eventually replace oak in the overstory as canopy gaps become available. Reduced disturbance and successional replacement by shade-tolerant species such as red maple (Acer rubrum L.) and sugar maple (A. saccharum Marsh.) has resulted in the decline of red oak across its native range in North America. Red oak was introduced to Europe in the 1700’s and became naturalized throughout the continent. In sharp contrast to declining red oak abundance in North America, introduced populations in Europe are consistently regenerating and expanding naturally with little or no silvicultural promotion. In Europe, the predominance of red oak appears to be increasing at the expense of native species, particularly indigenous oaks (eg. Q. robur, Q. patraea), to the point where in some countries, red oak is considered an invasive species. Why does red oak regenerate so successfully in Europe when it performs so poorly in its native range? Hypotheses that attempt to explain the success of introduced species predict that the success of red oak in the introduced range is due to a release from enemies (pathogens or herbivores) and a reduced need for resource investment in chemical defenses that allows a reallocation of resources to further support development, growth and reproduction which in turn, would increase competitive ability. Ongoing research collaboration between Nipissing University and the University of Freiburg seeks to understand factors that contribute to successful regeneration of red oak in Europe. Such knowledge could be used to promote declining red oak populations in North America.