Silviculture focuses on promoting the productivity and quality of forests in China, expanding forest resources and improving sustainable forest management. A long-term and systematic study has been carried out on major scientific issues such as timber forest cultivation, high-yield cultivation of non-wood forest, physiological and ecological basis of cultivation, interaction between trees and mycorrhizal fungi and their resistant mechanism. We have developed four characteristic research fields: theory and technology of efficient cultivation of artificial forest in south China, high efficiency cultivation technique of high quality, physiological and ecological basis of forest cultivation, interaction between trees and mycorrhizal fungi and their resistance mechanism.In addition, responding to the new requirement of national development and the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, we are expanding the new fields of forest therapy and non-timber forest product plantations in the understory of forests.
At present, the department of silviculture have 13 researchers, including five professors, three associate professors, one Winner of National Science Fund for Outstanding Young Scholar, one national model teacher and one teacher morality pacesetter of South China Agricultural University. In the past five years, we have completed (or are undergoing) more than 50 projects, including one National Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Science & Technology Support, four 13th Five-Year Plan National Key R&D Program, seven National Natural Science Foundation of China, one the Key Projects of Guangzhou Science and Technology Plan, two Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province. Six provincial awards have been won, including one second-class award and wide-ranging award for scientific and technological progress in Guangdong Province, and five third-class prizes for scientific and technological progress in Guangdong Province; Thirteen patents of national invention and utility model have been authorized; more than 300 academic papers have been published, among which more than 90 papers have been included in SCI and three academic monographs have been published.
Main research group:
Group of Non-wood Forest
Our team focuses on the genetic improvement and creation of non-wood forest, seedling propagation and quality management, high efficient cultivation, product storage, preservation, processing and utilization, industrial development and planning. At present, we focus on the characteristic advantages in the aspects of non-wood forest resource collection and evaluation, selection and creation of certified seed, production formation and regulation, high efficient cultivation and utilization for the woody grain and oil, woody herbs and industrial raw materials. In recent five years, we completed (or are undergoing) more than 10 projects, including the 13th Five-Year Plan National Key R&D Program , National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Guangdong Science and Technology Tackling-key-problem Project, published more than 40 papers and won three science and technology progress awards of Guangdong province.
Group of Theory and Technology of Plantation Cultivation
Our research interest mainly concern the physiological and ecological responses of trees to the environmental factors (i.e., light, water, and fertilizer) and biological factors (diseases), the physiological and ecological basis of cultivation for non-timber forest product plantations in the understory of forests, the relationship between plantation cultivation and water resource, cultivation technology on site selection, water and fertilizer management, stand density control, pruning, etc. Current research focuses on the physiological and ecological basis and environmental control mechanism of productivity improvement of plantations in China, the impact mechanism of forest cultivation measures on water resources, mechanism of disease resistance in trees. The precise water and fertilizer control technology related to Catalpa bungei and Eucalyptus plantations and the effective technique of cultivation for non-timber forest product plantations in the understory of forests is under research and development. Recently, we have completed (or are undergoing) more than 20 projects, e.g., National Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Science & Technology Support, 13th Five-Year Plan National Key R&D Program , National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, Special Funds for Forestry Science and Technology Innovation in Guangdong Province, Pearl River Nova Program of Guangzhou, etc. In the past five years, we have published more than 80 academic papers (including 14 SCI/EI papers), received one national invention patent authorization, established one forestry industry standard and three Guangdong provincial local standards, and been awarded three provincial science and technology prizes.
Group of Stand Improvement and Sustainable Forest Management
Based on the construction of ecological civilization in China, we mainly focus on the stand improvement of ecological forests in South China and the key technologies of sustainable forest management. The research is focused on as follows: 1. The theoretical basis of stand improvement and efficient management technologies: we study the physiological and ecological characteristics of tree species and screen excellent tree species for stand improvement; 2. The key technologies of low-effective stand improvement and sustainable forest management: we focus on the selection and allocation of tree species, and the corresponding afforestation technology of water conservation forests and scenic forest; 3. Ecological and landscape benefit evaluation: we focus on the benefit evaluation of forest growth performance, biodiversity, soil characteristics, physiological characteristics and landscape. In the past five years, more than 100 papers have been published, among which 37 papers have been included in SCI, and 1 academic monograph has been published. These publications provide insight into the interaction between interspecific interaction and light utilization of tree species, the effects of weak light on plants and video evaluation of scenic forests. The related research results were awarded the second and third prize of Guangdong Science and Technology Progress Award.
Group of Forest Mycorrhizal Biology
The mycorrhizal team takes the main mycorrhizal tree species such as Eucalyptus and Populus as well as its mycorrhizal fungal symbionts on as the objects of the research, and adopts the molecular cell biology, biochemistry and reverse genetics approaches on the basis of plant physiology, microbiology and silviculture to research the key scientific issues to meet the national strategic needs as follows: the molecular mechanisms of the interaction between wood and mycorrhizal fungi, the molecular mechanisms of mycorrhizal fungi to improve the wood productivity, the molecular mechanisms of mycorrhizal woods tolerance to drought, salt, heavy metals, and mycorrhizal plant-specific genetic improvement, the isolation and functional identification of plant transcription factor. In the past five years, the mycorrhizal team has undertaken more than 10 projects as follows: 13th Five-Year Plan National Key R&D Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, and the Key Projects of Guangzhou Science and Technology Plan. More than 60 research articles have been published in top academic journals such as Molecular Plant, New Phytologist, Tree Physiology, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Plant and Soil, among which more than 40 papers have been included in SCI, and single article has been cited as top 1% ESI, 10 national invention patents and two new utility patents were approved