Meet the Forestry Faculty

Felix Ponder, Jr., Ph.D.

Cooperative Associate Professor
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service

Ponder's research interests are in the long-term site productivity of Central Hardwood Forest soils; soil processes; organic matter decomposition and its interactions with soil inhabitants, below ground competition between roots, other flora, fauna, and plant produced chemical inhibitors; tree physiology; alley cropping; root growth and mechanisms that regulate the optimum shoot/root ratio for stems that develop from stump sprouts. The major focus of Ponder's current research program is in the area of disturbance ecology. The work investigates how soil processes are affected as disturbed ecosystems recover or reach some level of stability. The impact of ameliorating conditions on disturbance, such as fertilization and tree shelters, are also being investigated. Severely compacted forest soils in the Missouri Ozarks had significantly fewer earthworms than did non compacted soils of the same type. Both physical and chemical soil variables and plant physiological processes are being studied to determine their impact on artificial and natural regeneration.