Brian is originally from Zimbabwe, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree. He subsequently undertook an MSc degree from Stellenbosch, before beginning his PhD in 2018. His interests lie in the development and application of models to manage challenges, as well as to exploit opportunities, that climate change and climate variation present in agriculture, particularly forestry Brian, who is co-supervised by Prof Ben Du Toit, is seeking in his PhD to develop cutting-edge models for growth, yield and wood properties at appropriate spatial and temporal scales in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa. He will make use of data from two collaborating forest companies, Mondi and SAPPI from research plots to build and validate the models.
PhD Project title: Developing climate sensitive models for predicting future forest growth, yield and wood properties in Eucalyptus plantations
Empirical growth models are important forest management and planning tools. However, in light of the more frequent extreme climate events like floods and droughts experienced over the past few decades, it has become more difficult to accurately forecast forest growth and yield. The frequent occurrence of droughts in South Africa has made it difficult to predict forest yields based on past rotations, hence intervention tools are necessary. Furthermore, current models do not explain how wood properties; which are highly commercially significant; respond to daily climatic events like rainfall. Brian’s project seeks to develop models that explain growth, yield and wood properties at appropriate spatial scales in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa. These will provide forest managers with decision and operation tools in the face of climatic variability.
