Faculty Directory
Dr.
Eric Gallandt
Research Area:
Weed Ecology and Management
E-mail:
gallandt@maine.edu
Phone:
207-581-2933
Office:
205 Roger Clapp Greenhouse
Go to Research Website
Bio: Dr. Gallandt received
his B.S. (1986) from Michigan State and M.S. (1988) from Montana
State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of
Wisconson in 1994. He joined the faculty in 2000 and is an
Associate Professor of Weed Ecology.
Current Research:
Strategies including the
manipulation of ecological processes that drive weed dynamics
provide opportunities to satisfy goals related to environmental
stewardship and sustainability of New England cropping systems. The
goals of weed management within this context are to (i) reduce
equilibrium densities, (ii) reduce the damage caused per surviving
individual, (iii) slow the development of resistance to deployed
management tactics, and (iv) avoid extreme fluctuations in
abundance, i.e., "epidemics." To this end, my research program aims
to develop an understanding of mechanisms involved in key processes
affecting the population dynamics of annual weeds. This
understanding will allow the establishment of durable weed
management practices with minimal reliance on herbicide inputs.
Immigration, seed bank persistence, seedling establishment, and
seedling survival, are key factors affecting the population dynamics
of annual weed species. Seedling survival is the focus of tillage,
cultivation, and herbicide application, which form the core of
modern weed management systems. The remaining processes, however,
offer opportunities to stress weed populations at multiple points
thereby reducing the risks associated with reliance on a single set
of tactics. Ecologically-based weed management systems require basic
research that increases understanding of dispersal/immigration,
seedbank dynamics, and processes that regulate seedling
establishment. Development of these empirical relationships within
the context of current or projected cropping systems and, more
importantly, determining how these processes may be effectively
manipulated, will contribute to the deployment of management
strategies that work with the ecology of an agroecosystem.
Recent Publications:
Shearin, A.F., S.C. Reberg-Horton,
and E.R. Gallandt (in press). Cover crop effects on the
activity-density of the weed seed predator Harpalus rufipes. Weed
Science
Gallandt, E.R. and J. Weiner (2007). Crop-weed competition.
Encyclopedia of Life Sciences, DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0020477,
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chichester, West Sussex, UK
Shearin, A.F., S.C. Reberg-Horton, and E.R. Gallandt (2007). Direct
effects of tillage on the activity density of ground beetle (Coleoptera:
Carabidae) weed seed predators. Environmental Entomology
36:1140-1146.
Gallagher R.S., E.C. Luschei, E.R. Gallandt, and A. DiTommaso
(2007). Experiential learning activities for the weed science
classroom. Weed Technology 21:255-261.
Reberg-Horton, C., E.R. Gallandt and T. Molloy. (2006). Measuring
community shifts in a weed seedbank using distance-based redundancy
analysis. Weed Science 54:861-866.
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