Mission

The Mission of this Center is

1. To improve salt-tolerant crops for use in salt-afflicted agroecosystems using biotechnology.

2. To develop varieties of plants for saline wetlands restoration that will drive high productivity ecosystems without continual human input.

3. To disseminate knowledge about using salt-tolerant plant varieties to develop sustainable agriculture in areas of the world where soils are salinized or only saline water is available for irrigation and to solve wetland restoration problems.

4. To exchange information on the performance of varieties of salt-tolerant plants under various types of agroecosystems (ie. rainfed, irrigated, tidal) and wetland restoration sites.

Co-Directors

• Dr. John L. Gallagher, Professor, College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of Delaware, 700 Pilottown Road, Lewes, DE 19958; Fax: (302) 645-4028

• Dr. Denise M. Seliskar, Research Scientist, College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of Delaware, 700 Pilottown Road, Lewes, DE 19958; Fax: (302) 645-4028.
  
  

Center Members and Regional Hub Directors

• Dr. Rafiq Ahmad, Professor, Botany Department, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan

• Dr. Somsri Arunin, Head, Soil Salinity Research Section, Land Development Department, Bangkok, Thailand

• Dr. Nabih Ashour, Head, Field Crops Research Department, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt

• Dr. P.B. Kavi Kishor, Professor, Department of Genetics, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India

• Prof. Qin Pei, Director, Institute of Biotechnology, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Peoples Republic of China

Implementation

The research goals are accomplished through an integrated research program performed at regional institutions, field sites, and at the Center. The degree and non-degree educational programs are conducted at the Center in The Halophyte Biology Laboratory at the University of Delaware College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment in Lewes, Delaware. Some of the short courses will be team taught by the Hub personnel and the University of Delaware faculty. Courses will also be offered at the regional hubs for the non-degree program. These will involve personnel at the Hub institutions as well as those from the University of Delaware.

Courses

Some of these courses are semester length courses of traditional configuration and others are taught through the University of Delaware Division of Continuing Education. Examples of courses offered and planned are:

• Coastal Ethnobotany

• Wetlands Restoration Ecology: Goals, Techniques and Regulations

• Topics in Halophyte Biology

• Comparative Wetland Ecology

• Halophyte Agronomy

• Salt-tolerant Varieties of Traditional Crops

• Plant Tissue Culture and Genetic Engineering

• Exotic Genotypes in Coastal Ecosystems

The Center seeks funding from all private and public sources whose goal is to enhance the welfare of humans within the balance of global ecology.

Current And Recent Projects (click on dot to see project)

   Seashore Mallow Biodiesel
  Halophyte Agriculture (Chinese Version)
  Sulfide sensitivity of wetland plants for salt marsh restoration
  Sustained restoration of Phragmites-infested wetlands
  Optimizing reed (Phragmites) function in sludge drying beds (Stripes)
   Reed Drying Beds: Preventing Escape
  Surface film development on tidal creeks of restored marshes
  Plant genotypes for salt marsh restoration
  Tissue culture generated variation in salt marsh plants for use in created wetlands
  Effects of grazing by horses on American beachgrass
   Ongoing Spartina patens research in China by Prof. Qin Pei (Nanjing University)
   

 

Halophyte Biotechnology Center Publication List

Last updated: July 9, 2009
Report problems with this page to: connie@udel.edu