Dr Brian Richardson, Ensis Forest Biosecurity and Protection

Dr Brian Richardson - Ensis Forest Biosecurity and Protection

Brian Richardson was the General Manager of Ensis Forest Biosecurity and Protection whilst Ensis was an unincorporated joint venture, and now Brian represents the New Zealand group that also includes Forest sciences more broadly. The purpose of Forest Biosecurity and protection science is to undertake research that will help to protect forests from damage caused by insect pests, pathogens, weeds, other biological agents, fire, and wind.

Brian’s own research interests are varied. Over the last 20 years he has made a number of significant contributions to aerial spraying systems for forestry applications in New Zealand, and has for many years worked collaboratively with the USDA Forest Service on the development of spray modelling software to determine pesticide drift and efficacy. In recognition for his contribution, he received a technology transfer award from the USDA Forest Service in 1996.

The knowledge on aerial spraying technology has also been put to good use over the last 10 years in New Zealand with Brian’s involvement in a number of Technical Advisory Groups formed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to provide advice on pest eradication programmes.

As an internationally-recognised expert in vegetation management, Brian has been a plenary and invited speaker at a number of international science conferences. His research has included development of forest weed control regimes, models to describe the effects of weeds on tree growth, and decision support tools to evaluate the cost-benefit of treatment regimes.

Another research interest is assessing the long-term productive capacity of forest sites. Brian played a leading role in designing a large, site quality experiment that comprised a national series of plots. The purpose of this on-going trial is to determine indicators for sustainability of forest management practices and the experiment is now yielding valuable data used by many scientists.

Research Capabilities

Vegetation management and modeling resource competition
Improving aerial spray application efficacy, including the development of simulation models and decision support systems
Sustainable forest management - measurement and modeling of site quality

Qualifications

BSc Hons (Biology) Lancaster University, UK - 1981
MSC (Bio-aeronautics) Cranfield Institute of Technology, UK - 1981
PhD (Forest Ecology) Oregon State University, USA - 1988

Contact

New Zealand: +64 7 343 5899
Email:

Honours/distinctions/membership

1982: NATO Scholarship for study in the USA (declined)
1985-1988: National Research Advisory Council Post-graduate Fellowship at Oregon State University
1992: Plenary speaker, International Conference on Forest Vegetation Management, Alabama, USA
1992 and 1993: Invited speaker, Advanced Forest Herbicides Course, Ontario, Canada
1995: Invited paper, Second World Congress of Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Vancouver, Canada.
1995: Session and post-conference tour organiser, 2nd International Forest Vegetation Management Conference, Rotorua, New Zealand.
1996: Technology transfer award from the USDA Forest Service.
1998: Invited paper, Forest Vegetation Management Conference, California, USA.
2002: Plenary Paper, 4th International Conference on Forest Vegetation Management, Nancy, France.
2001-4: Member of Technical Advisory Group for the painted apple moth, Asian gypsy moth and fall web worm eradication programmes.
2004: Invited speaker: 2nd International Weed Science Congress, Durban, South Africa; Invited Speaker International Conference on Pesticide Application for Drift Management, Hawaii, USA.
Member: NZ Plant Protection Society; National Spray Model and Application Technology Steering Committee (USA); American Society of Agricultural Engineers.

Selected Publications

Kimberley, M.O. and Richardson, B. 2001. Modelling the growth and interactions of young radiata pine and with some important weed species. New Zealand Journal of Forest Science 31: 235-246.

Ray, J.W., Richardson, B., Schou, W.C, Teske, M.E., Vanner, A.L., and Coker, G.C. 1999. Validation of SpraySafe Manager, an aerial herbicide application decision support system. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 29: 875-882.

Ray, J.W, Vanner, A.L., Richardson, B., Coker, G. 1996. Determination of the no observable effect level (NOEL) of four commonly used forestry herbicides on tomatoes. Proceedings of the 49th NZ Plant Protection Society Conference: Pp. 188-191. Richardson, B. 1993.

Vegetation management practices in plantation forests of Australia and New Zealand. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 23: 1989-2005.

Richardson, B., Davenhill, N., Coker, G., Ray, J., Vanner, A., and Kimberley, M. 1996. Optimising spot weed control: first approximation of the most cost-effective spot size. NZ Journal of Forestry Science 26: 265-275.

Richardson, B., Kimberley, M., Ray, J.W., Coker, G.W. 1999. Indices of interspecific plant competition for Pinus radiata in the Central North Island of New Zealand. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 29: 898-905.

Richardson, B., Ray, J., Miller, K., Vanner, A., and Davenhill, N. 1995. Evaluation of FSCBG, an aerial application simulation model. Applied Engineering in Agriculture 11: 485-494.

Richardson, B.,Ray, J., Vanner, A., Davenhill, N. and Miller, K. 1996. Nozzles for minimising aerial herbicide spray drift. . NZ Journal of Forestry Science 26: 438-448.

Richardson B., Skinner, M.F. and West, G. 1999. The role of forest productivity in defining the sustainability of plantation forests in New Zealand. Forest Ecology and Management 122: 125-137.

Richardson, B., Vanner, A., Ray, J., Davenhill, N. and Coker, G. 1996. Mechanisms of Pinus radiata growth suppression by some common forest weed species. New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science 26: 421-437.

Richardson, B., Whitehead, D. and McCracken, I. The effect of understorey broom (Cytisus scoparius) on soil moisture and growth of plantation pine (Pinus radiata). In review with New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science.