Francis K. Salifu is a Post-doctoral Research Scientist in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University. Dr. Salifu received his B.Sc. (Hons.) in Natural Resources Management, specialized in Silviculture and Forest Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana in 1993, his M.Sc. in Forestry from Lakehead University, Canada in 1998, and his Ph.D. in Forest Soils and Plant Physiology from the University of Toronto in 2003.
Dr. Salifu is interested in understanding the physiological mechanisms associated with the uptake, storage, and transport of mineral nutrients in forest tree seedlings under controlled greenhouse environments and in young plantations. Additionally, he is working to develop and refine new fertilization protocols, such as exponential fertilization, and nutrient loading to quantify optimum fertilizer prescriptions in tree seedling culture. This knowledge will help produce high quality seedlings, which will reduce competitive effects and improve early field performance of planted seedlings. Other interests include developing seedling morphological and physiological quality standards for afforestation and reforestation plantings. Additional interests include forest restoration on degraded landscapes, plant-soil interactions, plantation nutrition and Silviculture. Furthermore, he is developing and refining diagnostic and interpretive tools, such as vector diagnosis, to help elucidate the key processes and underlying mechanisms driving improved plant growth for effective forest management.
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