 |
| After studying various house design
plans, Bob Teskey and his wife, Barbara, built an octagonal
home with a panoramic view of the fields and woods around
them in Oconee County. |
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| Forest ecology professor builds on his lifelong
love of ‘big woods’ |
By Helen Fosgate
hfosgate@forestry.uga.edu |
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| FACTS |
| ROBERT TESKEY |
| Distinguished Research Professor of
Forest Ecology |
Ph.D., University of Washington, 1982
M.S., University of Missouri, 1978
B.S., University of Illinois, 1975 |
|
Twenty years ago this year, Bob Teskey and his wife, Barbara,
bought 30 acres in Oconee County, with an urge to build
their own home.
“We wanted a unique house and the challenge of building
it ourselves,” says Teskey.
After studying various designs, the Teskeys settled on an octagonal
plan that would allow a panoramic view of the fields and woods
around them. The original post and beam house had two bedrooms,
one bath, a small kitchen, and a family room with a woodstove.
They moved in after a year and a half, though it took them another
two and a half years to finish.
“After sitting all day at a desk, I found the experience
of pounding nails very therapeutic,” says Teskey, laughing.
“I think we both got a lot of satisfaction out of the
experience.”
Teskey, now so at home in the country, actually grew up in Chicago,
just three miles from Wrigley Field. He saw a lot of baseball
games as a kid, since the park gave free tickets to those who
stayed afterward to clean the stands. But it was the summers
spent at an uncle’s lake house in northern Minnesota that
stirred his passion for the outdoors.
“I loved the big woods,” he says, “and spent
many happy days there hiking and fishing.”
After high school, Teskey entered the University of Illinois
to major in forestry. It was also there—in the same dorm—that
he met Barbara, who was studying elementary education. She later
earned a master’s degree in business at UGA.
After graduation the Teskeys moved to Columbia, Mo., where Barbara
worked while Bob earned a master’s degree in eco-physiology
at the University of Missouri. In seeking to understand the
biology of trees, he became fascinated with research. After
completing his degree, he stayed on at Missouri for another
two years as an instructor, time he considered well-spent since
he discovered that he also enjoyed teaching.
Eager to move forward, Teskey earned his Ph.D. at the University
of Washington in just two and one-half years. Just as he was
completing his degree, he saw a job announcement on the bulletin
board for a forest physiologist at the University of Georgia
School of Forest Resources.
Teskey soon discovered that despite its wide appeal in the forest
industry, not much was known about the physiology of the loblolly
pine, especially photosynthetic rates, carbon acquisition and
the relationship between environmental factors and growth. To
study this, Teskey invented a number of innovative techniques,
many of which are now standard practice in modern plant physiology
research.
His initial work looked at how environmental stresses like drought
influence tree function. He later expanded his research to study
the impacts of genetics, pollution, ozone and climate change.
“I got interested in ozone because the Southeast is a
hot spot for it,” he says. “Our high temperatures
and stagnant air, coupled with sources of air pollution to the
west, creates a kind of reactor for creating ozone.”
In order to study the physiology of trees in the forest, Teskey
developed branch chambers, a novel technique to apply treatments
to large trees growing in a forest. Placed over the branches,
the chambers resemble large, plastic bubbles through which researchers
blow ozone so they can evaluate its effects on tree growth.
His work, now used around the world to study tree physiology,
showed that ambient levels of ozone in the Southeast may reduce
forest productivity by as much as 30 percent.
“Much of my research is about risk assessment,”
says Teskey. “Ozone and carbon dioxide are increasing
in the atmosphere and they both have the potential to greatly
affect forests. I hope my research helps us understand and manage
their effects.” |
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