Beyhan Y. Amichev, Ph.D. Candidate I am interested in working in the area of carbon biogeochemistry and soil restoration in forest and agricultural ecosystems that are at various phases of re-establishment following previous disturbance events. In particular, I will seek to be involved in research of the spatial distribution and changes of soil quality and land productivity in ecosystems that are at various stages of recovery from natural disasters or from previous human-induced land disturbance events, such as mineral mining. I aim to pursue knowledge through research about the effects of land management practices for various land uses on the overall potential of restored lands to sequester atmospheric carbon in the form of vegetation biomass and soil organic carbon, the carbon credits from which would be used to enhance the current land use functions and to maintain land productivity. I am also interested in spatial modeling of soil processes occurring at the landscape level and their correlation with the vegetation, climate, geology, and topography of a region. Using remote sensing and ground truth data, I am prepared to create and maintain geo-databases for use in a GIS to map and monitor the soils, the health and productivity of a forest and agricultural ecosystems at the landscape level for research, such as soil genesis and floristic succession patterns. Spatial analysis of accurate soils and vegetation data could then be used along with satellite navigation tools to predict and alleviate potential environmental problems that could result from commonly-used land management practices, as well as to apply precision management treatments to agricultural and forest lands to maximize their carbon sequestration potential. (Curriculum Vitae in PDF file format, 129Kb)

Education

• Geospatial Information Technology Certificate: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate Program; Conferred in December 2005.
  
  
• M.S.: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; May 2003; Forest Biometrics and Geomatics
  Thesis title: "Comparison of Techniques for Estimation of Forest Soil Carbon."
  
  
• B.S.: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; May 2001; Forest Resource Management
  
  

Degree in progress

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Forest Biology and Soils
  (Anticipated graduation: May 2007)
  
  

Research project

• Title: "Biogeochemistry of Carbon on disturbed forest landscapes."

• Project objectives.
  There are four main objectives of this research work:
  (1) To establish a technique for carbon content estimation on reclaimed mined land that will differentiate between pedogenic and geogenic carbon forms present in mine soils.
  (2) To determine the carbon sequestration potential on mined lands supporting abandoned grasslands.
  (3) To determine the carbon sequestration potential of forests and soils on mined lands in the Midwestern and Appalachian coalfields.
  (4) To establish a decision support system (DSS) based on expert knowledge for predicting carbon sequestration for extensive and intensive forest establishment practices across a gradient of mine soil quality.
  

• Project overview.
  We hypothesize that reclaiming surface coal mined sites to grassland significantly reduces the carbon sequestration potential of the land in long-term projects when compared to surface coal mined sites reclaimed to forest.
  
  There will be four individual projects that will contribute specific parts needed to test the hypothesis of this research work and yet, these projects will be designed as stand-alone research tasks. In Project One we will develop and test a new methodology for measuring soil organic carbon (SOC) on mined lands that will differentiate between the carbon sequestered by vegetation and the carbon present as coal and carboniferous rock particles. This methodology will be tested on carefully constructed mine soils and its accuracy and precision for measuring SOC will be evaluated. Measured SOC by this new methodology will be compared to those achieved by standard soil carbon analysis techniques, such as the Walkley-Black wet oxidation procedure. The results from the latter comparison will be used to revise a data set of previously reported SOC estimates for forested coal mined sites, one of the intended data sources for this project.
  
  We will compare SOC sequestered on grassland mine lands to that sequestered on forested mine lands in order to test our hypothesis for this research work. Therefore in Projects Two and Three, respectively, we will focus on determining the carbon sequestration potential, defined by the total C sequestered and the rate of C sequestration, on grassland and forestland mine sites of equal site quality and spoil material age.
  
  In Project Two we will establish study plots on grassland mine sites of various spoil material age located in three states and we will determine the total ecosystem C content sequestered by grasses and legumes in the vegetation, litter layer, and soil components. The SOC content will be determined using the methodology developed in Project One.
  
  In Project Three we will use previously collected carbon data of the vegetation, litter layer, and soils for fourteen pre-SMCRA reclaimed forestland mine sites in order to determine the carbon sequestration potential of forest ecosystems established on mine lands following coal mining and reclamation operations. Because the SOC content for this data set was determined by the Walkley-Black procedure appropriate corrections to these estimates will be applied as per our results in Project One.
  
  In Project Four the results from Projects Two and Three will be incorporated in a decision support system for predicting carbon sequestration for extensive and intensive forest establishment practices on mine lands. Because forest establishment is a long term practice and sufficient ecosystem carbon content data will not be available for a few years on our reforested study plots we will rely on knowledge about the carbon accumulation in forests established on previously disturbed land, such as from landslides and glaciation from the literature, to develop the base frame of our DSS. As trees continue to grow on our study plots more data about the effects of extensive and intensive forest establishment practices on carbon sequestration on mined lands will gradually become available to complement results found in the literature. These data will ultimately be used to validate and improve the first iteration of the DSS system, developed as part of this research work, for predicting carbon sequestration on mined lands.

Teaching activity

• Teaching Assistant:
  • Advanced Forest Soils (FOR5354); Spring semester, 2005.
  • Principles and Practice of Agroforestry (FOR4334); Fall semester, 2004.
  • Forest Ecology and Silvics (FOR 3114); Fall semester, 2003.
  • Computer Applications in Natural Resources (FOR 4114); Spring semester, 2003.
  • Forest Photogrammetry and Spatial Data Processing (FOR 4214); Fall semester, 2002.
  • Introduction to GIS (ArcGIS 8.1); Intensified short course at the Northern Virginia Center of Virginia Tech; August, 2002.
    
    

Publications

• Peer-reviewed Publications:
  Zipper, C.E., J.A. Burger, J.M. McGrath, and B. Amichev. 2007. Carbon Accumulation Potentials of Post-SMCRA Coal-Mined Lands. In: R.I. Barnhisel (ed.). Meeting Proceedings: 30 Years of SMCRA and beyond (Gillette, WY, June 2-7, 2007). Published by American Society of Mining and Reclamation, 3134 Montavesta Rd., Lexington, KY (in review)
  
  Amichev, B.Y., and J.A. Burger. 2006. Carbon Sequestration on Mined Lands Supporting Abandoned Grasslands: Soil Organic Carbon Accumulation and Distribution. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration Annual Meeting, March 26-30, 2006. ASMR, 3134 Montavesta Rd., Lexington, KY
  
  Amichev, B.Y., J.A. Burger, and J.A. Rodrigue. 2004. Carbon Sequestration by Forests and Soils on Mined Land in the Midwestern and Appalachian Coalfields: Preliminary Results. p. 20-46. In: R.I. Barnhisel (ed.). Proc., 21st Meeting, Amer. Soc. for Mining and Reclamation, and 25th West Virginia Surface Mine Drainage Task Force Symp., April 18-22, 2004. ASMR, 3134 Montavesta Rd., Lexington, KY

  Amichev, B.Y., and J.M. Galbraith. 2004. A Revised Methodology for Estimation of Forest Soil Carbon from Spatial Soils and Forest Inventory Datasets. Environmental Management 33:S74-S86

  Barany, M., A.L. Hammett, A. Sene, and B. Amichev. 2001. Nontimber Forest Benefits and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Forestry, Vol. 99, No. 12, pp. 36-41(6)
  
  Amichev, B.Y. 2003. Comparison of Techniques for Estimation of Forest Soil Carbon. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Forestry, Blacksburg, VA. MS Thesis, 171 pages (Online Access: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04212003-145259/)

• Other Publications on Original Research:
  Burger, J.A., and B.Y. Amichev. 2004, 2005, 2006. Technical Progress Report: Restoring Sustainable Forests on Appalachian Mined Lands for Wood Products, Renewable Energy, Carbon Sequestration, and Other Ecosystem Services. Quarterly reports for the U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Pittsburgh, PA. Instrument No. DE-FG26-02NT41619 (Online Reference: http://www.osti.gov/gpo/servlets/purl/836256-2rKSTV/native/836256.pdf)
  
  

Amichev, B.Y.*, and J. A. Burger. 2006. Soil organic measurement procedure for mine soils. Soil Science Society of America Annual Meeting (Indianapolis, IN, November 12-16). (International group of soil scientists)

Amichev, B.Y.*, and J. A. Burger. 2006. Forest soil carbon sequestration measurement and verification on reclaimed mined land in the Appalachian coalfield. The 18th World Congress of Soil Science (Philadelphia, PA, July 9-15). (International group of soil scientists)

Amichev, B.Y.*, and J.A. Burger. 2005. Forest Soil Carbon Spatial Variation and Precision Accounting on Mined Land. Third USDA Symposium on Greenhouse Gases & Carbon Sequestration in Agriculture and Forestry (Baltimore, MD, March 21-24). (National group of forestry, agriculture, and soil scientists and carbon sequestration policy makers)

Amichev, B.Y.* (invited speaker), J.A. Burger, and J.A. Rodrigue.2004. Carbon Sequestration and Ecosystem Carbon Modeling on Mined Land in the Midwestern and Appalachian Coalfields. Fourth Annual Applied Research Conference, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Mineral Resources Management (Athens, OH, December 8-9). (Regional group of forestry and soil scientists and practitioners)

Amichev, B.Y.*, J.A. Burger, and J.A. Rodrigue. 2004. Carbon Sequestration by Forests and Soils on Mined Land in the Midwestern and Appalachian Coalfields. Soil Science Society of America Annual Meeting (Seattle, WA, Oct. 31-Nov. 4).

Amichev, B.Y.* (student competition award winner), J.A. Burger, and J.A. Rodrigue. 2004. Carbon Sequestration by Forests and Soils on Mined Land in the Midwestern and Appalachian Coalfields: Preliminary Results. The 21st Meeting of the American Society for Mining and Reclamation and The 25th West Virginia Surface Mine Drainage Task Force Symposium (Morgantown, WV, April 18-22). (National group of scientists and practitioners)

Amichev, B.Y.*, J.M. Galbraith, L.S. Heath, and S.P. Prisley. 2002. A Revised Methodology for Estimation of Forest Soil Carbon from Spatial Soils and Forest Inventory Data Sets. Second USDA Symposium on Natural Resource Management to Offset Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Raleigh, NC, November 19-21).

Amichev, B.Y.* 2002. Comparison of Techniques for Forest Soil Carbon Estimation. Fourth Annual Virginia Tech Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing Research Symposium (Roanoke, VA, March 13). (Regional group of geography, forestry, and soil scientists and practitioners)

• Co-PI:
  The Nature Conservancy: Carbon Sequestration Project on Surface Mined Sites in the Clinch and Powell River Valleys of Virginia. Co-Principal investigator together with Drs. James Burger and Carl Zipper. April 2004 - August 2007. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. $39,000.
  
  
• Currently Funded by:
  U. S. Department of Energy Grant: Restoring Sustainable Forests on Appalachian Mined Lands for Wood Products, Renewable Energy, Carbon Sequestration, and Other Ecosystem Services. PI James A. Burger. September 2003 - December 2006. $505,104.
  
  Office of Surface Mining / Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy. Demonstrate the Potential for Large-Scale Carbon Sequestration by Reforestation of Mined Lands Using Managed Forests. PI James A. Burger. October 2004 - November 2007. $40,000.
  

• Soil Science Society of America (2003-present), National Member
  
• Society of American Foresters (2000-present), National Member
• American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing (ASPRS), Virginia Tech Chapter (2002-2005), Treasurer