Professor Demel Teketay Fanta

• Ecology of Forests and Rangelands
• Forest and Range Botany/Dendrology
• Agroforestry
• Forest Seed Technology
• Forest Management and Certification
• General Ecology

Primary Research Areas

• Diversity, stand structure and regeneration ecology of woody species in forests.

Potential Research topics

• Sustainable/responsible forest management.
• Climate change and forest resources.
• Diversity, structure and dynamics of vegetation in the different forest types (diversity of forest species: trees, shrubs, herbs, epiphytes, parasites, etc., flowering and fruiting phenology, dispersal mechanisms and dispersal agents of forest species, seed rain and soil seed banks in the different forest species, seed predation, germination ecology of different plant species, longevity/viability of seeds both under natural and artificial storage conditions and seedling establishment, survival, growth and seedling banks of different trees).
• Role of fire in the regeneration of plants species
• Protection, conservation and restoration of forests and biodiversity.
• Invasive (Alien) Species
• Edible wild and medicinal plants.
• Ethno-botany and ethno-ecology.

Current projects

• Pathways of restoration of the degraded Kazuma Forest Reserve in northern Botswana - 2018 to 2021 (P872,396.00) – Originator and Principal Investigator (completed in 2021).
• Livelihood diversifying potential of camel based food security and climate-smart sustainable development in Botswana (P626572.00) – Co-Originator and Co-Investigator.
• National Survey of Diversity, Importance, Host-Specificity and Negative Impacts of Mistletoes in Botswana – Originator and Co-Investigator