Contact information:

Education:

BS, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine.  Biology 
MS, University of Illinois, Urbana, Plant Pathology
PhD, University of Illinois, Plant Pathology

General areas of expertise:

Regionalization of plants and plant diseases, ecological and weather based indicators of plant and disease stress, disease management, VA mycorrhizae

Overview of current program:

Dr. Safir is a Professor at Michigan State University. He is appointed in the Dept. of Plant Pathology in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. He currently teaches two courses; Plants, Their Diseases and Social Impact (ISB-202) and Issues and Frontiers in Plant Pathology (jointly with R. Hammerschmidt). For many years he taught Environmental Plant Physiology and Intro. Plant Biology, while he was a member of the Botany and Plant Pathology faculty at MSU. He worked for several years on the remote detection of crops and crop stresses and now he concentrates on the expansion of plant and disease models from field to regional scales. He is also interested in the effects of crop phenology on diseases and greenhouse gasses and on ecological and weather based indicators of plant stress. He conducts his research in the Computational Ecology and Visualization Laboratory at MSU.

Publications:

Grace, P.R., M. Colunga-Garcia, S.H. Gage, G.P. Robertson and G. R. Safir. 2006. The potential impact of climate change on soil organic and agricultural management on carbon resources in the North Central Region of the United States. Ecosystems 9:1-13.

Safir, G.R., S.H. Gage, M. Colunga-Garcia, P. R. Grace, and S. Rowshan. 2006. Simulation of corn yields in the upper great lakes region: use of a modeling application integrative framework . Computers and Electronics in Agriculture-To be submitted.

Safir. G.R., S.H. Gage, M.Colunga-Garcia, and A. Momin. 2001. Biocontrol potential: Assessment regional scales. Proc.of Third Joint Reg. Mtg. (Biocontrol in a new millennium). Oct. 26-29, Estes Park., CO pp. 78-80.

Gage, S.H., M. Colunga-Garcia, G.R. Safir, J.J. Kelly, and A. Momin. 2001. A structural design for management and visualization of information from a crop simulation model applied to a regional scale. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 33:77-84.

Kaitany, R.C., L.P. Hart, and G.R. Safir. 2001. Virulence composition of Phytophthora soja in   Michigan. Plant Disease 85:1103-1106.

Arriola, L., M.K. Hausbeck J.L. Rogers and G.R. Safir. 2000. The Effect of Trichoderma-harzianum and Arbuscular Mycorrhizae on Fusarium Root Rot in Asparagus. Hort. Tech. 10:141-144.

Fries, L., R. Pacovsky, and G.R. Safir. 1998. Influence of phosphorus and formononetin on isozyme expression in the Zea mays-Glomus intraradices symbiosis. Physiologia Plantarum. 103:72-80

Suits, G.H. and G.R. Safir. 1972. Verification of a Reflectance Model for Mature Corn with Application to Corn Blight Detection. Remote Sensing of Environment 2:183-192.

Safir, G.R., J.S. Boyer, and J.W. Gerdemann. 1971. Mycorrhizal Enhancement of Water Transport in Soybeans. Science. : 581-583.

Nelsen, C.E., and G.R. Safir. 1982. Increased Drought Tolerance of Mycorrhizal Onion Plants Caused by Improved Phosphorus Nutrition. Planta 154:407-414.

Patents (Selected):

Method and compositions for stimulating vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi using isoflavonoids. February 4, 1992. G.R. Safir, M.G. Nair, and J.O. Siqueira. U.S. Patent No. 5,085,682.

Alkali Metal Formation and Method of Mycorrhizal Stimulation. Dec. 18, 2003. M.G. Nair, G.R. Safir, R. A. Schutzki, and B. Niemira. Taiwanese Patent #183918.

Courses taught:

ISB 202, Applied Env. and Organismal Biology - Plants, Their Diseases and Social Impact,

PLP 101, Current Issues and Frontiers in Plant Pathology