A Tree’s Life in its Neighborhood
Advisor(s)
Silvia Alvarez-Clare, Morton Arboretum
Location
Room A113
Start Date
26-4-2019 10:25 AM
End Date
26-4-2019 10:40 AM
Abstract
Trees play an important role in the global carbon cycle since they use carbon to build biomass and they release oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis. Thus, understanding which environmental factors influence tree growth and survival is important to predict how forest ecosystems will respond to global changes. Two factors that can affect a tree’s growth are 1) the availability of the most limited soil nutrient and 2) the competition within the tree’s neighborhood. I created computer models of data from a long-term, large-scale forest fertilization experiment (EFFEX) in a lowland tropical forest in Costa Rica through different programs: R, RStudio, Geany, and Excel. With these programs, I investigated how the neighborhood of a tree affects its nutrient intake and its growth. I have made location maps and have done some spatial analyses on the data. Yet, I am still continuing to analyze the data of the forest and therefore I do not have any results about growth at the moment. Although, my future results will portray how different aspects of a tree’s neighborhood affect the growth of trees, and this can implicate ways to preserve forests.
A Tree’s Life in its Neighborhood
Room A113
Trees play an important role in the global carbon cycle since they use carbon to build biomass and they release oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis. Thus, understanding which environmental factors influence tree growth and survival is important to predict how forest ecosystems will respond to global changes. Two factors that can affect a tree’s growth are 1) the availability of the most limited soil nutrient and 2) the competition within the tree’s neighborhood. I created computer models of data from a long-term, large-scale forest fertilization experiment (EFFEX) in a lowland tropical forest in Costa Rica through different programs: R, RStudio, Geany, and Excel. With these programs, I investigated how the neighborhood of a tree affects its nutrient intake and its growth. I have made location maps and have done some spatial analyses on the data. Yet, I am still continuing to analyze the data of the forest and therefore I do not have any results about growth at the moment. Although, my future results will portray how different aspects of a tree’s neighborhood affect the growth of trees, and this can implicate ways to preserve forests.