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Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2022
- Title: Past, Present, Future: Seedlings as a Story
- Author: Tatiana Elizabeth Perez (Bryn Mawr College)
- Abstract:
Abstract: Tree seedlings are a window by which we can simultaneously see the past and future of the forest. In the Harvard ForestGEO plot, a long-term ecological research site, patterns of tree composition are heavily tied to land-use history. Because this history has been so well documented at the forest, then, the aim of my work is to connect the dots between this history and current seedling establishment patterns. Here, I invesitgate whether the next generation of trees will match these patterns or depart from them. Using seedling census data collected from 121 1mx1m plots around the 35 ha megaplot, I was able to link land-use history patterns to seedling survival of four major hardwood species (Red Oak, White Pine, Hemlock, and Red Maple). Seedling establishment patterns were consistent with historical land use observed across the mega plot, but seedling mortality was also linked to other environmental factors, including non-native insects and pathogen movement around the forest. Information about the effect of land-use history on the establishment of hardwood trees can be used, then, to understand how forests may continue to develop spatially. This information can also be used to forecast carbon sequestration metrics, allowing for a deeper understanding of how forests interact with climate change.
- Research Category: Historical and Retrospective Studies
