RUI: Recruitment Limitation and Space: Vochysia ferruginea and Dipteryx oleifera in Post-Hurricane Secondary Forest

Hood College, Frederick MD

Investigators

Abstract

Ecologists have long asked how hundreds of species of trees can coexist in tropical rain forests without a few superior species outcompeting all the rest and driving them extinct. Two recent theories to explain this situation are recruitment limitation - lack of seed production or germination prevents dominant species from outcompeting others, and spatial variation - seeds only travel limited distances, so each species only competes with a limited number of neighbors. Dr. Boucher, his Nicaraguan colleague Javier Ruiz Perez and their students will test these theories in forests in southeastern Nicaragua. To do this, they will tag, map, trap seeds, and measure soil and light variables for two important forest trees: Vochysia ferruginea and Dipteryx oleifera. The two theories they will test are important for knowing how to preserve tropical biodiversity and for predicting whether global warming will lead to forests being taken over by a few "weedy" species. The two tree species under study are both economically valuable, so their work will also be useful for developing sustainable forestry systems for rain forests. Undergraduates from a US and a Nicaraguan small college will work together to gather and analyze the data, strengthening international cooperation and developing capacities for conservation and sustainable use of tropical rain forests.