Dissertation Research: Understanding the importance of individual variability for population demography using the Bristlecone pine

University Of Wyoming, Laramie WY

Investigators

Abstract

Long-lived organisms such as corals and forest trees are of great worldwide ecological and economic importance. Unfortunately, population trends for such species are difficult to study because they occur slowly and over many human lifetimes. This research focuses on investigating population change in a uniquely well-suited study system: forests of high-altitude, long-lived bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) in the White Mountains of eastern California. These trees are unique because their dead wood can remain intact for millennia and can be precisely dated with tree-ring analysis. The widths of these annual rings, sampled from hundreds of living and dead trees, can be used to understand how variation among individuals influences population dynamics. These populations of bristlecone pines are believed to contain the longest living organisms on the planet. Using these trees as a study system follows a classic and successful scientific tactic: to study biological extremes as a way of testing and refining general theory. This dissertation work will develop new approaches to mathematical population modeling that can be applied to many other species, particularly other long-lived species or populations with considerable variation among individuals. These kinds of predictive tools are crucial given the realities of a rapidly warming global climate.