US-Venezuela Dissertation: Eco-Physiology and Demography of Mangroves as They Relate to Light and Salinity.

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0003023Ackerly/HoffmanThis award will fund a dissertation enhancement grant for Laura Lopez Hoffman, under the direction of Dr. David Ackerly, Stanford University, in collaboration with researchers from the Instituto para la Conservacion del Lago de Maracaibo, in western Venezuela. The researchers will investigate how different environmental conditions can affect plant performance by examining the effects of salinity and light on the carbon gain, growth and demography of two species of neo-tropical mangroves. They will test the hypothesis that the effects of increasing light availability on mangroves are beneficial and detrimental at low and high salinity respectively. The hypothesis will be addressed at three levels of analysis: leaf physiology, whole plant growth, and population dynamics, using a combination of greenhouse experiments at Stanford University and field studies in Venezuela. The results will be integrated through physiological and demographic models and are expected to make significant contributions in the areas of ecological scaling and mangrove restoration and sustainable harvesting.