DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Do plants think globally and act locally? Combining environmental niche models with intraspecific functional trait variation in a phylogenetic context

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Long-term changes in climate are likely to alter future distributions of species. Predicting these changes depends upon understanding the factors that determine where species grow. This project will test whether the distributions of species of tropical trees along gradients of rainfall and on different soils in Puerto Rico can be predicted from the functional traits of the species, and whether the traits that a species has are constrained by its evolutionary past. Researchers will use herbarium specimens to quantify species distributions and examine the correspondence between the distributions and the traits of the species in one of the most biodiverse habitats in the U.S.The broader impacts associated with this investigation include teaching and training opportunities, networking and collaborations with conservation and management agencies, and contributions to public databases. Three paid internships to undergraduate students in Puerto Rico, New York City, and Washington, DC, will provide scientific training and research experience to students from underrepresented groups. Though an existing GK-12 award to Columbia University, the research will be linked to curricula in schools in New York City, which host a large number of students of Puerto Rican heritage. Findings will be disseminated to the Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands Plant Conservation Task Force, a regional network of plant conservation practitioners which includes representatives from the USDA Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Natural Resources of Puerto Rico, and the University of Puerto Rico. Information on the specimens used in the research will be provided directly to participating herbaria and the data on molecular sequences and functional traits assembled for the project work will be deposited in online databases.