DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Plant traits as indicators of ecological restoration effectiveness in tropical landscapes

大多数热带森林在人类干扰后正在再生。有些景观严重退化，必须采取积极的恢复措施，如直接植树，以促进森林恢复。在需要积极管理干预的热带森林中，已采用了各种各样的恢复技术，以协助森林在不同的再生长阶段恢复，尽管目前还不清楚如何最好地选择恢复项目的树种，特别是考虑到环境正在发生变化。该研究生项目旨在确定地上和地下植物性状如何影响种植树木的生存和生长，以确定植物性状是否可用于有效和廉价地选择最佳树种用于恢复哥斯达黎加热带干旱森林（TDF）。这些森林是高度濒危的，覆盖了估计42%的热带陆地面积，与潮湿的森林相比，研究不足。这项研究的结果有可能大大推进生态恢复理论，并帮助恢复热带干旱森林，特别是那些面临严重干旱胁迫，由于持续的环境变化。该项目采取了基于功能性状的方法，实验测试的效率，使用植物性状选择树种的大规模TDF恢复项目。基于实地的量化地上和地下植物性状，以及与植物根系相关的真菌群落的遗传分析，将与树苗生长数据相结合，以确定在何种程度上地上和地下性状可以用来预测植物的性能在恢复设置。一个6公顷的恢复实验将被用来确定，如果物种的性状综合征，资源收购策略分组，预测性能的树种沿着演替轨迹。除了开展这些项目外，研究人员还将与当地的保护、林业和农业社区一起参加TDF适应性管理战略研讨会。这些项目还将为本科生提供与研究人员合作开展独立研究项目的机会。所有这些研究都将与哥斯达黎加西北部瓜纳卡斯特保护区的一部分Horizontes实验森林站的TDF恢复工作者直接合作进行。

The majority of tropical forests are regenerating following human disturbance. Some landscapes are so highly degraded that active restoration, such as direct tree planting, is necessary to facilitate forest recovery. In tropical forests requiring active management interventions, a wide range of restoration techniques have been employed to assist forest recovery at various stages of re-growth, although it is not clear how to best select tree species for restoration projects, especially given ongoing changes to the environment. This graduate student project seeks to determine how above- and below-ground plant traits influence the survival and growth of planted trees, to determine if plant traits can be used to efficiently and inexpensively select the best tree species for restoration of Costa Rican tropical dry forests (TDF). These forests are highly endangered, cover an estimated 42% of tropical land area, and are understudied compared to their wetter counterparts. Results from this research have the potential to greatly advance ecological restoration theory, and to aid in the restoration of tropical dry forests, especially those facing significant drought stress due to ongoing environmental change.This project takes a functional trait-based approach to experimentally test the efficiency of using plant traits to select tree species for a large-scale TDF restoration project. Field based quantification of above- and belowground plant traits, as well as genetic analyses of fungal communities associating with plant roots, will be combined with tree seedling growth data to determine the extent to which above- and belowground traits can be used to predict plant performance in a restoration setting. A 6-hectare restoration experiment will be used to determine if species' trait syndromes, grouped by resource acquisition strategies, predict the performance of tree species along successional trajectories. In addition to conducting these projects, the researchers will engage the local conservation, forestry, and farming community in a workshop on TDF adaptive management strategies. These projects will also give undergraduate students the opportunity to conduct independent research projects in collaboration with the researchers. All of this research will be conducted in direct collaboration with TDF restoration practitioners at Horizontes Experimental Forest Station, part of the Guanacaste Conservation Area in Northwestern Costa Rica.