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Project properties |
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| Title | Does shade tolerance explain the distribution of wet and dry tropical tree
species? |
| Group | Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Prof. Dr. Lourens Poorter |
| Examiner(s) | Prof. Dr. Frans Bongers |
| Contact info | Lourens.poorter@wur.nl
https://www.wur.nl/en/Persons/Lourensprof.dr.ir.-L-Lourens-Poorter.htm |
| Begin date | 2020/04/01 |
| End date | |
| Description | MSc thesis / MSc internship / BSc thesis / BSc internship
Species distribution is determined by environmental filters that can determine what species can occur where. Shade and drought are thought to be the two most important environmental filters determining the distribution of lowland tree species. In this desk study you will enter and analyze data from a greenhouse experiment carried out with 50 tree species from wet and from dry forests in Bolivia. Species have been germinated and grown in 10% and 1% of full light, and their survival has been monitored on a weekly basis for a one year period, which allows you to quantify shade tolerance. You can link the shade survival to their 1) forest type (wet evergreen or seasonally dry deciduous forest, 2) functional group (pioneers or shade tolerants), and 3) functional traits that may explain their shade survival (e.g., wood density, leaf traits). You can evaluate whether wet species have indeed a better shade survival than dry species. Alternatively, dry species survive equally well in the shade, and is species distribution not explained by shade tolerance but by drought tolerance. Corona proof: i.e.no field work (abroad) or intensive lab studies required Climate change effects /Biodiversity and functional diversity/ Population and forest dynamics/ Sustainable forest management/ America's/ Tropical zone/ Desk study |
| Used skills | |
| Requirements | Standard for MSc thesis/internship:
FEM-30306 Forest Ecology and Forest Management and REG-31806 Ecological Methods I |