Presenter(s): Charles Paulino
Faculty Mentor(s): Krista McGuire & Stephanie Ostresh
Poster 84
Session: Social Sciences & Humanities
Succession in tropical forests is an important yet poorly understood topic in ecology. Dynamic principles are at play that are dictated by resource availability, inter and intraspecific competition, and environmental conditions at affect community structure and function. In this experiment I aim to investigate the physiochemical outputs of Inga laurina(Sw.) Willd., a mid-successional tree, in both early and mid-successional forest plots using Carbon-Nitrogen analysis. Since the roots of I. laurna can be colonized by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi andnitrogen- fixing Rhizobium sp. bacteria, I hypothesize: H1: net Nitrogen output into the environment will be higher in the early-successional plot than the mid-successional plot where environmental conditions favor N-fixing bacteria; H2: if H1 is true, than AM fungal root colonization will be higher in mid-successional stage than early-succession, where environmental conditions are favorable for fungal symbionts.