Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Science (MS)
Major/Program
Biology
First Advisor's Name
Steven F. Oberbauer
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Chair
Second Advisor's Name
Michael S. Ross
Third Advisor's Name
David W. Lee
Date of Defense
11-16-2005
Abstract
I examined the effects of soil and slope conditions on canopy dynamics in terms of openness and leaf area index through time as measured by hemispherical photography. Specifically, I compared alluvial versus residual soil and slope versus plateau and flat plots in an old-growth tropical wet forest in Costa Rica. No significant effects of slope were found for any estimator of canopy coverage in any analysis. Soil type approached significance as a single factor and several soil*year interactions were highly significant. In addition, I found highly significant inter-annual variation in all analyses that was concordant on all plot types. This is the first long-term study to document substantial inter-annual variation in canopy cover for a tropical wet forest. These patterns are a combination of seasonal changes in leaf area, forest dynamics resulting from gap formation and closure, and inter-annual variation in leaf area coverage caused by climate variation.
Identifier
FI14051839
Recommended Citation
Brinez, Carolina, "Dynamics of canopy cover in a wet forest in Costa Rica" (2005). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1884.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1884
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Comments
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