We have developed a 'Scan-Add-Print' database system, SAPling, to track and monitor asexually reproducing organisms. Using barcodes to uniquely identify each animal, we can record information on the life of the individual in a computerized database containing its entire family tree. SAPling has enabled us to carry out large-scale population dynamics experiments with thousands of planarians and ...

The regeneration of forest resources is one of the main objectives of modern forest management. The present book is based on my personal PhD thesis and aims to identify detailed features of the regeneration process and the characteristics of sapling interaction. The research involved evaluation of regeneration structure, dimensional differentiation of saplings, spatial pattern analysis - saplin...

Chronic browsing by Odocoileus virginianus (White-tailed Deer) has potential to alter the life history of trees within Mid-Atlantic forests, including seedling size and abundance in the short term to overstory composition in the long term. Most studies quantify the effects of deer browse using small plots (<1 ha) and short time frames (<10 years), which may misrepresent larger-scale and longer-...

We used logistic regression to identify environmental and management history factors associated with blue oak (Quercus douglasii) sapling recruitment. Recent canopy gaps caused by natural mortality or clearing were positively associated with sapling recruitment. Plots with very high or low levels of tree canopy cover were less likely to have saplings than those with intermediate canopy cover le...

Geographically extensive forest inventories, such as the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, contain millions of individual tree growth and mortality records that could be used to develop broad-scale models of forest dynamics. A limitation of inventory data, however, is that individual-level measurements of light (L) and other environmental factors are typically a...

Tropical forests vegetation and community research have tended to focus on the tree component, and limited attention has been paid to understory vegetation. Species diversity and composition of the understory of tropical seasonal rain forest were inventoried in a 625 m2 area (for sapling layer) and a 100 m2 area (for herb/seedling layer) in three 1 ha plots. We found 3068 individuals belonging ...

Wood anatomical traits are important correlates of life-history strategies among tree species, yet little is known about wood chemical traits. Additionally, size-dependent changes in wood chemical traits have been rarely examined, although these changes may represent an important aspect of tree ontogeny. Owing to selection for pathogen resistance and biomechanical stability, we predicted that s...

1. In endangered wooded pasture ecosystems established tree saplings are frequently found in spatial association with protective structures, suggesting nurse effects. This associational resistance is thought to be a driving force behind tree regeneration in wooded pastures. Experimental evidence for associational resistance is, however, scarce. We studied the effects of unpalatable plants on tr...

To assess how the decimation of large vertebrates by hunting alters recruitment processes in a tropical forest, we compared the sapling cohorts of two structurally and compositionally similar forests in the Rio Manu floodplain in southeastern Peru. Large vertebrates were severely depleted at one site, Boca Manu (BM), whereas the other, Cocha Cashu Biological Station (CC), supported an intact fa...

A growing body of evidence from community genetics studies suggests that ecosystem functions supported by plant species richness can also be provided by genetic diversity within plant species. This is not yet true for the diversity-resistance relationship as it is still unclear whether damage by insect herbivores responds to genetic diversity in host plant populations. We developed a manipulati...