Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Are We Missing The Forest For The Trees? Quantifying The Maintenance Of Diversity In Temperate Deciduous Forests, Kathryn Barry

Theses and Dissertations

One of the most pressing questions of community ecology is: Why do we have so many species? Over 100 hypotheses have been proposed to answer this question for woody plants over the past 70 years, yet there remains no consensus among community ecologists. In this dissertation, I explore the evidence supporting several different hypotheses (Chapter 1). I provide evidence that negative density dependence, where individuals perform poorly near members of their own species, may only be relevant for canopy tree species (Chapter 2). Understory species do not demonstrate negative density dependence while canopy trees demonstrate negative density dependence that increases …