Aaron Hogan, a
PhD student at Florida International University (FIU), recently returned from leading
a field campaign at the ForestGEO Jianfengling
site in Hainan, China.
Aaron
Hogan (left) and Shojun Ling (right) extracting a root sample (photo by Dr. Han
Xu: PI of the 60-Ha Jianfengling plot).
At Jianfengling,
Hogan studied the relationship between the quantification of root and leaf
functional trait plasticity, such as intraspecific variation, and the soil and
forest age gradient. Days were spent sampling root and leaf traits, while nights
were spent washing, scanning, drying, and weighing root samples. Root functional
trait will be related to leaf level traits, specifically focusing on chemical
traits as they relate to soil chemistry.
Hogan became
interested in studying below ground functional traits about a year ago when he
started his PhD work. “Oscar Valverde-Barrantes introduced me to the joy of
digging, looking at, and studying tree roots. The more I got into the
literature, the more I realized how little we know about roots and most
belowground processes in tropical forests, compared to leaves or aboveground processes,”
Hogan said.
A
scanned root from a Lithocarpus
pseudovestitus Fagaceae (oak family) individual illustrating the root
morphology of a dominant species in the Jianfengling forest.
“I think one of
the greatest potential findings that may result is the quantification of root
and leaf functional trait plasticity (i.e. intraspecific variation) across a
soil and forest age gradient. The sampled transect spans two mountain
peaks from secondary forest deep into the more primary forest area of Jianfengling,
Hainan, which incorporates a substantial amount of environmental variability
found in the area,” said Hogan.
Hogan has been an
active collaborator with ForestGEO since 2011, when he volunteered to
participate in the tree census at the Luquillo
site in Puerto Rico. Hogan
will continue his PhD studies at FIU, and ForestGEO looks forward to his future
research findings within Jianfengling and other forest sites.
You can read more about J. Aaron Hogan's research on his website and blog here: http://www.jamesaaronhogan.com/.
List of collaborators:
Smithsonian/ForestGEO
Dr. Hong Liu from (FIU), Dr. Ding Qiong (Hainan
University) and Dr. Xu Han (Chinese Academy of Forestry). Field taxonomists
from the local forest bureau, including Shaojun Ling, Yaxin Xie, Jaming Wang,
Suhui Ma, Siqi Yang, Wenguang Tang, Zhiting Ma, Qiqi Zhang and Jiazhu Shi and
Mr. Yu.
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