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My research project focuses primarily on how soil properties affect Western redcedars distribution, but also touches on succession as Site 2 has been logged in the last 10 years. This relates to the evolutionary fitness (their adaptation/resilience to disturbances) of Western redcedars as well as competition/niche overlap between it and the other two most dominant species: Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir. My hypothesis focuses on how soil moisture content influences the spatial distribution of Western redcedars in the ICH-zone of British Columbia, but the specific research site I have chosen involves other variables such as aspect, elevation and anthropogenic influences. As I collected my data, I observed that while Western redcedar is completely absent from the site with the sandiest soil, it is distributed densely in the lowest elevation site with loamy soil and exists in moderate numbers in the silty site. This leads me to believe that competition for nutrients and sunlight are factors in determining the realized niche for the three most dominant tree species of the area.
The three keywords I would use to describe my research project are: soil moisture, realized niche, and inter-competition.
