User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Based on my research so far the theoretical basis of my research is competition, niches, and succession. The areas I am researching have at one point been logged and so I am observing different levels of succession where the forest on the west side of the ridge has recovered from the logging event whereas the east side of the ridge has not recovered and is currently impeded by urbanization. The ferns are dealing with various levels of competition and different communities and so fill different niches in each treatment condition and have evolved to thrive in each niche to compete with the other plants. In addition, there is likely a difference in diversity between the three treatments since old-growth forests may have more diversity than areas that have had a more recent disturbance. This means that high diversity would be expected on the west side of the ridge as opposed to the east side where the logging has been more recent. Furthermore, the ferns may have evolved so that ferns in the forest have bigger leaves in order to collect more sun versus the ferns in the sunlight condition, which have smaller leaves as they can easily collect sufficient sun for photosynthesis.
Some keywords that summarize this project are as follows: ferns; Tracheophyta; vascular plants; competition; niche; community; succession; Pacific Northwest; ridge; Galbraith Mountain; sunlight; shade; logging; new growth forest; urbanization; diversity; disturbance. These words were chosen based on the research I have conducted so far for this study as well as descriptors of the subject and its locations.
