In March, the lab group made a trip to Kruger National Park in South Africa to survey the tree resprouting experiment. \u00a0Savanna trees suffer frequent damage from large herbivores. Often the whole crown of the tree is knocked over and crushed. \u00a0How fast and vigorously a damaged tree can\u00a0resprout determines survival, growth, and reproduction–things that plant ecologists, like us, find fascinating. \u00a0Resprouting is also important for maintaining forage for animals, firewood for humans, and for carbon storage in these ecosystems. \u00a0In 2011, we set up an experiment across the Kruger Climate Gradient to examine what factors control\u00a0tree resprouting. \u00a0Is it soil moisture? \u00a0Soil nutrients? \u00a0Tree species? Tree age or size? \u00a0We are exploring these questions while enjoying the southern hemisphere sun!<\/p>\n
Becky Hewitt (left), Samantha Miller (center), and Ben Ketter (right) chortle over trees decapitated for developing allometric relationships.<\/em><\/p>\n Xanthe Walker discovers that savanna trees are much taller than those in the taiga ecosystems of the high northern latitudes.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Tree](\"https:\/\/www2.nau.edu\/macklab-p\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Tree-carnage.jpg\")
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