Our month long graduate course in this beautiful country has come to an end, which also means the data for our research projects have been collected, analyzed, and discussed. To get to the point, we found out that the amount of lichens on a tree does not correlate to a forest’s healthiness with regard to its invaisability, meaning invasive plant species can colonize a rainforest that seems relatively healthy lichen diversity wise. We did find that lichen presence is an indicator of good air quality, implying that the rainforest at Las Cruces has relatively good air quality because lichens were found in all of our plots throughout all land use types and forest ages. Also, lichens are an efficient primary successor species, meaning they can pop up in recently disturbed landscapes such as farms, near roadways, and other deforested areas. Their presence in all land use types within Las Cruces also supports this theory. As far as the two invasive species we collected data on (beehive ginger and pink banana), we found that the beehive ginger has become very successful in the selectively logged land use area as well as the primary forest right next the selectively logged forest. The ginger is very shade tolerant, making these two forest types great places where the ginger can flourish because the understory has been reduced due to the age of these two areas. Therefore, forest age has allowed the ginger to thrive because there are a decreased number of understory plant species, meaning reduced competition. The ginger was least successful in the younger forest areas, the abandoned pasture and secondary forest, probably due to the greater number of other competitive understory plants. These areas, however, seemed to be a great habitat for the pink banana because this species takes advantage of light gaps and clearings. Below is a GIsS map we created that depicts the abundance of ginger and pink banana inflorescences throughout this area of Las Cruces. All together with the ginger and banana, we counted 999 inflorescences!
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Further research should be done for both the ginger and banana to assess how much they are affecting the local ecology of Las Cruces. Are they degrading the soil, monopolizing nutrients from other native species, decreasing the biodiversity, affecting the stream ecology, how are they spreading? Answering these questions will help to determine a clearer picture of their impact and help to create efficient management practices at Las Cruces.
I can say this month has been an eye-opening and VERY educational one.
I learned a lot about myself (mostly that I can’t handle 8,9, maybe 10 tequila shots in one night) and my classmates (everyone is as great as I suspected), but most of all about the ecology of the rainforest, a bunch of weird species and behaviors associated with it, and the various research methods one can use to measure the intricacies of this delicate system. I am grateful for this course here, as it has definitely made me a better student and ecologist, preparing me for further studies/obstacles in my professional and personal life. Thanks cohort 4 and Dr. Wassersloth!!