Assessing Understory Plant Growth in Response to Changing Light and Nitrogen Availability Associated with Northern Temperate Forest Succession

Understanding understory plant competition is vital in understanding forest succession and future forest composition. Competition varies over space and time depending on limiting factors and available resources. Successional disturbances affect competition, as these disturbances cause shifts in available resources. This study will assess seedling competition for light and nitrogen in an ecosystem level manipulation of forest succession at the University of Michigan Biological Station. I will use hemispherical photography as a direct measure of light availability, lysimeters, to assess soil solution nutrient content and N leaching, and an understory plant census to quantify seedling community composition and growth rates. This analysis will give insight into long term projections for species composition of future forests, as it is ultimately the seedlings and understory plants that determine future forest composition.