M.S. Candidate, University of South Florida
Field Travel Grant Type 1
Mangrove recruitment dynamics across varying elevations and habitat complexities
“For my thesis work, I am studying the recruitment dynamics of Avicennia germinans at a mixed-mangrove site at Honeymoon Island State Park near Dunedin, FL. Satellite imagery analysis reveals that this mangrove community has expanded inland over the past twenty years, encroaching onto a salt pan habitat. Documented observations of the encroachment of A. germinans to higher tidal elevations in response to the modern sea-level rise event are accumulating rapidly. It is critical to increase our understanding of recruitment ecology to contribute to the accuracy of our predictions of A. germinans response to sea-level rise. I intend to investigate how the location of A. germinans parental trees along an intertidal gradient may influence the rate of A. germinans recruitment via impact on propagule dispersal capabilities, establishment success, and post-establishment growth rate.”