What determines recruitment of new trees in U.S. forests?

Many processes determine what species of trees exist within a given forest, and how big those trees are. "Recruitment" is perhaps one of the most understudied these processes. Recruitment specifically refers to the adding of new individuals to a population. It involves seed production by mature trees, seed dispersal, and the early growth phases of young seedlings and saplings. In this project, you will test a hypothesis that is commonly made in forest dynamics models: that rates of recruitment are proportional to growth rates of mature trees. To do this, you will use an existing, publicly-available database published by the U.S. Forest Service. You will analysis this large, complex dataset using analysis tools such as R. This indepenent computational work will be complemented and supported by weekly meetings with Dr. Medvigy and/or his senior lab members.