BotanyJeannine Richards
2018 The Garden Club of America Fellowship in Tropical Botany
Jeannine H. Richards, a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin, focuses her research on tropical forests where high biodiversity frequently intersects with rapid deforestation rates. Shade grown co ee has become a model system for studying how agriculture that incorporates trees may serve as substitute habitat for forest species. Epiphytes, or air plants, may be especially able
to utilize shade trees as substrate. ese plants serve a keystone role, cycling nutrients and providing food and habitat for invertebrates and birds. Management decisions alter abiotic environments in co ee farms, a ecting epiphyte assemblages. Richards compares vascular epiphyte richness, composition, and abundance on small and large farms, and links environmental conditions favoring epiphytes to producers’ management decisions.
The Garden Club of America Fellowship in Tropical Botany
To promote the preservation of tropical forests by enlarging the body of botanists with field experience.
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