BotanySophia Richter
2025 The Garden Club of America Fellowship in Tropical Botany
The Effects of Herbivore Extinction and Rewilding on African Savanna Plant Communities and Functional Traits
This project aims to investigate the impacts of reintroducing large mammalian herbivores (LMH) to landscapes that have lost them, also known as rewilding. By returning LMH to fenced plots that have excluded them for 30 years, I will assess the impacts of rewilding on plant community composition and grass anti-herbivore defense traits. By also comparing plant responses to newly erected exclosure plots, I will be able to directly compare the magnitude and direction of plant responses to both rewilding and LMH extinction.
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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