Date of Award
2011
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Forestry (MS)
College, School or Department Name
School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
Advisor
Blair D Orr
Abstract
The Humid Chaco of Northeast Paraguay harbors monoculture palm savannas in which Copernicia alba is the only dominant overstory species. The study’s objective was to provide the complete spatial distribution of a simple ecosystem lacking confounding factors of overstory competition and changes in slope. Palms within six, 50 x 50m plots were marked by their GPS location and measured for dbh and total stem height. The spatial distribution was individually analyzed for each plot at the local scale up to 12 m using Ripley’s K test. For the total population including juvenile and adult plants, the sample plots contained both random and clustered distribution patterns. In each of the six plots, the juvenile populations exhibited more clustered patterns than the adult population of each plot.
Recommended Citation
Cisz, Michelle E., "The spatial distribution of Copernicia alba (Morong) in the district of Bahia Negra, Paraguay", Master's Thesis, Michigan Technological University, 2011.