Phone: +1-860-486-7955
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
75 North Eagleville Road
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT
The regeneration phase is considered to be a critical phase through plant ontogeny since it is a bottleneck for successful species establishment. This research program focuses on identifying the ecological mechanisms that drive seedling regeneration patterns (e.g., niche differentiation, dispersal limitation) in a pristine forest at the Nouragues Station in French Guiana . I am following seedling cohorts into the future to elucidate the importance of temporal variation in recruitment pulses to long-term fluctuations is community composition.
Norden, N., Chave, J., Caubere, A., Chatelet, P., Ferroni, N., Forget, PM. & Thebaud, C. 2007. Is temporal variation in seedling communities determined by environment or by seed arrival? A test in a neotropical forest. Journal of Ecology 95: 507-516.
Chave, J. & Norden, N. 2007. Changes in species diversity in a simulated fragmented neutral landscape. Ecological Modelling 207: 3-10.
Norden, N., Chave, J., Belbenoit, P., Caubere, A., Chatelet, P., Forget, P.-M. & Thebaud, C. 2007. Mast fruiting is a frequent strategy in woody species of southern South Amercia. PLoS ONE 2(10): e1079. doi:10.1371/journal/pone.0001079.
Metz, MR., Comita, LS., Chen, YY., Norden, N., Condit, R., Hubbell, SP., Sun, IF., Noor, NSBD.,Wright, JS. 2007. Temporal variability in seedling dynamics: a cross-site comparison in four lowland tropical forests. Journal of Tropical Ecology. In press.
I am most interested in understanding the different forces determining the structure and diversity of species-rich plant communities. Currently, I am a post-doctoral associate in the Chazdon lab, at the University of Connecticut. My research focuses on successional pathways in neotropical secondary forests. My dissertation project was carried out in a pristine tropical forest of French Guiana, where I established a Regeneration Monitoring System in order to elucidate the importance of the regeneration phase in species coexistence.
Successional pathways and rates of change in tropical forests of Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico
Seeding Regeneration Monitoring at the Nouragues Biological Station, French Guiana
Across the tropics, regenerating secondary forests contribute to as much as 50% of the total forest cover in many countries. We therefore urgently need to understand the ecological drivers and principles of tropical secondary forest regeneration. This project is a collaborative investigation on successional pathways based on long-term dynamic data in tree plots in three neotropical regions. The main objective is to test whether temporal changes in community structure parallels chronosequences in secondary succession.
Natalia Norden Ph.D
Photo: Jerome Chave
