Defining Functional Strategies of Trees
At our Lab, we study species phenotypes and how they respond to the environment, ultimately shaping their fitness. Phenotypes are shaped by a combination of various functional traits that often interact with each other due to trade-offs, leading to defined trait dimensions. These dimensions play are important for classifying and characterizing species into distinct ecological strategies.
While current knowledge predominantly focuses on leaf traits, we are actively developing projects aimed at characterizing the functional dimensions of trees. One such project was initiated in the summer of 2019 at the E.S. George Reserve in Michigan. We are investigating the intriguing relationships between leaf and root economics spectra, exploring how these traits vary along a soil fertility gradient. Check out our blog and video about this project to learn more about our research and the exciting discoveries we are making.
More recently, Sam, is developing his PhD project on examining role of mycorrhizal associations mediating plant resource uptake and shaping the belowground functional strategies for common and broadly distributed tree species in Michigan.
Check out a video we make and our most recent publications on this topic!
Weemstra, M. , Kyuper T., Stark F., and Umaña M.N. 2022. Incorporating belowground traits: Avenues towards a whole-tree perspective on performance. Oikos e08827. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.08827.
Pu X., Weemstra, M. , Jin G. and Umaña M.N. 2022 Tree mycorrhizal type mediates conspecific negative density dependence effects on seedling herbivory, growth, and survival. Oecologia 199: 907-918.
Weemstra M., Zambrano J., Allen D., Umaña M.N. 2021. Tree growth increases through opposing above- and belowground resource strategies. Journal of Ecology 109: 3502-3512. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13729.
Contact
María Natalia Umaña
Assistant Professor
Ecology and EVolutionary Biology
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
3142 Biological Sciences Building