Research in Xishuangbanna

July 10, 2010

I have arrived in Xishuangbanna and I have begun my research finally! Xishuangbanna is a beautiful place with many steep valleys and mountains, and forests and rubber plantations on the mountains.

Many students asked about what I will be working on here, so I'll get down to it and answer those questions:

Questions from Ms. Brown's students:

-Why did you choose to go to China? (Lexi, Per. 6)

The program that sent me here (National Science Foundation) only went to certain countries in Asia. And then I learned that there was a tropical forest plot in China, and I've been wanting to work in one of those for a long time! So I applied to go to China.

-What trees are you going to be studying? (Claire, Per. 8)

I am studying fig trees. Figs are the fruit they use to make Fig Newtons. This is a local fig species (genus Ficus)

-Are you just going to be studying trees or other plants? (Christina, Per. 4) What types of plants are you going to be looking at? (Meredith, Per. 4)

I am just studying fig trees, because I only have a limited amount of time. Trees dominate the forest here, although there also are smaller plants like ferns and orchids.

-Exactly what kind of research do you do? What are you going to do there? (Micah, Per. 4, Adrian, Per. 6)

I am studying the traits of fig trees in the rainforest, and how they affect the distribution of figs. My basic research question is: are fig trees that are found next to each other in forest similar to each other in traits, or different from each other. Some scientists think that if two species of trees are competing with each other, they will both survive only if they are very different in their traits. But some other scientists think that if two trees of different species are found together, then they should have similar traits because they are in a similar environment, with similar environmental challenges.

-What is the most common thing you do in your study? (Michael, Per. 4)

I will spend about 2 weeks in the forest collecting data on the fig species traits. When we collect traits we use a big pole to cut a leaf sample from high up in the trees. These are some people working on the project with me using a pole to get a sample from a tall tree:

But then I will spend most of my time, about 5 more weeks, analyzing data and writing my report.

-Do trees carry traits? (Riley, Per. 8) What kind of traits do trees have? (Zachary, Per. 8)

Yes, such as the size of their seed, the shape of their leaves, and how big they get.

-How far can a seed fly? (Ethan, Per. 8)

If the wind conditions are right, a seed could potentially fly thousands of kilometers, but this is extremely rare. It is more likely that a seed will fly 100 meters to several kilometers.

-Why did you pick to do this? (Manuel, Per. 4)

I am interested in finding out why living things are found where they are, and why not some other place. Why is one kind of tree growing in the spot where it is, and not 30 feet away? I don't know why this is interesting to me, maybe because I have always like maps and moving around to different places. I want to know why living things move around and why they stay in certain places.

-Are you going to look at any animals? Will you see anything that you showed us in class? (Max, Per. 4) Will you see all these animals? (Tobias, Per. 6)

While I am out in the forest doing my work I do not think I will see any of those animals, unfortunately. Most of those animals are big and endangered, often because people hunt them. And the forest where I work is near a town, which means lots of people go in there hunting. To see those animals like tigers and tapirs you have to go deep into the forest.

But I think I will get to see some wild elephants at a nature reserve a couple of hours away! I'm going there in a couple of days, just for fun.