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Geographic Variation in the Allelopathic Potential of American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) Emily A. Neidhardt Faculty Mentor: Dr. David B. Vandermast Elon University
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The Nature of American Beech Two races Red & Gray Beech Gray Beech Grows clonally Few genets, hundreds of ramets Potential input of allelopathogens is high
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Allelopathy Chemical warfare between plants A mechanism for changing forest diversity Competitive advantage A subset of secondary metabolites Black walnut (Juglans nigra) American beech is allelopathic, but less well known as such
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American Beech & Allelopathy Allelopathy is a factor in explaining “beech gaps” in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Poteat and Vandermast 2010) Stands of American beech become monodominant Beech leachate shown to lower leaf area/biomass in sugar maple seedlings (Hane et al. 2003)
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The Big Picture Is allelopathy in American beech a species- wide trait or is it limited geographically to one race of American beech?
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The Big Picture If allelopathogen production is under heavy selective pressure… No effects from red beech should be observed on spruce and fir because they do not interact within the studied area If the trait is species-wide… Inhibitory effects could occur on germination of spruce and fir
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Experimental Design Preparation Leachate production L1 = 1200 g/15 L L2 = 600 g, 15 L Collection of red beech forest soils Cold stratification of red spruce and Fraser fir seeds
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Experimental Design Treatment groups Commercial topsoil used as control for beech forest soil Deionized H2O used as control for leachate Red spruce, Fraser fir, and black simpson lettuce seeds Germination data and aboveground biomass recorded
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Results – Germination
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Results – Above Ground Biomass
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