M.Sc thesis - Análisis ecomorfofisiológico de la competencia de vecindarios boscosos

This project was the central part of my M.Sc. thesis under the supervision of Dr. Roberto Cordero at the University of Costa Rica. This was also part of the Costa Rican government’s big research project funded by FEES (Fondo Especial para la Educación Superior). In this thesis, I examined the ecomorphophysiological characteristics of two woody understory species (Palicourea padifolia and Psychotria elata) under the effect of light competition in two forested neighborhoods with 53 and 20 years of natural restoration at a cloud forest in Costa Rica. The previous was explored in two research chapters in which I evaluated how the tree neighborhood and light environment affect:

1. Plan design and biomechanics.
2. Light capture efficiency and carbon gain.

Two manuscripts were published from this thesis and are available as Guzmán and Cordero 2016a and Guzmán and Cordero 2016b. If you are interested in my dissertation, you can download it from here.