Two Plants: Competitive or Helpful Co-Existence in the Y-K Delta

“Everywhere you go plants are competing,” . . . “It’s sort of a new finding that in places such as the Arctic and the Alpine — stressful places for life to happen — that these facilitative interactions are actually really important in helping to shape landscape dynamics.” – Lindsay Carlson

Two Plants: Competitive or Helpful Co-Existence in the Y-K Delta

“There’s a lot of thought about how a warming climate is affecting — especially — shrubs (woody plants) and possibly increasing their density and range here in Alaska. So my project is working on how the interactions between these two plants work in the Delta,” Lindsay Carlson told Frontier Scientists.

Growing Hoppner’s sedge in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta competes with other plants in its environment. Carlson examines growing vegetation in the Delta. She manipulates environmental conditions and density of vegetation in different plots to learn how plant interactions and temperature variables dictate or guide plant conditions.

Growing vegetation interaction competition experiment Yukon Delta ecosystem

Lindsay Carlson

Growing vegetation interaction competition experiment Yukon Delta ecosystem
Fenced off plots, or research areas, at Tutakokoe camp / Ryan Choi

Two Plants: Competitive or Helpful Co-Existence in the Y-K Delta video | Frontier Scientists YouTube

(Growing vegetation interaction competition experiment Yukon Delta ecosystem)

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