Powdermill Gives Tropical Students a Look at Temperate Biodiversity
For two weeks, Powdermill Nature Reserve played host to 17 graduate and PhD students from the Institute of Ecology in Xalapa, Mexico. The students were given free reign to explore Powdermill’s 2,200 acres, witnessing the emergence of spring and learning about the biodiversity of a temperate forest.
Powdermill director John Wentzel said this is the second group of international students who have come to Pennsylvania for the first time. During their two weeks, staff trained the students in the top modern standards in sampling plants, animals, and invertebrates, thereby extending their field research experience in the process.
“Some of these students are going to be the leaders,” Wentzel noted. “In 10 or 20 years these will be the people running other institutions in Latin America. So we are trying to provide them with a really broad background. If you grow up here, this is just the way life is, and you don't think it's special. But if you didn't grow up here and you come here, then you notice how impressive it is.”
Coming from a tropical climate, group leader and professor, Dr. Octavio Rojas said what the group comes to see is the distinct changes a temperate forest goes through in its transition from winter to summer. Rojas noted that the tropical forests of Mexico do go through changes in the spring, but these transformations are nowhere near as dramatic.
“One of the amazing things, and the major difference between Appalachian forests and tropical forests is the seasonality. Seasonality produces differences in how plants, animals, and other types of organisms evolve during the year,” Rojas said.
“People who come from the tropics know that the diversity of the tropics is very impressive,” Wentzel added. “But in fact the Appalachian Mountains are one of the most diverse temperate ecosystems on earth. This forest here is much more diverse than many tropical forests. This is always impressive for them to see the diversity.”
Gabriella Mendoza is a PhD student focusing on climate change, analyzing global information systems (GIS) and how these issues affect the Atlantic coast of the Yucatan Penninsula. She said this trip was a chance to compare her research in Mexico with similar studies in a new environment.
“It was interesting for me to have this opportunity to know new, completely different ecosystems,” Mendoza admitted. “And to develop relations with other people from other countries to know what they are doing in different parts of the world and what they are doing with the same topic, that is ecology and habitats and quality of the ecosystem.”
“This program is teaching them various standard ways to inventory plants and animals and to analyze those data. That can be used in any habitat, anywhere in the world. It's tools they can use back home as well,” Wentzel stated.