Ned Fetcher

Project Coordinator
Ph. D. 1977. Colorado State University

Research Interests
My previous research has included work on cold desert shrubs, ecology and demography of plants in Arctic tundra, and physiological ecology of tropical plants. Presently I am investigating shade tolerance in seedlings of temperate forests. One experiment is designed to test the hypothesis that carbon gain is very similar for all species that grow in the understory of temperate forests. This is a null hypothesis that will help to resolve whether we can detect differences in carbon gain of differing functional groups. If two groups as disparate as understory and canopy species are not significantly different in seasonal carbon gain, then it is unlikely that we will be able to detect differences between canopy species differing in shade tolerance.

A second hypothesis is designed to test the idea that shade tolerance depends not so much on rates of carbon acquisition through photosynthesis as on carbon allocation. With a given rate of carbon acquisition, a tradeoff may be found between growth and survival. Traits that contribute to survival such as high mass per unit area of leaf, dense wood, and high allocation of carbon to roots and storage reserves represent a diversion of carbon and energy away from leaf tissue and hence a reduction in growth rate. At a given level of carbon acquisition, shade tolerant species should have lower growth rates. These hypotheses are being pursued out with field experiments as well as experiments in raised beds.

Honors and Awards
Bullard Fellowship - Harvard University (1991-1992)
University of Puerto Rico EPSCoR Productivity Award (1996)