THE WOODS LAB
At the University of Puget Sound
Brief Research Mentoring Philosophy
I see research mentoring as an extension of my teaching rather than a replacement of it. The high degree of faculty-mentoring enables undergraduate research to be a platform to reach broader educational goals, such as self-directed learning, independence, problem-solving, and resilience. Because there isn’t a syllabus, it is also an opportunity for students to learn how to create their own structure and organization as well as learn how to deal with failure in a positive way (something that students struggle to deal with in the classroom). Based on the feedback and witnessed growth from all the students I have mentored in my career (>33), it is clear to me that authentic research experiences for students can be one of the most transformative experiences of their undergraduate degree.
​
Getting to know students in a research setting provides substantial socio-emotional connection as well as plenty of opportunities for conversations about their future aspirations and plans after graduation. Field-based experiences in the Hoh rainforest where I do most of my research develop grit, persistence, and humility as we are often challenged by the field conditions, such as when climbing and trekking over giant nurse logs. To encourage students to fully engage in the scientific process both in the classroom and in research, I foster independence and am a proponent of observation-based hypothesis development as I believe that truly creative and innovative ideas come from moments of insight and careful observation.
Biodiversity in Rainforest Canopies
Tropical tree crowns are structurally complex with steep gradients in microclimate, light availability, canopy humus (formed in situ), and branch size that create microhabitats from the inner to the outer crown. My research has focused on the role of this microhabitat heterogeneity in influencing patterns of epiphyte distributions and coexistence, properties of the canopy humus that develops from the decomposition of plant material, and how the lack of this heterogeneity in secondary forests may explain the lack of particular epiphyte species.
​
I am continuing this research in temperate rainforest canopies and found that structural heterogeneity also influences temperate epiphyte distributions.
Woods, C. L. , L. McKinley Nevins* and Emma Didier*. 2019. Structural heterogeneity of trees influences epiphyte distributions in a northern temperate rainforest. Journal of Vegetation Science. DOI:10.1111/jvs.12797
Woods, C. L. (2017) Primary ecological succession in vascular epiphytes: The species accumulation model. Biotropica 49:452-460.
Woods, C. L., C. L. Cardelús, and S. J. DeWalt. 2015. Microhabitat associations of vascular epiphytes in a wet tropical forest. Journal of Ecology 103:421–430.
Woods, C. L., and S. J. DeWalt. 2013. The conservation value of secondary forests for vascular epiphytes in central Panama. Biotropica 45:119–127.
Cardelús, C. L., M. C. Mack, C. L. Woods, J. DeMarco, and K. K. Treseder. 2009. The influence of tree species on canopy soil nutrient status in a tropical lowland wet forest in Costa Rica. Plant and Soil 318:47–61.
Conservation of Sacred Forests
Habitat fragmentation has resulted in many forest ecosystems being threatened. In the South Gondar region of Northern Ethiopia, more than 80% of the native forest has been converted to agriculture. The remaining intact forests are tiny fragments (~5 ha) that each surround an Orthodox Tewahido Church (see: Cardelus 2012). In collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of scholars including ecologists, physical and human geographers, and historians, we are exploring how strong common pool resource management allows particular communities to maintain or enhance the stewardship of church forests.
Baez-Schon**, M.C., C.L. Woods, and C.L. Cardelús. (2022) Sacred Church Forests in Northern Ethiopia: Biodiversity and Cultural Islands in Biodiversity Islands. Strategies for Conservation in Human Dominated Environments, ed. F. Montagnini. p 531-549
​
Woods, C. L., A. Bitew Mekonnen**, M. Baez-Schon**, R. Thomas*, P. Scull, B. Abraha Tsegay, and C. L. Cardelús. (2020). Tree community composition and dispersal syndrome vary with human disturbance in sacred church forests in Ethiopia. Forests 11:1082. https://doi.org/10.3390/f11101082
Cardelús, C. L., A. Bitew Mikonnen**, K. H. Jensen, C. L. Woods, M. Baez, M. Montufar*, K. Bazany*, B. Tsegay Abraha, P. Scull, and W. Peck. (2020). Edge effects and human disturbance influence soil physical and chemical properties in Sacred Church Forests in Ethiopia. Plant and Soil. DOI: 10.1007/s11104-020-04595-0. pdf
​
Cardelús, C. L., C. L. Woods, A. Bitew Mikonnen**, S. Dexter*, P. Scull, and B. Tsegay Abraha. (2019). Human disturbance impacts the integrity of sacred church forests, Ethiopia. PloS ONE 14(3):e0212430. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212430. pdf
​
Woods, C. L., C. L. Cardelús, P. S. Scull, A. Wassie, M. Baez*, and P. Klepeis. (2017) Stone walls and sacred forest conservation in Ethiopia. Biodiversity and Conservation, DOI: 10.1007/s10531-016-1239-y
​
Cardelús, C. L., P. Scull, A. Wassie Eshete, C.L. Woods, P. Klepeis E. Kent and I. Orlowska. (2017) Shadow conservation and the persistence of church forests in Northern Ethiopia. Biotropica 49:726-733. pdf.
Klepeis, P., I. Orlowska, E. Kent, C. L. Cardelús, P. Scull, A. Wassie Eshete, C.L. Woods. (2016) Ethiopian Church Forests: A Hybrid Model of Protection. Human Ecology, Human Ecology, DOI 10.1007/s10745-016-9868-z
​
Scull. P, Cardelús, C., Klepeis, P., Woods, C., Frankl, A., and J. Nyssen. (2016) The resilience of Ethiopian church forests: Interpreting aerial photographs, 1938-2015. Land Degradation and Development, DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2633
​
*denotes undergraduate student
**denotes graduate student
One of the hypotheses to explain the coexistence of several plant species is niche differentiation. Species that coexist often vary in light, water and nutrient requirements, substrate type requirements, or germination requirements. We are examining whether nurse logs increase heterogeneity of regeneration sites within old-growth temperate rainforest, which would influence woody plant diversity and species distributions in these forests. We are also examining their role in density-dependence and whether the moss community on nurse logs influences woody species regeneration.
​
Woods, C. L., K. Maleta** and K. Ortmann**. (2021) Plant-plant interactions change during succession on nurse logs in a northern temperate rainforest. Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7786
​
​
Species Distributions in Temperate Rainforests
