Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

Spring 5-6-2026

Faculty Advisor(s)

Dr. Christine S. O'Connell

Abstract

Tropical forests play a disproportionate role in regional and global greenhouse gas budgets, exchanging significant amounts of carbon dioxide and methane with the atmosphere in comparison to other terrestrial biomes. Accurately characterizing tropical soil gas dynamics is therefore critical for ensuring meaningful greenhouse gas budgets, yet these dynamics can vary extensively across depth, space, and time. In this study, I assess how surface carbon dioxide and methane fluxes, and subsurface carbon dioxide and methane concentrations, vary across time of day, slope position, and for the latter, soil depth profile, in a tropical forest in eastern Puerto Rico across a five-week time period. Surface fluxes were measured from soil collars arranged along a topographic gradient using an automated gas flux analyzer, and subsurface concentrations were determined from gas wells at the same location via direct injection into a trace gas analyzer. I find that time of day has no effect on carbon dioxide and methane fluxes, but the topographic position from which the gas was extracted does. I find the same pattern for carbon dioxide and methane concentrations, along with differences in greenhouse gas concentration appearing along depth. These findings highlight the importance of accounting for spatial variability within study sites to ensure accuracy of greenhouse gas budget and broader ecological research.

Comments

Presented at the Spring 2026 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.

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