TRACE

International Day of Forests 🌳

Thank you to everyone who visited the TRACE table at El Portal de El Yunque on March 28th in celebration of the International Day of Forests. It's always a great opportunity to share updates from the project and meet with new and familiar faces.

Special thanks to for always setting up such an amazing activity! 💚

Fungi from the genus 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘶𝘴 found at the TRACE site🤓

Ever wondered how deep is the litter layer inside the TRACE plots?

Well, this year you might find out! Since July 2025, we have been measuring the depth of the litter layer in all six plots, 3 control and 3 warmed, as part of our ongoing Decomposition Experiment.

Every three months, we take 5 randomized depth measurements inside the plots, down to the soil layer, and additionally remove the litter material from two quadrants of 20 x 20 cm for weight and nutrient analyses.

Picture 1: View of litter layer depth.
Picture 2: View of quadrant after removal of litter material.

Found this Broad-nosed Weevil hiding in a syringe! 😍

For point lysimeter sampling, we leave syringes out in the field overnight, to collect the water in between soil pores. It must've snuck in there.

🏫This past February 6th, the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Schoolyard program celebrated the Data Jam Student Symposium at the Centro de Resiliencia para el Cambio Climático (CRCC) in the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras.

🌴The project looks to help middle school students explore, analyze, and interpret data collected through long-term research in El Yunque National Forest.

✏️For a second year in a row, Deyaneira Ortiz Iglesias, TRACE’s Environmental Equipment Technician, revised and provided feedback on two posters by students in 8th and 9th grade from the school Emilio Scharon Rodríguez in San Sebastián, and got to see them present their research posters. So exciting!🤗

Oportunidad de internado🌱

El Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program abrió 7 posiciones de internado para censo de plántulas en El Yunque. Habrá una porción del censo en las parcelas de TRACE y en El Verde Field Station.

Ver foto para más detalles.

Decomposition experiment - Time point 3

🍂Removal and processing of bags from the decomposition experiment after two months in the field.

🌱We saw greater evidence of fine roots growing into the mesh bags. These are being removed, dried, and weighed to account for root biomass.

Fungi at the TRACE site💚

1. Genus 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢
2. Fungi mycelium
3-4. Genus 𝘎𝘺𝘮𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘴
5. Order Polyporales
6. 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴-𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪
7. Anybody know what that is?
8. 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘺𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘴
9. Genus 𝘟𝘺𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢
10. 𝘊𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘴𝘢
11. Genus 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘢

Thank you to the community and for helping us identify these fungi!

📸

Adriana T. González Álvarez
Undergraduate student

🏫Adriana is a senior student pursuing a bachelor’s in Environmental Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. She is carrying out undergraduate thesis work under the mentorship of Research Ecologist Dr. Tana Wood and Ph.D. candidate Ana Caroline Miron Pereira from the University of Hamburg, Germany.

🌱During her time in the TRACE project, Adriana has been analyzing root images collected through the minirhizotron tubes in the Control and Warmed plots to study how experimental warming affects fungal rhizomorph dynamics.

🎨Adriana enjoys working in the forest, especially if it’s related to soils or roots, and in her free time, she likes doing arts and crafts!

Storing leaf litter samples for future grinding and nutrient analyses🍂

The samples shown on the first image are dried leaves from the decomposition experiment, focused on Cecropia schreberiana, Guarea guidonia, and wooden popsicle sticks.

JOB OPPORTUNITY

Position: Information Manager with the Luquillo LTER
See photos for more details.