Faculty Sponsor: Stephen Porder

Cooper researched the impact that soil erosion rates have on soil fertility to plants in a tropical ecosystem. He centered his investigation in El Yunque national forest in Puerto Rico and collected soil samples from various sites throughout the forest. The samples were analyzed to determine nutrient availability and correlated with local erosion rates. This research will be used to inform a larger understanding of the many controls on soil fertility, which is an active area of research and critical to our understanding of the limitations to plant growth.