Week 11- Draft 3

Under the control situation for the experiment in question, where the aspen population was not thinned by the experimenters, mortality rates for both aspens and firs both remained at approximately 5% mortality. In the experimental scenario where aspen tree populations were reduced aspen mortality remained around an approximate 5% mortality rate while fir trees saw a massive increase in mortality rate, with a rate of approximately 22%. This increase in mortality for firs most likely occurs as aspens initiate the earliest stage of secondary succession in open meadows created by fire or deforestation.