P. tremuloides grow unlike any other trees. Since they are unique it is important to experiment on them. Two P. tremuloides next to each other could or could not be the same individual. Identifying if trees in the same area are the same or not the same individual is important for research purposes. Conducting experiments on P. tremuloides can also tell how and why the trees are dying. By figuring out how the trees are dying, knowledge can be passed around to try and save the trees. Saving trees will help the environment over all. Saving the environment is the reason why research and studies like this one are so important. P. tremuloides can die from a simple little thing called Sudden Aspen Death, or SAD. P. tremuloides trees are better suited to moist or wet soil (California Polytechnic Institute, 1995-2017), meaning that they will be more healthy and able to sexually reproduce successfully in the wet environment.This is due to the more favorable climatic conditions and a germinated seed requirements for growth and survival (Walter T. McDonough, 1985). Using microsatellites, DNA extraction, and PCR, determines whether or not the forty-five samples are the same individual. Microsatellites, or simple sequence repeats, are DNA stretches which accommodate tandem repeats of about 1-6 bp. (TC)₁₀ could be an example of a microsatellite sequence. This sequence would look like (TCTCTCTCTCTCTCTCTCTC). The reversed microsatellite sequence would be (AG)₁₀, and would look like (AGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAG). The nuclear, chloroplast, and mitochondrial genomes all contain microsatellites (Joanna Freeland, Heather Kirk, and Stephen Petterson, pg 59, 2012). DNA extraction is when the DNA is taken out of the the ground up samples. PCR is when primers are added to the DNA to make more than one strand of DNA. The main goal of this research project is to determine whether the forty-five samples are the same individual or not. By determining this the world will know more about P. tremuloides’ and their reproducing mechanisms.