December 23, 2010

Publications, Oct - Dec 2010

Eastwood, R., P. Kongnoo, and M. Reinkaw. Collecting and eating Liphyra brassolis (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in southern Thailand. The Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera (2010) 43: 51-61.
Full text

Kraft, N. J. B., M. R. Metz, R. S. Condit, and J. Chave. 2010. The relationship between wood density and mortality in a global tropical forest data set. New Phytologist, 188: 1124–1136.
Abstract

December 21, 2010

HSBC Volunteers Working with CTFS in Singapore on Climate Change

Non-scientists actively contributing to science—that is what Climate Champions from HSBC are doing in Singapore. This 10-week program is a collaboration between CTFS and HSBC-Singapore. More than 100 HSBC staff are tagging trees, putting dendrometer bands on trees to measure growth, and collecting leaf samples for species identification. The work is being done in forests surrounding MacRitchie Reservoir in Singapore. The program started with just 9 volunteers in the first session and has grown to 23 at the latest session on 11 November 2010.


This study complements the ongoing research done in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (BTNR), where CTFS researchers have installed 1500 dendrometers as a part of their study to understand the response of forests to climate change. BTNR has mostly hilly terrain, while the MacRitchie site is flat, and each site has a different suite of species. The main objectives of this program are to compare carbon stock differences between the two reserves, and also to create greater awareness within HSBC about climate change issues.

December 15, 2010

Loss of Two Philippine Friends

CTFS and the scientific community lost two friends and colleagues on 15 and 16 November 2010. Leonardo Co was shot and killed by the Philippine army while doing field work on Leyte Island, Philippines, and Dr. Daniel Lagunzad died of liver cancer, which he had been nursing quietly for some time. Leonardo was a long-time employee of Conservation International Philippines and Daniel was on the Biology faculty at the University of the Philippines, Diliman campus. The two men were prominent leaders of plant biology and biodiversity science in the Philippines.

Leonardo Co and Daniel Lagunzad.

For the past 17 years, CTFS has been working with Leonardo and Daniel and other colleagues in the Philippines to manage a 16-ha forest dynamics plot in the Palanan area of northeastern Luzon. As the lead field botanist on the project, Leonardo identified all trees in the 16-ha plot, and Daniel led the local plot administration. Together they trained many of the students and interns involved in the Palanan field work. They were the plot’s two Principal Investigators.

Their deaths are great losses not only to the Philippines and to CTFS, but also to the worldwide botanical community. All at CTFS pass on their deepest condolences to Leonardo’s and Daniel’s families and friends.

December 3, 2010

25 Years of Research at Pasoh

Researchers from around the world assembled at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) in early November for a symposium to celebrate 25 years of research on the Pasoh Forest Reserve in Peninsular Malaysia. The 50-ha Pasoh plot was the second in the CTFS network. It was established in 1985 under the leadership of Dr. Wan Razali Wan Mohd (FRIM), Dr. Peter Ashton (Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University), and Dr. Stephen Hubbell (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute). Since then, Pasoh has become the best-studied rainforest in Southeast Asia.


The CTFS-Arnold Arboretum Asia Program plays a key role in working with FRIM to develop Pasoh’s scientific programs and conduct leading forest research. The plot contains 814 species and represents 25% of the tree species of Peninsular Malaysia. The 6th census is underway.