Publications: July-September 2011

Arias García, J.C., Duque Montoya, A.J., Cárdenas López, D., 2009. Crecimiento diamétrico de un bosque del Noroccidente amazónico. Revista Colombia Amazónica Nueva Época Vol. 2, 57-64.

Full text

Barreto Silva, J.S., Duque Montoya, A.J., Cárdenas López, D., Moreno Hurtado, F.H., 2010. Variación florística de especies arbóreas a escala local en un bosque de tierra firme en la Amazonia colombiana. Revista Acta Amazónica, 40(1): 179-188.

Full text

Calle Rendón, B.R., Moreno Hurtado, F.H., Cárdenas López, D, 2011. Relación entre suelos y estructura del bosque en la Amazonía colombiana, Biología Tropical Vol. 59 (3): 1307-1322.

Full text

Cárdenas López, D., Cordero Parada, Z., Salinas Nelson, R., Suárez Suárez, S., Zuluaga Trochez, A., Barreto Silva, J.S.,  Arias García,  J.C.,, Castaño Arboleda, N., Duque Montoya, Á.J., Sua Tunjano, S., 2010. Composición florística de diez hectáreas de la Parcela Permanente Amacayacu, Amazonia colombiana, Revista Colombia Amazónica Nueva Época Vol. 3: 141-177.

Full text

Martin, A.R., and Thomas, S.C., 2011. A Reassessment of Carbon Content in Tropical Trees. PlosOne 6(8), e23533.

Full text

McEwan, R.W., Lin, Y.-C., Sun, I.-F.,  Hsieh, C.-F., Su, S.H., Chang, L.-W., Song, G.-Z.M., Wang, H.-H., Hwong, J.-L., Lin, K.-C.,  Yang, K.-C.,  Chiang, J.-M., 2011. Topographic and biotic regulation of aboveground carbon storage in subtropical broad-leaved forests of Taiwan. Forest Ecology and Management 262, 1817–1825.

Full text

Peña, M.A., Cárdenas López, D., Duque Montoya, A.J., 2010. Distribución de especies y su relación con la variación ambiental y espacial a escala local en un bosque de tierra firme en la Amazonía colombiana. Revista Actualidades Biológicas, 32(92): 41-51.

Currently unavailable

Rüger, N., Berger, U., Hubbell, S.P., Vieilledent, G., Condit, R., 2011. Growth strategies of tropical tree species: Disentangling light and size effects. PLoS ONE, 6:e25330.

Full text

Rüger, N., Huth, A., Hubbell, S.P., Condit, R., 2011. Determinants of mortality across a tropical lowland rainforest community. Oikos, 120:1047–1056.

Full text

Van Breugel, M., J. Ransijn, D. Craven, F. Bongers, J. S. Hall, 2011. Estimating carbon stock in secondary forests: Decisions and uncertainties associated with allometric biomass models. Forest Ecology and Management 262, 1648–1657.

Full text

Regional Meetings Promote Collaboration Between South American CTFS-SIGEO Plots

From 19-24 September 2011, scientists from several Neotropical forest plots met in Brazil to outline research goals and identify opportunities for increased regional collaboration. Participants also presented their work at the 10^th Brazilian Congress of Ecology symposium, which focused on current research in large-scale plot networks such as CTFS-SIGEO, the São Paulo Permanent Plot network (PPP) and the Bolivian Forest Research Institute (IBIF). Meeting and symposium participants included Alvaro Duque from the National University of Colombia- Sede Medellin  and PI for the Amacayacu plot, Alberto Vicentini from the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) and PI for the Manaus plot, Renato Valencia from the Papal Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE) and PI for the Yasuni plot, Alexandre de Oliveira, from the University of São Paulo and PI for the Manaus and Ilha do Cardoso plots, and Tania Brenes, Neotropical Coordinator for CTFS-SIGEO. Researchers also had the unique opportunity to visit the Ilha do Cardoso plot, pictured below.  This first-of-its-kind regional meeting was a great success and will lead to expanded regional research collaborations.

Ilha do Cardoso forest plot

CTFS-SIGEO Grant Recipient Faith Inman-Narahari Investigates Seedling Dynamics in Hawai’i

Doctoral candidate Faith Inman-Narahari recently established 64 census stations to measure seed rain and seedling distribution, abundance, survival and growth within the mapped Laupāhoehoe Forest Dynamics Plot, part of the Hawaiian Permanent Plot Network (HIPPNET). Supported by a CTFS-SIGEO research grant, Faith has applied ecological theory and studied forest plot dynamics patterns in the unique testing ground of the Hawaiian Islands. The most remote archipelago in the world, Hawai’i contains 25 of the 35 global life zones and is known for relatively low levels of tree diversity and high levels of endemism. 

The results of the study provide a comparison between the Hawaiian forests and other mainland and island forests. Interestingly, based on comparisons of published data from five other CTFS-SIGEO plot studies, Inman-Narahari has found that dispersal and habitat limitation and the proportion of species with significant habitat associations does not show a clear relationship with global diversity patterns. The project will continue with support from the USDA Forest Service Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry (IPIF), the University of Hawai’i, the University of California Los Angeles, and the Garden Club of America. Future publications will include tests of the effects of habitat and negative density dependence on growth and survival in both wet and dry Hawaiian forest. More information about Faith’s research is available through UCLA and on her blog. 

Faith Inman-Narahari records data in Hawaiian forest plot

NSF-Supported Scientific Exchange Fellow Erin Kurten Expands CTFS-SIGEO Partnerships in China

The National Science Foundation grant to CTFS-SIGEO (DEB-1046113), in addition to supporting the recent workshop and symposium, provides support for a program of scientific exchange between the US and China. Young US-based researchers are spending periods of one to three months in collaborating labs in China to pursue studies on the dimensions of biological diversity in the world’s forests. Dr. Erin Kurten, post-doctoral fellow with CTFS at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, is the first of these fellows and will spend one month in Shenyang, home of the Chinese Academy of Science’s Institute for Applied Ecology.

While in Shenyang, Erin is working directly with Dr. Zhanqing Hao (Professor and Head of the Research Center of Forest Ecology and Forestry Eco-Engineering at CAS) and his research group. Erin is helping develop of a set of guidelines for focal tree-based monitoring of tree phenology in CForBio forest plots. Additionally, she is collaborating with group members Dr. Xugao Wang and graduate student Yuqiang Zhao on a project to understand the mechanisms underlying a set of previously described positive and negative tree species associations.

Dr. Erin Kurten of CTFS- SIGEO works with Dr. Xugao Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Erin has been warmly welcomed by Dr. Hao’s group; they have helped her settle into Shenyang and are introducing her to the culinary diversity of Northeastern China. With more intellectual and culinary collaborations to come, Erin’s month in Shenyang promises to be a good one!

NSF-US and NSF-China Build Foundation for Bilateral Science Collaboration through support of CTFS-SIGEO and CForBio Science and Training Partnership

A delegation from the US National Science Foundation met with counterparts from NSF-China in Beijing, China, on 27-28 July 2011, at a Biodiversity Symposium organized by CTFS-SIGEO and the Chinese Forest Biodiversity Monitoring Network (CForBio).

Representatives of both NSF and NSF-C spoke of the importance of their jointly funded program, “Dimensions of Biodiversity”, for building partnerships and strengthening capacity in biodiversity science between the US and China. The joint funding provides five years of support for workshops, scientific exchange visits, and the enhancement of bioinformatics tools for biodiversity research.

The goal of the program is to advance understanding of the multiple dimensions of biodiversity and how those dimensions relate to the resilience of forest communities. The long-term sustainability of forests and the services they provide depend on our ability to predict forest responses to changes in climate and land-use at a global scale.

Dimensions of Biodiversity Symposium, Beijing, China.

The NSF delegation included Penelope Firth, Deputy Director, Division of Environmental Biology; William Chang, Head of the East Asia and Pacific Program and Interim Executive Officer of International Science and Engineering; Emily Ashworth, Director of NSF China Office; and Program Officers James Wang, Sarah Mathews and Alan Tessier.

The NSF-China delegation included Zhenliang Yu, Ecology Division Director; Yinghui Liu, Ecology Program Director; Huai Chen, Director Division of American, Oceanian and Eastern European Programs; and Xiuping Liu, Program Manager, Division of American, Oceanian and Eastern European Programs.

CTFS-SIGEO/CForBio Analytical Workshop and Symposium in China Underway

Working group participants in Changbaishan Station.

by Tania Brenes 

Between the 13th and 29th of July, 2011 CTFS-SIGEO scientists are participating in an Analytical Workshop and Symposium in China. We are currently staying at the Changbaishan Field Station in the province of Jilin in Northeast China doing analytical work. There are over 60 participants from 16 different countries and regions. For two weeks, different work groups will be focused on analyzing CTFS-SIGEO data  to answer questions about long term changes in forest dynamics, phylogenetics and diversity, functional traits, spatial patterns, carbon and biomass and seedling recruitment. Our analytical work is complemented by informal talks and the exciting cultural diversity of the group.

The workshop will end with a two day symposium in Beijing on “Diversity and Forest Change”. This is the first of a series of five workshops funded by NSF-US and NSF-China, and was organized by CTFS-SIGEO and CforBio.

Participants walk to the field station.

Hong Kong Global Forest Observatory Plot Launches with Workshop and Ceremony

On June 25, the Kadoorie Institute of Hong Kong University celebrated the opening of a new forest dynamics plot in Hong Kong. HSBC’s Hong Kong Bank Foundation donated more than USD 700,000 over three years for the plot, which will enable scientific research on forest dynamics in relation to climate change while providing opportunities for public to engagement in citizen science.

CTFS Director Stuart Davies and Principal Investigator Billy Hau of Hong Kong University (HKU) led a one-day workshop on June 24, training twenty-five participants in plot establishment following the standard CTFS protocols. Participants came from the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, and Hong Kong University’s School of Biological Sciences and Lung Fu Shan Environmental Education Centre.

An official launch of the Global Forest Observatory was held on June 25 at the Kadoorie Institute Shek Kong Centre (KISK) where a 1-hectare training plot is also being established. The opening was presided over by Teresa Au (Head of Corporate Sustainability, Asia Pacific Region, HSBC), Dr. Lap-Chee Tsui (Vice Chancellor and President, Hong Kong University) and Joseph Sham Chun-hung (Assistant Director, Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department). The event received attention in the local media, with several news broadcasts and write-ups expressing excitement about the significance of the new research site.

The 20-ha plot is located in a forest ecosystem that has been impacted by humans for over 4,000 years. The initiative will provide valuable insight into the ecology of a regenerating forest at the margin of the tropics, and will provide training opportunities for over 2,000 citizen scientists.