CTFS-ForsestGEO: 2013 in Review

2013 was a highly productive year for the CTFS-ForestGEO network and collaborators. This past year has seen the acquisition of 4 new forest plots, the funding of research grants, trainings and many publications by staff scientists, to name a few. Some 2013 highlights include:  

2013 NSF Network Workshop: July-August, Front Royal, Virginia
Diversity and Forest Change: Characterizing functional, phylogenetic and genetic contributions to diversity gradients and dynamics in tree communities

The goal of this National Science Foundation-funded Project was to bring together two existing forest research networks in the US and China to advance understanding of how taxonomic, functional and genetic dimensions of diversity structure tree communities and relate to the resilience of forests to global change. By combining long-term temperate and tropical forest studies across entire tree communities we aim to develop models that incorporate functional and genetic variation among species, to test predictions about current and future changes in forests.

See official blog about the 2013 Workshop here.

 
CTFS- ForestGEO represented at The Prince of Wales' meeting in London

In May 2013, CTFS-ForestGEO Director, Stuart Davies, and Senior Staff Scientist and leader of the CTFS-ForestGEO Functional Traits Initiative, Joe Wright, were part of a two-day workshop on "Critical Challenges and Opportunities for Tropical Forest Science" coordinated by Prince Charles’ Charities’ International Sustainability Unit. It was held in London at the Royal Society and St. James’s Palace, Clarence House.

Read Official blog here.

CTFS-ForestGEO Plot count reaches 53 in 23 countries with the addition of three new plots

Zofin: The reserve is a well-preserved remnant of a natural spruce- silver fir-beech forest, situated in the Novohradskehory Mountains on the southern edge of the Czech Republic.

Scotty Creek: This boreal forest is located in the Hay River Lowlands at 61^o81 north, west of Yellowknife, and just south of Fort Simpson, in Canada.

Tyson: located ~20 miles from St. Louis, in the relatively understudied Ozark region of the Midwest.

See official blogs for Zofin, Scotty Creek, and Tyson.
 
2013 Research Grant Program

The 2013 cycle of the CTFS-ForestGEO Research Grant Program was highly competitive. Approximately 45 interesting and diverse proposals were submitted from all over the globe. Each proposal was read by network scientists, and ranked according to scientific merit, contribution to the network, educational contribution, and status of the Principle Investor (PI) to determine an overall rank.

See official blog list of the awardees here.

2013 CTFS-ForestGEO Publications

Perhaps the most significant result is the volume of work that is being published by network collaborators. Assembling this diverse group of students, post-docs and other researchers is critical to enabling this productivity. Many of the 46 papers published in the past year have been significant. Several have received notable mentions in other journals or science media.

Search Available publications here.