CTFS Publications from April 2012 to April 2013

Chang-Yang, C., Lu, C., Sun, I., and Hsieh, C. 2013. Long-term Seedling Dynamics of Tree Species in a Subtropical Rain Forest, Taiwan . Taiwania, 58:35-43. URL Full Text.

Condit, R., Chisholm, R. A., and Hubbell, S. P. 2012. Thirty years of forest census at Barro Colorado and the Importance of Immigration in maintaining diversity. PLoS ONE, 7:e49826. URL Full Text.

Condit, R., Engelbrecht, B. M., Pino, D., Pérez, R., and Turner, B. L. 2013. Species distributions in response to individual soil nutrients and seasonal drought across a community of tropical trees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110:5064-5068. URL Full Text.

De Cáceres, M., Legendre, P., Valencia, R., Cao, M., Chang, L., Chuyong, G. B., Condit, R., Hao, Z., Hsieh, C., Hubbell, S. P., Kenfack, D., Ma, K., Mi, X., Supardi, M. N. N., Kassim, A. R., Ren, H., Su, S., Sun, I., Thomas, D. W., Ye, W., and He, F. 2012. The variation of tree beta diversity across a global network of forest plots. Global Ecology and Biogeography, :. URL Full Text.

Detto, M., and Muller-Landau, H. C. 2013. Fitting ecological process models to spatial patterns using scalewise variances and moment equations. The American Naturalist, 181:E68-E82. URL Full Text.

DunMei, L., JiangShan, L., Mi, X., Haibao, R., and Ma, K. 2012. Spatial variation in community structure of a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest: Implications for sampling design. Chinese Science Bulletin, Online:. URL Full Text.

Gomes, A. C., Andrade, A. C., Barreto Silva, J. S., Brenes-Arguedas, T., Cárdenas López, D., de Freitas, C. C., Lang, C., Oliveira, A. A., Pérez, A., Pérez, R., da Silva, J., Silveira, A. M., Vaz, M. C., Vendrami, J., and Vicentini, A. 2013. Local plant species delimitation in a highly diverse Amazonian forest: do we all see the same species?. Journal of Vegetation Science, 24:70-79. URL Full Text.

Harrison, R. D., Tan, S., Plotkin, J. B., Slik, F., Davies, S. J., Brenes-Arguedas, T., Itoh, A., and Detto, M. 2013. Consequences of defaunation for a tropical tree community. Ecology Letters, 16:1-8. URL Full Text.

Inman-Narahari, F., Ostertag, R., Cordell, S., Giardina, C. P., Nelson-Kaula, K., and Sack, L. 2013. Seedling recruitment factors in low-diversity Hawaiian wet forest: towards global comparisons among tropical forests. Ecosphere, 4:art24. URL Full Text.

Lan Guo, Y., Getzin, S., Wiegand, T., Hu, Y., Zhu, H., Xie, G., and Cao, M. 2012. Spatial distribution and interspecific associations of tree species in a tropical seasonal rain forest of China. PLoS ONE, 7:e46074. URL Full Text.

Ngo, K. M., Turner, B. L., Muller-Landau, H. C., Davies, S. J., Larjavaara, M., Faizu, N. N., and Lum, S. K. 2013. Carbon stocks in primary and secondary tropical forests in Singapore. Forest Ecology and Management, 296:81-89. URL Full Text.

Parmentier, I., Dumenil, J., Kuzmina, M., Philippe, M., Thomas, D. W., Kenfack, D., Chuyong, G. B., Cruaud, C., and Hardy, O. J. 2013. How Effective Are DNA Barcodes in the Identification of African Rainforest Trees?. PLoS ONE, 8:e54921. URL Full Text.

Punchi-Manage, R., Getzin, S., Wiegand, T., Kanagaraj, R., Gunatilleke, C. S., Gunatilleke, I. N., Wiegand, K., and Huth, A. 2013. Effects of topography on structuring local species assemblages in a Sri Lankan mixed dipterocarp forest. Journal of Ecology, 101:149-160. URL Full Text.

Queenborough, S. A., Metz, M. R., Wiegand, T., and Valencia, R. 2012. Palms, peccaries and perturbations: widespread effects of small-scale disturbance in tropical forests. BMC Biology, 12:3. URL Full Text.

Ricklefs, R. E., and Renner, S. S. 2012. Global correlations in tropical tree species richness and abundance reject neutrality. Science, 335:464-467. URL Full Text.

Russo, S. E., Zhang, L., and Tan, S. 2012. Covariation between understorey light environments and soil resources in Bornean mixed dipterocarp rain forest. Journal of Trop, 28:33-44. URL Full Text.

Sautu, A., Deago, J., Hall, J. S., Roman, F., and De Liones, R. 2012. Field Guide for the Propagation of 120 Native Tree species from Panama and the Neotropics. Environment Leadership and Training Initiative. URL Full Text.

Shen, Y., Santiago, L. S., Ma, L., Lin, G., Lian, J., Cao, H., and Ye, W. 2013. Forest dynamics of a subtropical monsoon forest in Dinghushan, China: recruitment, mortality and the pace of community change. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 29:131-145. URL Full Text.

Swenson, N. G., Stegen, J. C., Davies, S. J., Erickson, D. L., Forero-Montana, J., Hurlbert, A. H., Kress, W. J., Thompson, J., Uriarte, M., Wright, S. J., and Zimmerman, J. K. 2012. Temporal turnover in the composition of tropical tree communities: functional determinism and phylogenetic stochasticity. Ecology, 93:490-499. URL Full Text.

Taubert, F., Hartig, F., Dobner, H., and Huth, A. 2013. On the Challenge of Fitting Tree Size Distributions in Ecology. PLoS ONE , 8:e58036. URL Full Text.

Townsend, A. R., and Asner, G. P. 2013. Multiple dimensions of resource limitation in tropical forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110:4864-4865. URL Full Text.

Wiegand, T., Huth, A., Getzin, S., Wang, X., Hao, Z., Gunatilleke, C. S., and Gunatilleke, I. N. 2012. Testing the independent species arrangement assertion made by theories of stochastic geometry of biodiversity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 279:3312-3320. URL Full Text.

Van Breugel, M., Van Bruegel, P., Jansen, P. A., Martinez-Ramos, M., and Bongers, F. 2012. The relative importance of above- versus belowground competition for tree growth during early succession of a tropical moist. Plant Ecology, 213:25-34. URL Full Text.

Over hunting means big problems for tropical forests

CTFS-SIGEO scientists have been researching changes in Lambir Hills National Park, and the impacts intensive hunting is having on the forest. The research, which has been ongoing since the early 1990’s, has found hunting to be a leading cause of change in this diverse tropical forest. In South America, up to 90% of tree species depend on animals to disperse their seeds. Lambir Hills National Park was once a thriving home to an array of birds, gibbons, flying foxes, and other animals, but a surge in hunting has left the park with very few large, seed-dispersing animals in the past decade. The forest is now suffering from sapling overcrowding and the loss of diversity, which could be the beginning of drastic changes in this high conservation value forest.

An article about CTFS-SIGEO research was featured in Science Magazine.  Read it here http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/03/hunting-leads-to-rapid-change-in.html

 

'Zofin' is the newest plot to the CTFS-SIGEO network

Zofınsky´ Prales National Nature Reserve (referred to as `Zofin’) is a 25ha plot set within a 75 ha research area that has been intensively studied since the early 1970's.  The plot has been under strict protection since 1838. 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.

The addition of the Zofin Forest Dynamics plot increases the grand tally to 48 plots for the Center for Tropical Forest Science – Smithsonian Institution Global Earth Observatory (CTFS-SIGEO). Zofin is the first plot in Continental Europe, and its addition, along with the collaboration of plot PI, Tomas Vrska, and his team of researchers enhances the worldwide presence of CTFS-SIGEO.

New Field Guide Highlights 120 Different Native Tree Species In Panama and the Neotropics

The Environment Leadership and Training Initiative published Field Guide for the Propagation of 120 Native Tree species from Panama and the Neotropics. This guide provides specific information on the seed collection, germination and propagation of 120 different tropical native tree species. Each species was selected for their ecological and socio-economic importance.

Throughout the Neotropics, high rates of deforestation result in the loss of a range of vital ecosystem services, while the region’s diverse climatic and biophysical site conditions make restoration complex and difficult. In Panama, for example, many of the country’s tropical forests have been heavily degraded, thereby limiting the ability of these ecosystems to naturally regenerate. While conservation and restoration efforts in Panama and elsewhere have increased in recent years, the technical information on reforestation has focused mainly on exotic timber species that tend to provide minimal ecosystem services. Furthermore, there is limited information about native tree species and their propagation requirements available, to be able to make well informed decisions about reforestation and restoration. This guide works to fill the gap in technical information, and also illustrates how to develop a tree nursery for the production of native tree seedlings.

To download a free copy of this guide, visit http://environment.yale.edu/elti/en/media/publications/

Project IBISCA-Panama monitors thousands of arthropods

Scientists in Panama, led by Yves Basset, SIGEO-CTFS Arthropod Program Coordinator, have spent nearly 10 years studying the diversity of arthropods in a tropical forest (San Lorenzo forest). The study, called Project IBISCA-Panama, brought together 102 researchers from 21 different countries. They combed the forest from the floor to the top of the canopy for all insects and plant species. They picked beetles out of dead wood, scaled trees to get leaves and insects off high branches, and flogged trees with insecticides to collect flying insects. In all, 130,000 arthropods were sampled, comprising more than 6,000 identified species. 

The findings of this study, which were recently published in Science, show arthropod species outnumbering mammal species by approximately 300 to 1. They similarly outnumber plants by 20 to 1. Scientists involved in the project say the reason for the extreme diversity of arthropods is their tiny size and limited resource requirements. Researchers also found that even for carnivorous arthropods, plant diversity was an indicator of arthropod species richness because plants provide the habitat structure and food resources on which these arthropods and their prey depend.

The Panamanian project was crucial for developing the ambitious SIGEO-CTFS program of arthropod monitoring in tropical rainforests (http://www.sigeo.si.edu/group/arthropod%20monitoring/).

New CTFS-SIGEO Program Assistant, Delaney Rakosnik

We are pleased to announce that Delaney Rakosnik has joined the Smithsonian Institution Global Earth Observatory-Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS-SIGEO) as Program Assistant for the network. Delaney joins SIGEO-CTFS after working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service as an administrative assistant in Portland, Oregon. Before joining the USFWS, Delaney served in the US Air Force for 9 years, where she deployed to Kirkuk, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Delaney is currently attending school full time, pursuing a degree in public administration. Delaney enjoys live theater, and is an avid fan of the NFL. She will be based at the SIGEO-CTFS headquarters at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

The Story of Asia’s Elephants, by CTFS-SIGEO Researcher Raman Sukumar

In his new book The Story of Asia’s Elephants, Raman Sukumar examines the important relationship between the elephant and man in Asia.  Although the fields of art history, literary scholarship, and archaeology have documented the relationship, until now there has been no comprehensive account of this rich story.  The book examines elephant-human interaction in Asia from prehistory, Vedic literature, the Mauryan empire, the Buddhist and Jain world, to the elephant under Hindu rulers, the Islamic world, Colonial and independent Asia.  The final chapter discusses the elephant’s ecology and behavior, and conservation issues. The book contains 250 color images of the Asian elephant in nature and in the arts.

Raman Sukumar is Professor and Chairman of the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.  A leading expert on the Asian elephant, he has written several books on its ecology and conservation.  He also works on climate change and tropical forest ecology, and is PI of the CTFS Mudumalai plot in India.

The book is published by The Marg Foundation (2012), ISBN: 9789380581101.