Evaluation of tropical forests sensitivity to past climate changes (FORSENS)
Lead Research Organisation:
The Open University
Department Name: Environment, Earth & Ecosystems
Abstract
Forests are often described as the 'lungs of the Earth' because of the critical role they play within the planet's natural systems. However, concern for global forest ecosystems has been growing over recent decades because of the uncertainty related to how they will respond to the anticipated changes in climate. Tropical forests are critical to the functioning of planet Earth in terms of biodiversity, resource management and carbon storage. The complexity of tropical ecosystems means that their likely response to predicted future climate change is highly uncertain. The FORSENS project is aimed to improve the understanding of tropical forest dynamics. The research project is based on a comparison of forests dynamics through time (Last Glacial Maximum [c. 21,500 years ago] to the present) across an elevation and latitudinal gradient. The FORSENS project will examine biological remains contained within sediments cores from lakes to reconstruct past environmental change.
The FORSENS project will develop two entirely new records of past environmental change (one from the Andean highlands and one from lower elevation on the eastern Andean flank) within the equatorial tropics. The two new sites are: 1) Lake Baños (Ecuador, 00o19.320'N-78o9.184'W, 3816 m asl) and, 2) A new record to be collected from W Amazonia lowlands (Colombia, Ecuador). In addition, two published records of past environmental change from the southern hemisphere tropics will be enhanced to create a network of four comparable sites across which past environmental changes can be assessed. The two enhanced sites are: 1) Lake Khomer Kotcha (Bolivia, 17o16.154'S-65o43.945'W, 4153 m asl[1] and, 2) Lake Consuelo (Peru, 13o57'S-68o59'W, 1360 m asl [2]).
The examination of multiple proxies will allow different drivers of environmental change to be revealed. Key techniques applied will be fossil pollen (vegetation change), charcoal (fire history), non-biting midges (temperature and/or water quality), non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP; human impact) and biomarkers (plant community change). In addition, the non-biological composition will also be considered to provide insight into the depositional environment (loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility, colour). Key indicators for human (crop pollen, charcoal or dung fungus) or climate (non-biting midges) drivers of change will be examined at each study site.
The knowledge of past interactions between climate-vegetation-human will provide new insight into how future global climatic change could affect to tropical forests. To allow a comparable data set to be generated from all the records specific time intervals of known past climate change will be targeted: 1) the last deglaciation (21,500-11,700 years ago) and, 2) the Holocene Dry event (8,000-4,000 years ago). These time intervals have been characterised by the occurrence of rapid climatic shifts (e.g., an average warming around 4oC/century during the end of deglaciation) equivalent to those proposed for the near future. The analyses of the different biological proxies will allow possible future vegetation responses to predicted climatic changes to be anticipated.
The research will be carried out by Dr Montoya assisted by expertise and facilities within the Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research (CEPSAR) at The Open University (OU). Specifically the project will be hosted within the Palaeoenvironmental Change Research Laboratory (PCR) lead by Dr Gosling. Montoya will bring new skills related to NPP to The OU and will undertake training in the areas of non-biting midges and biomarkers. The FORSENS project will bring together the two currently unconnected professional networks of Montoya and Gosling to create a truly global network of specialists
References
1 Williams, JJ et al. 2011. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2011.10.001
2 Bush, MB et al. 2004. Science 303, 827-829.
The FORSENS project will develop two entirely new records of past environmental change (one from the Andean highlands and one from lower elevation on the eastern Andean flank) within the equatorial tropics. The two new sites are: 1) Lake Baños (Ecuador, 00o19.320'N-78o9.184'W, 3816 m asl) and, 2) A new record to be collected from W Amazonia lowlands (Colombia, Ecuador). In addition, two published records of past environmental change from the southern hemisphere tropics will be enhanced to create a network of four comparable sites across which past environmental changes can be assessed. The two enhanced sites are: 1) Lake Khomer Kotcha (Bolivia, 17o16.154'S-65o43.945'W, 4153 m asl[1] and, 2) Lake Consuelo (Peru, 13o57'S-68o59'W, 1360 m asl [2]).
The examination of multiple proxies will allow different drivers of environmental change to be revealed. Key techniques applied will be fossil pollen (vegetation change), charcoal (fire history), non-biting midges (temperature and/or water quality), non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP; human impact) and biomarkers (plant community change). In addition, the non-biological composition will also be considered to provide insight into the depositional environment (loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility, colour). Key indicators for human (crop pollen, charcoal or dung fungus) or climate (non-biting midges) drivers of change will be examined at each study site.
The knowledge of past interactions between climate-vegetation-human will provide new insight into how future global climatic change could affect to tropical forests. To allow a comparable data set to be generated from all the records specific time intervals of known past climate change will be targeted: 1) the last deglaciation (21,500-11,700 years ago) and, 2) the Holocene Dry event (8,000-4,000 years ago). These time intervals have been characterised by the occurrence of rapid climatic shifts (e.g., an average warming around 4oC/century during the end of deglaciation) equivalent to those proposed for the near future. The analyses of the different biological proxies will allow possible future vegetation responses to predicted climatic changes to be anticipated.
The research will be carried out by Dr Montoya assisted by expertise and facilities within the Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research (CEPSAR) at The Open University (OU). Specifically the project will be hosted within the Palaeoenvironmental Change Research Laboratory (PCR) lead by Dr Gosling. Montoya will bring new skills related to NPP to The OU and will undertake training in the areas of non-biting midges and biomarkers. The FORSENS project will bring together the two currently unconnected professional networks of Montoya and Gosling to create a truly global network of specialists
References
1 Williams, JJ et al. 2011. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2011.10.001
2 Bush, MB et al. 2004. Science 303, 827-829.
Planned Impact
Who will benefit?
The outputs from the FORSENS project will be of wide interest and benefit within and beyond the academic community, provide relevant information for policy makers and conservationists as well as hopefully engaging general public. The new insights into interactions between climate, forests and climate revealed by the FORSENS research has the potential to generate a narrative which could capture the imagination of the general public; following, for example "Dung loaming: how llamas aided the Inca empire" The Guardian (22 May 2011).
How will they benefit?
The insights which will be gained from the FORSENS project will be relevant to bodies, such as local government agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations, who are responsible for managing and conserving the economic and environmental resources at a landscape level, e.g. for ecotourism, timber extraction, food and house resources for indigenous cultures. In addition, the geographic scale at which the FORSENS project is operating means that findings will be relevant to understanding environmental change on an international scale, i.e. climate teleconnections and characterization of forest response to climate/human pressures.
What will be done to ensure they benefit?
Transferring core academic knowledge related to drivers of environmental change into policy and conservation at a national and/or international level is challenging.
- At a national scale the FORSENS partners already have contacts within research institutions based in the countries from which the cores will be recovered: (i) Universidad San Simon (Cochabamba, Bolivia), (ii) Instituto Geofisico (Quito, Ecuador), (iii) Universidad San Antonio (Cusco, Peru), and (iv) Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). Links to these organisations will provide a route to local organisations and agencies directly involved with management and conservation at a landscape scale, e.g. Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos. Summary findings of key aspects of the FORSENS project will be published in regional journals in the Spanish language will ensure that outputs have an impact in the communities of the study region.
- At an international scale it is anticipated that the main engagement will be via peer-reviewed publications, presentations at international conferences and invited lectures at universities world-wide. Peer-reviewed publications will be registered on the Open University's open access institutional repository - Open Research Online (ORO) at http://oro.open.ac.uk. This facility, launched in 2006, enables free access to research outputs via common search engines. Project results will be presented at large international conferences such as AGU and EGU, and smaller national conferences.
The research will be used to engage the public with science in a number of ways, including schools outreach, involvement with science festivals and the preparation of articles for magazines and newspapers. The Science Faculty at The OU has a strong commitment to outreach and is a world leader in converting research into distance learning education material, e.g. free to access course material http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/. In addition, information will be disseminated less formally through podcasts and videos hosted by the publically accessible ItunesU, where The OU has a strong presence http://open.edu/itunes/. To facilitate all engagement with the press and general public, the Fellow (Montoya) will attend the NERC Communicating Science course.
The outputs from the FORSENS project will be of wide interest and benefit within and beyond the academic community, provide relevant information for policy makers and conservationists as well as hopefully engaging general public. The new insights into interactions between climate, forests and climate revealed by the FORSENS research has the potential to generate a narrative which could capture the imagination of the general public; following, for example "Dung loaming: how llamas aided the Inca empire" The Guardian (22 May 2011).
How will they benefit?
The insights which will be gained from the FORSENS project will be relevant to bodies, such as local government agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations, who are responsible for managing and conserving the economic and environmental resources at a landscape level, e.g. for ecotourism, timber extraction, food and house resources for indigenous cultures. In addition, the geographic scale at which the FORSENS project is operating means that findings will be relevant to understanding environmental change on an international scale, i.e. climate teleconnections and characterization of forest response to climate/human pressures.
What will be done to ensure they benefit?
Transferring core academic knowledge related to drivers of environmental change into policy and conservation at a national and/or international level is challenging.
- At a national scale the FORSENS partners already have contacts within research institutions based in the countries from which the cores will be recovered: (i) Universidad San Simon (Cochabamba, Bolivia), (ii) Instituto Geofisico (Quito, Ecuador), (iii) Universidad San Antonio (Cusco, Peru), and (iv) Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). Links to these organisations will provide a route to local organisations and agencies directly involved with management and conservation at a landscape scale, e.g. Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos. Summary findings of key aspects of the FORSENS project will be published in regional journals in the Spanish language will ensure that outputs have an impact in the communities of the study region.
- At an international scale it is anticipated that the main engagement will be via peer-reviewed publications, presentations at international conferences and invited lectures at universities world-wide. Peer-reviewed publications will be registered on the Open University's open access institutional repository - Open Research Online (ORO) at http://oro.open.ac.uk. This facility, launched in 2006, enables free access to research outputs via common search engines. Project results will be presented at large international conferences such as AGU and EGU, and smaller national conferences.
The research will be used to engage the public with science in a number of ways, including schools outreach, involvement with science festivals and the preparation of articles for magazines and newspapers. The Science Faculty at The OU has a strong commitment to outreach and is a world leader in converting research into distance learning education material, e.g. free to access course material http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/. In addition, information will be disseminated less formally through podcasts and videos hosted by the publically accessible ItunesU, where The OU has a strong presence http://open.edu/itunes/. To facilitate all engagement with the press and general public, the Fellow (Montoya) will attend the NERC Communicating Science course.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Encarnacion Montoya Romo (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Flantua S
(2016)
Climate variability and human impact in South America during the last 2000 years: synthesis and perspectives from pollen records
in Climate of the Past
Keen H
(2014)
A statistical sub-sampling tool for extracting vegetation community and diversity information from pollen assemblage data
in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Loughlin N
(2018)
Landscape-scale drivers of glacial ecosystem change in the montane forests of the eastern Andean flank, Ecuador
in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Loughlin N
(2017)
Identifying environmental drivers of fungal non-pollen palynomorphs in the montane forest of the eastern Andean flank, Ecuador
in Quaternary Research
Loughlin N
(2022)
Incorporating a palaeo-perspective into Andean montane forest restoration
in Frontiers in Conservation Science
Loughlin NJD
(2018)
Ecological consequences of post-Columbian indigenous depopulation in the Andean-Amazonian corridor.
in Nature ecology & evolution
Matthews-Bird F
(2016)
Inferring late-Holocene climate in the Ecuadorian Andes using a chironomid-based temperature inference model
in Climate of the Past
Matthews-Bird F
(2017)
Aquatic community response to volcanic eruptions on the Ecuadorian Andean flank: evidence from the palaeoecological record.
in Journal of paleolimnology
| Description | Methodology: we have observed that one of the technique/proxy used (fossil chironomids) do not preserve in some of the sedimentary sequences, especially at mid elevation places, probably for some internal features of the lake (e.g., pH). Research: 1) Through the comparison of several locations, we have studied how different communities (including terrestrial and aquatics) have responded in the recent past (last millennia) to natural hazards such as volcanic activity, and how the forest can act as a natural barrier for preserving the water quality and therefore, the aquatic communities' characteristics. This is crucial as one of the lake studied is located within a National Park responsible for water supply to a population of around 2 million people (Quito and surroundings). 2) The discovery of one sedimentary sequence of about 50 thousands years old with huge changes in the sedimentation rate has highlighted: a) Severe climatic changes as the Last Glacial Maximum (in currently warm and wet locations) were not strong enough to allow a drastic vegetation replacement from forest to a more (open) savannah landscape; b) Pre-montane tropical forest of the location studied has showed different rates of sensitivity and dynamism during the last 50 thousand years, with maximum stability presented during full glacial conditions. This stability has been interpreted in terms of: (i) wide tolerance ranges to the climatic conditions, and (ii) the formation of low clouds due to the glacial conditions that acted as buffer of the climatic shitfs protecting the vegetation. c) Climatic events likely related to precipitation changes (Holocene Dry Event) probably influenced the vegetation of the location with an increase in open vegetation taxa and lianas and vines within the closed-canopy tropical forest, changing both the composition and the structure of the forest. d) During the last millennia, tropical forests of western northern South America are characterized by a high internal dynamism, with mayor taxa replacement within the forest structure taking place in around 200 years in average. Such dynamism has been related to the establishment of the curent ENSO frequency. e) Despite changes in composition and specific abundances of taxa, the forest has been characterised for novel assemblages through the last 50 thousand years, but always within a pre-montane tropical forest matrix, dominated (in the palynological asemblage) for Melastomataceae taxa. In this sense, it has been confirmed for the first time with a lacustrine sedimentary record, the presence of forests with a mix of high and mid elevation taxa without modern-analogous, contrary to the refugia hypothesis used in biogeography. |
| Exploitation Route | By other researchers: this new fossil pollen sequence of a mid elevation tropical lake will be invaluable for next research in order to understand internal dynamism of tropical forests and natural dynamics and baselines of tropical forests before and after human arrival to the continent. By managers and stakeholders: by preserving forest coverage, water quality chemical treatments could be reduced. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| Description | The starting of this project has provided new links between UK and local (Ecuadorian) organizations. The increase of the research network has been used to share techniques and results, and to develop new projects collaboratively. The preliminary results of the project have been used so far mainly for outreach and engagement purposes, with activities including congresses attendance and talks to different audience. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Education,Environment |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | NERC-funded Radiocarbon analysis |
| Amount | £3,840 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 1810.0414 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Department | NERC Radiocarbon Facility (Environment) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2014 |
| End | 03/2015 |
| Description | NERC-funded radiocarbon analysis |
| Amount | £3,840 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 1810.0415 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2015 |
| End | 05/2016 |
| Description | AGU Fall Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | One oral contribution, one poster contribution and one video contribution (winner of the media contest for PhD students) to the American Geophysical Union. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | BES Annual Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Two oral contributions to the annual meeting of the British Ecological Society. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Conference presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Oral presentation at the International Workshop on Phytoliths and Non-Pollen Palynomorphs |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Ecore3 preliminary workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | First contact of a very limited number of international researchers from different fields but interested in the concept of ecological resilience. The aim of the workshop was to establish a official network to move forward the concept, define measurements and develop quantitative research. Thanks to this first contact, the group is now official (recognised as a Past Global Change (PAGES) Working Group) and we are building a bigger, more inclusive network. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://pastglobalchanges.org/ini/wg/ecore3/intro |
| Description | European Conference of Tropical Ecology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An invited oral contribution at the annual conference of tropical ecologists where the audience attended to oral and poster communications that helped to establish better networks. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | International Biogeography Symposium (Miami) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Stimulate the use of palaeo-data for understanding plant communities' trends N/A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Inveited lecture at the Botanic Insitute of Barcelona (Spain) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk entitled: My quest for Ice-Age Equator 40 years after Paul Colinvaux's Amazon expeditions: Long-term dynamics of a mega-diverse ecosystem in central Ecuador. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.ibb.bcn-csic.es/seminari-paul-colinvauxs-amazon-expeditions/ |
| Description | Invited lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I was invited as plenary speaker to a workshop held at one of the local (Ecuadorian) collaborators established thanks to the project, the Universidad Tecnológica Equinoccial (UTE). The workshop wa called "Climatic Change and Health" and the lecture was aimed to show the past climatic changes occurred in High Amazonia thanks to the results obtained and the risk that further climatic changes can cause to the human life style based on changes in the ecosystem services currently under use. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited lecture at University of Exeter |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Lecture entitled: Tropical forests sensitivity to past events. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Invited lecturer |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to give a lecturer at the Institute of PLant Sciences in Bern, Switzerland, being the main audience other reserachers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited lecturer |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to give a lecture at the Northumbria University. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Magacine article |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | N/A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Network workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a first contact made mainly between palaeoecologists, but also including some ecologists and planners to improve how palaeoecology could contribute to current ecological issues by outlying the most 50 pressing questions of palaeoecology, which has been published as a scientific article. Main outputs from this first workshop have been published as a scientific article and next meetings are planned in bigger conferences. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Network workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | First contact between researchers to discuss how palaeoclimate research can better inform modellers and planners such as IPCC staff. N/A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Newspaper interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview about my career in international academia |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Non-pollen palynomorphs workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Small community of experts in using non-pollen palynomorphs (proxy in palaeoecology and archaeology) meet every two years for sharing the last news and think in ways to improve this sub-discipline. N/A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Open Research Meeting - FORSENS project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | As part of the NERC postdoctoral fellowship (Impact activities proposed), an open research project meeting was carried out at the end of the project to share the main findings with different audiences, mainly: - Scientific collaborators of the project - Local policy makers: We were pleased with the attendance of the director of the biological station were most of the work was developed (focused on local reforestation and activities to local schools and indigenous settlements), where I carry out some activities as a technical expert for conservation of the location - National policy makers: the director of the new National Institute of Biodiversity of Ecuador (organisation dependent of Ministry of Environment of Ecuador) Moreover, we merged the open meeting activity with a summer school developed by one of the main collaborator of the project, so the postgraduate students had the opportunity to learn the entire process of a project research, since the proposal submission until the publication of the results. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://ecologyofthepast.info/2015/09/09/xpert-summer-school-2015-day-5/ |
| Description | Quaternary Research Assotiation workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The research group made a poster about the challenges of palaeoecology N/A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Radio interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview in a local radio highlighting the importance of research and mentioning the steps needed for achieving an international science career. N/A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Roll up and pamphlet for biological station |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Several informative documents including a roll up and pamphlets related to palaeoecology in the local area are now available for visitors in the biological station. A national radio asked for an interview. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | School visit (Ecuador) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Around 20-30 scholars came to the biological station to see research in the field (the talk was given from a platform in the middle of a lake), and a talk was given focused on the importance of ecotourism for preserving tropical forests (the scholars that attended the talk had previously manifested their intention in studying tourism after the school). More schools have asked for this activity after we did it. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Science Week |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Science week is an annual event. During a week, several local shools come to the institute to see what kind of research we can perform in Earth Sciences. Each day the staff give a mixt of guided visits by the labs, perform experiments with the schoolars and give lectures of different related topics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Science Week |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Science week is an annual event. During a week, several local shools come to the institute to see what kind of research we can perform in Earth Sciences. Each day the staff give a mixt of guided visits by the labs, perform experiments with the schoolars and give lectures of different related topics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Science is not a gender matter - International day of women and girsl in Science |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | A series of micro-talks from female researchers from science degrees explaining their daily work or experiences, followed by a round table discussion with the audience in which several official graphs about gender issues in research were shown. Besides the physical audience, the activity was broadcast in streaming through YouTube and followed by more than 50 people during the live event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CHzG63EkjA |
| Description | Science matters 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Invited public lecture for scholars and other non-specialist audience that was also broadcast online |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://stadium.open.ac.uk/stadia/preview.php?s=1&whichevent=2478 |
| Description | Talk at University of Edinburgh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Around 10 master and PhD students attended the talk aimed to increase their view and knowledge about tropical forests dynamism. The talk was followed by students' questions. N/A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Talk at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Ecuador |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Around 20 undergraduate, master and PhD students attended the talk that was focused on showing the results and importance of the research developed by palaeoecology, discipline that is not being taught in Ecuador so far. Increase in number of master and PhD students actively interested in palaeoecology |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Talk at the Universidad Tecnologica Equinoccial |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Around 100 scholars or more attended the talk focused in tropical palaeoecology and why this research can be useful for everyone, stimulating the interest for science careers. This talk was filmed and showed in an Ecuadorian TV channelm reaching to people that was unable to attend. Few students asked for information about science degres after the talk. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Talk at the University of Barcelona |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk for master and PhD students showing the utility of multi-proxy approach for research. N/A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Talk for local workers and indigenous people |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A talk was made for local indigenous settlements and workers of a biological station to share knowledge about their local forest dynamics, the uniqueness of the place where they live and how palaeoecology and research in general can provide information about this. Several local schools asked after the talk for further events like this. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Technical report to local agencies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I wrote a technical report of the natural conditions state of a given community (a small lake and surrounding forest) located within a biological station, but with no current biologist staff contracted. The aim of the technical report was to analyze the quality of the place and recommend further actions to: i) preserve the community, and ii) stimulate the visit of schools and researchers. After the report, my recommendations have been followed so far. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | XIV IPC/ X IOPC Congress |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An oral and poster presentations at the XIV International Palynological Conference / X International Organisation of Paleobotany Conference. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | XIX INQUA Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Two oral contributions to the XIX conference of the Internation Union for Quaternary Science. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |