Dry forest biomes in Brazil: biodiversity and ecosystem services
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Department Name: Tropical Biology
Abstract
This proposal aims to meet the urgent need to extend monitoring of biodiversity, carbon stock, carbon balance, tree growth, and tree mortality in Latin America beyond rain forests and into dry biomes.
Most concerns about biodiversity and ecosystem function in the tropics focus on rain forests, but this neglects the fact that 50% of the lowland tropics globally is climatically seasonal, with a natural vegetation of dry forest or savanna. In South America in particular, the rain forests of Amazonia monopolise research and conservation, but dry forests and woody savannas can house equal numbers of plant species, many of which are endemic. We need to understand far better how these dry biomes contribute to global biogeochemical cycles and how their unique species react to environmental changes. In particular, little is known about how dry forests will respond to climate change.
Initiatives such as RAINFOR have been highly successful in connecting a large network of scientists who have established permanent inventory plots in Neotropical rain forests. Collectively, hundreds of plots distributed across Amazonia have been central to describing patterns of biodiversity across the basin, and how the forest participates in global biogeochemical cycles. No corresponding network connecting a large number of plots over broad geographic scales exists in Brazil or more widely in the Neotropics for dry biomes. This project aims to start a process of connecting researchers who have established dozens of inventory plots in these biomes.
We propose to:
1. Re-census, using methodologies agreed by the RAINFOR network, 10 permanent 0.2Ha plots in tropical dry forest in Rio de Janeiro state for carbon stock, above ground biomass (C) gain, tree growth, tree mortality, and biodiversity.
2. Contribute data for five existing 1 Ha plots in dry forests and neighbouring forest biomes in Rio de Janeiro state and c. 100 dry forest plots from elsewhere in Brazil to the ForestPlots.net database, thereby making it available to the global research community. We will prioritise dry forests, but we also have plot-based data from the Mata Atlântica rain forests (not covered by RAINFOR), and from the tree-savanna biome of the cerrado in Central Brazil, and we hope additionally to start a process of adding this information to ForestPlots.net.
3. Convene a workshop to bring together key workers from RJ and across Brazil who have established inventory plots in dry biomes to encourage them to join a new network that can take forward dry forest monitoring at a continental scale. This workshop will be held in the Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense (UENF), Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil. This workshop will be preceded by a two day training course in phylogenetics and phylogenetic diversity delivered by Dexter and Pennington at the Escola de Botânica in Rio, and will be followed a course for the same student pool on ecological niche modelling taught by Antje Ahrends (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh). In addition, training will be provided to Brazilian co-Is in the UK to build capacity to make some simple growth, leaf area and respiration measurements, led by Meir and Grace, with plot curation and analysis training using the ForestPlots.net facility, led by Gabriela Lopez in Leeds.
4. Compare phylogenetic diversity between dry forests and neighbouring rain forests in RJ to determine if these dry forests house unique lineage diversity, thereby adding a further argument for their conservation (7). Additionally, we will examine the impact of landscape history and fragmentation on phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic community structure in these dry forests.
5. We will develop a database of key functional traits, environmental parameters and principal carbon stocks and fluxes, and of the structure, floristics and phylogeny of Atlantic tropical semi-deciduous seasonal forest.
Most concerns about biodiversity and ecosystem function in the tropics focus on rain forests, but this neglects the fact that 50% of the lowland tropics globally is climatically seasonal, with a natural vegetation of dry forest or savanna. In South America in particular, the rain forests of Amazonia monopolise research and conservation, but dry forests and woody savannas can house equal numbers of plant species, many of which are endemic. We need to understand far better how these dry biomes contribute to global biogeochemical cycles and how their unique species react to environmental changes. In particular, little is known about how dry forests will respond to climate change.
Initiatives such as RAINFOR have been highly successful in connecting a large network of scientists who have established permanent inventory plots in Neotropical rain forests. Collectively, hundreds of plots distributed across Amazonia have been central to describing patterns of biodiversity across the basin, and how the forest participates in global biogeochemical cycles. No corresponding network connecting a large number of plots over broad geographic scales exists in Brazil or more widely in the Neotropics for dry biomes. This project aims to start a process of connecting researchers who have established dozens of inventory plots in these biomes.
We propose to:
1. Re-census, using methodologies agreed by the RAINFOR network, 10 permanent 0.2Ha plots in tropical dry forest in Rio de Janeiro state for carbon stock, above ground biomass (C) gain, tree growth, tree mortality, and biodiversity.
2. Contribute data for five existing 1 Ha plots in dry forests and neighbouring forest biomes in Rio de Janeiro state and c. 100 dry forest plots from elsewhere in Brazil to the ForestPlots.net database, thereby making it available to the global research community. We will prioritise dry forests, but we also have plot-based data from the Mata Atlântica rain forests (not covered by RAINFOR), and from the tree-savanna biome of the cerrado in Central Brazil, and we hope additionally to start a process of adding this information to ForestPlots.net.
3. Convene a workshop to bring together key workers from RJ and across Brazil who have established inventory plots in dry biomes to encourage them to join a new network that can take forward dry forest monitoring at a continental scale. This workshop will be held in the Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense (UENF), Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil. This workshop will be preceded by a two day training course in phylogenetics and phylogenetic diversity delivered by Dexter and Pennington at the Escola de Botânica in Rio, and will be followed a course for the same student pool on ecological niche modelling taught by Antje Ahrends (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh). In addition, training will be provided to Brazilian co-Is in the UK to build capacity to make some simple growth, leaf area and respiration measurements, led by Meir and Grace, with plot curation and analysis training using the ForestPlots.net facility, led by Gabriela Lopez in Leeds.
4. Compare phylogenetic diversity between dry forests and neighbouring rain forests in RJ to determine if these dry forests house unique lineage diversity, thereby adding a further argument for their conservation (7). Additionally, we will examine the impact of landscape history and fragmentation on phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic community structure in these dry forests.
5. We will develop a database of key functional traits, environmental parameters and principal carbon stocks and fluxes, and of the structure, floristics and phylogeny of Atlantic tropical semi-deciduous seasonal forest.
Planned Impact
Brazil has an obligation to monitor its biodiversity and carbon stocks in response to the Convention on Biological Diversity, but most work in this area has been focused on the rain forests of Amazonia. This project provides substantial research capacity building in Brazil to enable the long-term monitoring of the dry biomes that cover much of the country, including the participation of local rural people in collection of biodiversity and carbon dynamics data. Dry biomes, especially tropical dry forest, the specific focus of this proposal, are far more impacted by human activity than the Amazon rain forest, and their conservation is urgent. The work proposed here will develop whole-system knowledge for dry forests to inform responsible management of this unique environment, thereby addressing directly the Newton fund highlight area of Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Resilience.
Organisations
- Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (Lead Research Organisation)
- Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro (Collaboration)
- State University of Northern Rio de Janeiro (Collaboration)
- State University of Norte Fluminense (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (Project Partner)
Publications
Dexter K
(2015)
Floristics and biogeography of vegetation in seasonally dry tropical regions
in International Forestry Review
Sunderland T
(2015)
Global dry forests: a prologue
in International Forestry Review
Griffith DM
(2017)
Comment on "The extent of forest in dryland biomes".
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Baker TR
(2017)
Maximising Synergy among Tropical Plant Systematists, Ecologists, and Evolutionary Biologists.
in Trends in ecology & evolution
Cardoso D
(2017)
Amazon plant diversity revealed by a taxonomically verified species list.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Iguatemy, M.A
(2017)
An annotated checklist of atlantic rainforest trees in Southeastern Brasil, Tinguá Biological Reserve, Rio de Janeiro.
in Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas
Silva De Miranda P
(2018)
Using tree species inventories to map biomes and assess their climatic overlaps in lowland tropical South America
in Global Ecology and Biogeography
Mattos C
(2018)
Flora das cangas da serra dos Carajás, Pará, Brasil: Leguminosae
in Rodriguésia
Pennington RT
(2018)
Tropical savannas and dry forests.
in Current biology : CB
| Description | The principal aim of this project was to develop a network that will monitor the neglected tropical dry forest of Brazil. The project has met this aim via convening two workshops held in Rio de Janeiro state (Campos de Goitacazes, 2016 and Rio de Janeiro, 2017) that collectively brought together more than 60 researchers, many of whom are now collaborating in diverse ways including: 1. Adding floristic data, including species abundances, for more than 150 inventories, to the DRYFLOR website; 2. Uploading census data including tree growth and mortality to the ForestPlots.net platform; 3. Co-authorship on a paper exploring how species composition varies across geographic space (floristic turnover); 4. Participating in new projects studying the ecology of tropical dry forests in Brazil. The project has met its original project goals 1. Re-census 10 dry forest plots in RJ for carbon stock, tree growth, tree mortality, and species composition following methodologies agreed by established tropical forest networks to ensure data compatibility. We have uploaded data for 21 plots from Rio de Janeiro State to ForestPlots.net, including 14 single census plots and 7 multiple census plots. 2. Ensure that an additional 100 plots from dry forests in RJ and elsewhere in Brazil are shared amongst all partners using a common platform. We have uploaded floristic information from 152 plots owned by Brazilian collaborators to the DRYFLOR database. In addition, via the project, we have uploaded data from an additional 150 plots available in the published literature. 3. Explore whether dry forests house unique evolutionary diversity by comparing evolutionary lineage diversity of dry forests and neighbouring rain forests and investigate the relationship between phylogenetic diversity, species diversity and the ability of dry forest to store carbon and provide other ecosystem services Marcelo Nascimento is working on a paper arising from data gathered in the project. This shows that dry forests in Rio de Janeiro State have less phylogenetic diversity than expected given their species richness. We also find that dry forests show phylogenetic clustering (are comprised of closely related species), while rain forests show phylogenetic overdispersion (comprising more distantly related species). The platform for long-term monitoring of carbon and other functional traits provided by this project will allow future studies, led by Dora Villela and Marcelo Nascimento, of relationships between phylogenetic diversity and ecosystem function. 4. Convene a workshop to bring together Brazilian researchers with inventory plots in dry biomes to develop a new network to take forward monitoring at a continental scale. We have convened two workshops, one hosted by Universidade Estadual Norte Fluminense (Campos de Goitacazes; 2016) and one by Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro (2017). These have involved more than 60 researchers working in tropical dry forests (principally) and savannas across Brazil. Many of these workers have now uploaded plot data to the ForestPlots.net and DRYFLOR platforms, making this information globally available and bringing these researchers into global networks. |
| Exploitation Route | Floristic data held by DRYFLOR will be open access and census data on ForestPlots are available on request and therefore will be available to the global research community. In addition the NERC FAPESP Newton Fund grant (NE/N01247X/1),"Nordeste: new science for a neglected biome" builds directly on our project. This Newton grant (2016-2019) directly builds upon this smaller Newton grant by developing a network of 40 permanent monitoring plots across the caatinga dry forests of NE Brazil. We hope that this marks just the start of a wider effort to monitor dry biomes as part of international networks across Brazil. The results of our project in terms of both research outputs and research capacity are ODA relevant because Brazil has an obligation to monitor its ecosystems and the services that they deliver in response to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The project has provided research capacity building in Brazil to enable the long-term monitoring of the dry biomes that cover much of the country, which were previously neglected in comparison to Amazonia. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| Description | The economic and societal impact for this project in Brazil will arise over the long-term. Dry biomes, which were the focus of the work, are home to many more people in Brazil than rain forests, and are heavily impacted by human activity. Better undertanding of the ecosystem services that they deliver, and how these will change under future climates, is therefore urgent for Brazilian society. The work carried out in the project, and the scientific capacity it has built in Brazil forms a platform from which whole-system knowledge for dry forests and savannas can be developed to inform responsible management of this unique environment, thereby addressing directly the Newton fund highlight area of Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Resilience. |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic |
| Description | BioResilience: Biodiversity resilience and ecosystem services in post-conflict socio-ecological systems in Colombia |
| Amount | £1,117,675 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/R017980/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2018 |
| End | 07/2021 |
| Description | FAPESP - Restoring Neotropical dry ecosystems - is plant functional composition the key to success? |
| Amount | £669,278 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/S000011/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2019 |
| End | 12/2022 |
| Description | Newton Fund Regional Latin America Biodiversity Programme |
| Amount | £63,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | British Council |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2018 |
| End | 07/2018 |
| Description | Resolving the current and future carbon dynamics of the dry tropics |
| Amount | £128,847 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/T012471/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2020 |
| End | 10/2024 |
| Description | UK NERC - Brazil FAPESB Newton Fund |
| Amount | £2,000,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/N01247X/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2016 |
| End | 04/2019 |
| Title | Forest plot inventory data from seasonally dry and moist Atlantic forest in Rio de Janeiro State, 2015-2017 |
| Description | Data comprise plot location (latitude, longitude, elevation), taxonomic family and species names and measurements of trees (diameter, height, health). Presence of lianas (vines) and their measurements were also recorded. Funder: NERC - Brazil (CONFAP) Newton Fund: "Dry forest biomes in Brazil: biodiversity and ecosystem services" (NE/N000587/1) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Description | Taught course in species distribution modelling, Universidade Estadual Norte Fluminense |
| Organisation | State University of Northern Rio de Janeiro |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | 3 day course taught by Dr Danilo Neves (ex-NERC funded post doc, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh) and Dr Marcelo Bueno (spent one year training at RBGE during PhD), attended by MSc, PhD students plus researchers, most from the local university (UENF), plus from other insitutions in Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian States. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Provided all required facilities |
| Impact | Students and researchers using techniques taught in their research |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Taught course in use of ForestPlots database |
| Organisation | State University of Northern Rio de Janeiro |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez taught a one day course on entry of data to the ForestPlots database to 20 people |
| Collaborator Contribution | Provided all facilities |
| Impact | Participants are uploading data to the ForestPlots database |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Taught course, postgraduate school of Rio de Janiero Botanical Garden |
| Organisation | Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Taught course to postgraduate programme at Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, plus some students from elsewhere in Brazil given by Toby Pennington and Kyle Dexter. The course was three full days and covered phylogenetics (Pennington) and phylogenetic approaches to ecology (Dexter). it also included formally assessed assignments after the course. All teaching was done in Poruguese. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partners provided all teaching facilities and fully administered the course. |
| Impact | Students are using teachniques taught (e.g., community phylogenetics using R) in theor doctoral research |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Training of Brazilian colleagues in using ForestPlots database |
| Organisation | Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Training in use of ForestPlots databse at University of Leeds led by Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Brazilian partners are providing forest inventory plot data from the Mata Atlantica area |
| Impact | New datasets in ForestPlots |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Training of Brazilian colleagues in using ForestPlots database |
| Organisation | State University of Norte Fluminense |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Training in use of ForestPlots databse at University of Leeds led by Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Brazilian partners are providing forest inventory plot data from the Mata Atlantica area |
| Impact | New datasets in ForestPlots |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | 1. Conference, El estudio y conservación de los bosques secos de Latinoamérica, FESIztacala-UNAM, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Mexico. Opening plenary speaker: "Los trópicos secos: ciencia, conservación y restauración" ("The dry tropics: science, conservation and restoration") |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Plenary opening talk at an international online conference about tropical dry forests. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | 10th Biennial Conference of the Systematics Association, University of Oxford |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Plenary talk "Maximising synergy between systematics and ecology in the tropics via long-term monitoring plots", which was part of a symposium organised by co-PI Tim Baker. The symposium stimulated animated audience discussion and will result in an opinion article to be submitted to Trends in Ecology and Evolution |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | 2. Conference, 50 years of research in the Chamela biological station Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Plenary speaker: "The dry tropics: plant diversity, biogeography and conservation". |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Plenary talk in a conference celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Chamela Biological Station (the world's leading tropical dry forest research station) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | http://www.ibiologia.unam.mx/chamela50.html |
| Description | Beyond the Amazon: Biodiversity and Conservation of Dry Biomes, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil |
| 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 two day symposium covering the plant diversity, biogeography and conservation of dry biomes in Latin America. It was organised by PI Toby Pennington, and talks were given by him, PDRA Danilo Neves, co-I Kyle Dexter and Brazilian project collaborators Luciano Queiroz and Ary Oliveira Filho The conference attracted 116 delegates, mostly from Brazil but also from right across Latin America |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.dryflor.info/page/Symposium |
| Description | Brazilian National Botanical Congress: Symposium on Dry forests in Brazil, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services |
| 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 | Symposium with 8 speakers. Details here (Portuguese): SIMPÓSIO: Florestas Estacionais no Brasil: biodiversidade e serviços ecossistêmicos Data: 30/09/2016 (08:00-12:00 e 14:00-16:00 hs) Local: Vitória, ES Participantes: Marcelo Trindade Nascimento¹, Angela P. Vitoria¹, Danilo Neves2, Dora Maria Villela¹, Eduardo A. de Mattos³, Haroldo C. Lima4, Lidiany C. Carvalho 5, Luiz Eduardo Aragão6 1 Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais, Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia, UENF, mtn@uenf.br ²Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, danilormn@gmail.com, ³ Departamento de Ecologia UFRJ, 4 Instituto de Pesquisa Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, 5 PRONAT, UFRR, 6 Divisão de Sensoriamento Remoto, INPE. Programação: Duração das palestras - 30 minutos; discussão de 5 minutos no final de cada apresentação e discussão geral de 30 minutos pela manhã e pela tarde. Manhã (08 - 12 hs) Danilo Neves: Áreas (potencialmente) prioritárias para a conservação de florestas negligenciadas na América do Sul. Conteúdo: Breve introdução sobre as florestas estacionalmente secas (FES) como bioma negligenciado nas estratégias de conservação, principais condicionantes, principais fontes de informação e (potenciais) prioridades de conservação. Haroldo C. Lima: Dados florísticos de matas secas- suporte taxonômico e manejo de coleções científicas. Conteúdo: Breve introdução sobre as florestas estacionalmente secas (FES) no domínio da Mata Atlântica, o estado da arte no conhecimento da diversidade plantas na Mata Atlântica, os avanços nos trabalhos de cooperação em redes de investigação, a cooperação dos taxonomistas e os desafios para qualificação taxonômica dos dados e ferramentas de apoio a revisão e manutenção de bases de dados. Marcelo Trindade Nascimento: A floresta estacional no Estado do Rio de Janeiro: padrões geográficos, estrutura florística e filogenética da comunidade. Conteúdo: Breve caracterização florística das FES do Rio de Janeiro com uma abordagem comparativa com as florestas ombrófilas, descrição dos padrões florísticos e estrutura filogenética das comunidades, subsídios à conservação e restauração das FES do RJ. Lidiany C. Carvalho: Ecologia e Estrutura Filogenética de Florestas Estacionais do Norte da Amazônia. Conteúdo: Breve introdução sobre as florestas estacionais do Norte da Amazônia, variações espaciais e temporais, estrutura filogenética e avanços no entendimento do efeito dos filtros ambientais sobre essas florestas. Luiz Eduardo Aragão: O destino das florestas tropicais no Antropoceno: o caso das Florestas Estacionais. Conteúdo: Contextualizar os principais fatores antrópicos e climáticos que afetam a estabilidade e o funcionamento das florestas tropicais e discutir como essas mudanças ambientais podem influenciar a distribuição espacial das florestas estacionais. Tarde (14 - 16 hs) Dora Maria Villela: Alterações na biomassa e estoque de carbono em florestas estacionais: impactos da seca e de distúrbios. Conteúdo: O impacto antrópico intensifica a ação do clima na Mata Atlântica? Utilizando-se análises em múltiplas escalas serão discutidas as alterações na biomassa acima do solo em fragmentos de mata atlântica do sudeste brasileiro, com enfoque nos fatores relacionados ao tipo florestal, seca e distúrbios (fragmentação e corte). Angela Pierre Vitória: Clima, solo, fenologia e filogenia. O que controla a composição isotópica em florestas tropicais? Conteúdo: Apresentação de resultados visando dar suporte a discussão sobre alguns fatores bióticos e abióticos que poderiam interferir na composição isotópica de C e N em florestas tropicais na BA e RJ. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | DRYFLOR network meeting, Piura, Peru |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Toby Pennington and Peter Moonlight participated in an invited workshop by the DRYFLOR network in Piura, Peru. Topics discussed included finalising the publication of the forest monitoring protocol developed by the NordEste project as a paper, in collaboration with the DRYFLOR and RainFor networks. This paper was recently submitted and includes >10 NordEste authors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | DRYFLOR network meeting, Quito, Ecuador |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Toby Pennington and Peter Moonlight participated in an invited workshop by the DRYFLOR network in Quito, Ecuador. Topics discussed included the publication of the forest monitoring protocol developed by the NordEste project as a paper, in collaboration with the DRYFLOR and RainFor networks. This paper was recently submitted and includes >10 NordEste authors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited academic seminar, Universidad del Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid "Tropical Plant Diversity, Biogeography and Conservation: a Multi Biome Approach" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited academic talk. Discussion afterwards may lead to new academic collaboration |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Invited conference talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited talk at International Congress for Conservation Biology, Cartagena, Colombia: "Plant diversity, biogeography and conservation of neotropical seasonally dry forests" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Invited conference talk, European Conference of Tropical Ecology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited talk by Dora Villela, in symposium "(re)connecting tropical biodiversity in space and time" entitled "Do tree species from Seasonally Dry Forest differ in their sensitivity to drought and logging, how does this impact on biomass and demography?." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Invited conference talk, International Conference of the French Society of Ecology and Evolution |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dora Villela was invited to give a presentation "Influence of fragmentation and climate on biomass dynamics of seasonally dry tropical Atlantic forests in Brazil". She received several questions and requests for further information and collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited conference talk, International Conference of the French Society of Ecology and Evolution |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Marcelo Nascimento was invited to give a talk, "Environment not phylogeny drives herbivory and leaf attributes in trees from two contrasting forest formations of the Brazilian Atlantic Coastal forest". The talk generated debate and new research contacts |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited lecture, University of Exeter Global Challenges Symposium, "Addressing global challenges from the University of Exeter" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture by Toby Pennington that shared experiences of best practice around global challenges related research. Broad themes related to building partnerships across different geographies and sectors, coupled with personal reflections on the GCRF agenda and what it has meant for your research (e.g., promoting interdisciplinarity and engagement with the humanities and social sciences). This stimulated diverse questions, especially around building sustainable partnerships and what constitutes effective capacity building in the global south. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Invited opening seminar, V Simpósio de Ecologia e Sustentabilidade [5th symposium of ecology and sustainability], Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros: "Os trópicos secos: ciência, conservação e restauração" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Online seminar followed by "round table" Q&A for an hour, all in Portuguese. The aim was to raise awareness of the importance of science and conservation in the dry biomes of the tropics and the challenges of restoring them. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Invited plenary address, Sympsoium "Los bosques secos latinoamericanos: entenderlos para conservarlos" (Latin American dry forests - understanding for conservation", University of Piura, Peru |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk by Toby Pennington, "Los trópicos secos: ciencia, conservación y restauración" (The dry tropics, conservation and restoration) to a mostly Peruvian audience, but also international participants. The goal was to increase awareness of the importance of conservation and restoration in the dry tropics. Questions focused on the viability of restoration. There was a subsequent interview based on the presentation (see url) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://udep.edu.pe/hoy/2019/las-personas-deben-conocer-los-bosques-secos-para-que-puedan-cuidarlos/ |
| Description | Invited plenary talk, Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (STDF ) in Northeastern Brazil symposium, Fortaleza, Brazil |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited plenary talk, "Seasonally dry biomes: a global and Latin American view". The goal was to raise awareness of the importance of dry biomes in the tropics for biodiversity and ecosystem services. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Invited presentation, Latin American Botanical Congress, Quito, Ecuador: "Greater spatial turnover in species composition in tropical dry forests than tropical savannas" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited presentation, allowing presentation of outcomes from three NERC funded grants. The major impact was increasing the size of the collaborative network that is now monitoring forests beyond Amazonia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited presentation, Plants, People, Planet Symposium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited presentation "The dry tropics: science, conservation and restoration". This generated considerable questions and discussions, especially around the validity of planting trees in the dry tropics as a means of C sequestration. The talk is available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYagysOIvT8 so can potentially reach a very borad audience |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYagysOIvT8 |
| Description | Invited presentation, University of St Andrews and Botnaical Society of Scotland: "The Forgotten Forests of Latin America" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public lecture that raised awareness of the threats to tropical dry forests and savannas and of how patterns of consumption in the UK are driving habitat destruction in Latin America |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://www.botanical-society-scotland.org.uk/node/469 |
| Description | Invited presentation, WWF UK, "Why is the cerrado amazing?" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Prof Toby Pennington was invited to speak to WWF UK at their headquarters in Woking. They are initiating a major campaign on conservation of the savannas of the Brazilian cerrado in 2019, and wish to link this to ongoing science in this biome. This was a great opportunity to develop plans to increase future impact of NERC funded research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited public event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interactive discussion about the environmental costs of soy cultivation in the tropics as part of the Power of Food Festival, Edinburgh: "The real price of food" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://poweroffoodfestival.wordpress.com/ |
| Description | Invited seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar, Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, "Maximising synergy between systematics and ecology in the tropics via long-term monitoring plots" (given in Portuguese) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Invited seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar by Marcelo Nascimento, II Workshop de Anatomia Vegetal e discussão Rede de Pesquisas PPBio do Norte/Noroeste Fluminense, "Avanços dos estudos da Rede PPBio no norte/noroeste fluminense" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Invited seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar, University of Exeter, "Tropical plant diversity: 19th- 21st century approaches to biogeography and conservation" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminat, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, "A diversidade florística, biogeografía filogenética e conservação das florestas estacionalmente secas neotropicais (SDTF)" (given in Portuguese) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Invited seminar [online], Círculo de Investigación de Bosques Secos del Perú [Society for Investigation of Peruvian Dry Forest], Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, "Los trópicos secos: ciencia, conservación y restauración" (The dry tropics, science, conservation and restoration) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Online seminar followed by hour long Q&A (all in Spanish). This focused on raising the profile of science and conservation in the dry tropics, and how we might restored degraded areas. The reach of the event was amazing - almost 300 attendees from across Latin America (mostly Peru and Andean countries) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Invited seminar, Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar by Dora Villela: "Programa de Ecologia e Recursos Naturais da UENF, RJ, Brasil: enfoque sobre as pesquisas em Biomassa e Ciclagem de nutrientes na Mata Atlântica". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Invited seminar, Forest Research, Edinburgh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar: "Seasonally dry tropical forests in Latin America: diversity, biogeography and conservation" The talk sparked questions and discussion |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Invited seminar, German Institute for Integrative Biodviersity Research iDiv (Leipzig): "Tropical dry forests and savannas: diversity, biogeography and conservation" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar that aimed to raise awareness of science, conservation and sustainable us of seasonally dry biomes in the tropics |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Invited seminar, Havard University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar by Kyle Dexter at Harvard University Herbaria, which raised awareness of our work in diverse biomes in Latin America |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited seminar, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: "Neotropical dry forests and savannas: diversity, biogeography and conservation" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited research seminar at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in which I was able to present outcomes from three NERC funded projects that have increased ecosystem monitoring and understanding of dry biomes in Latin America |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited seminar, Universidade Estadual de Rio de Janeiro |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar: "Plant diversity, biogeography and conservation of seasonally dry biomes in the Neotropics", given in Portuguese The talk stimulated questions and debate and was designed to increase awareness of the regional importance of local dry forest vegetation |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Invited seminar, University of Aarhus, Denmark |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar "The forgotten forests of Latin America" given to MSc students on a "management of tropical ecosystems" course. The talk stimulated several questions and some feedback from the class indicated that it had created better awareness of the importance of conserving dry biomes in the tropics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Invited seminar, University of Coimbra. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invvited seminar by Marcelo Nascimento, "A Mata Atlântica no Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: padrões geográficos, estrutura florística e filogenética." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Invited seminar, University of Edinburgh, "The ecological studies on floristics, forest structure and restoration of Atlantic Domain forests in Rio de Janeiro state" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Herick Vianna, a student who has used our inventory plots presented his undergraduate research work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Invited seminar, University of Montreal and Montreal Botanical Garden, "Tropical dry forests and savannas: diversity, biogeography and conservation" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited academic seminar |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Invited seminar, University of Oxford: "Tropical Plant Diversity and Conservation: a multibiome approach" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Research seminar, both in person and online with considerable discussion afterwards about importance of non-rain forest biomes |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.tropicalforests.ox.ac.uk/event/toby-pennington/ |
| Description | Invited seminar, University of Yale |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar by Kyle Dexter, which raised awaremess of our work across diverse biomes in Latin America |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited seminar, University of Zurich |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | invited seminar "Species-level phylogenetics of tropical plants: illuminating the evolutionary process and taxonomy" The talk resulted in questions and discussion |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Invited talk, VAluing biodiversity and developing ecosystem service delivery models in densely inhabited Latin American dry and montane forests workshop, Lima, Peru, July 2018 |
| 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 | Invited workshop talk, "Forest Plot networks in seasonally dry forests in Brazil". The aim of this Newton Funded workshop was to build a new collaborative network across Latin America to value biodviersity and ecosystem services in neglected ecosystems such as dry forests, the focus of our original grant. The main outcome in the long term will be a larger network that can deliver more ambitious projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Media intervew: Radio 5 Live and "In Short" podcast |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Media interview covering the potential problems in tree planting as a climate change solution, especially in dry biomes of the tropics |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/short/why-planting-trees-isnt-always-good-idea |
| Description | Oral presentation, European Conference of Tropical Ecology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Oral presentation by Dora Villela in symposium "Reconnecting tropical biodiversity in space and time", title: "Edge effects on the necromass and heterotrophic respiration stocks in seasonally dry Brazilian Atlantic forest fragments" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Public Lecure, Royal Geographical Society with IBG, University of Exeter, "The forgotten forests of Latin America" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited public talk by Toby Pennington that aimed to raise public awareness of the conservation importance and plight of tropical dry forests. Numerous questions afterwards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Second Workshop: Dry forest bioms in Brazil, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services |
| 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 | This second workshop for the grant was held at the National Botnay School of the Botanic Garden of Rio de Janeiro, 17 and 18 August 2017 The principal organisers were Haroldo C de Lima and Marcelo Trindade Nascimento The main objective was to consolidate the new network of researchers working in dry forests in Brazil and to discuss future projects (long, medium and short term), especially those that could be based on data deposited in the DRYFLOR database (http://www.dryflor.info/page/). Programme: 17/08 14:00 - 14:30 h - Opening 14:30-15:15 h - As Matas Secas Brasileiras: contextualização (Brazilian dry forests: context) - Dr. Haroldo C. de Lima 15:15 - 16:00 h - Estudo em grande escala geográfica sobre diversidade alpha/beta nas Matas Secas brasileiras (Large scale studies of alpha and beta diversity in Brazilian dry forests) - Dr. Marcelo Bueno 16:00 - 16:30 h - Interval 16:30 - 17:15 h - Patterns of dominance and beta diversity in the dry forests of Brazil and comparisons with other biomes - Dr. Toby Pennington (via Skype) 17:15 - 18:00 h - Discussion Dia 18/08 9:00 - 12:30 h - Oficina DRYFLOR- Padrões de Diversidade.DRYFLOR Uma base de dados para Matas Secas Neotropicais (Workshop on DRYFLOR - a database for neotropical dry forests) - Dr. Marcelo T. Nascimento, assisted by Bianca Reis, Igor Broggio, Mariana Faitanin e Julia Weintritt (via skype) 12:30 - 14:00 h - Lunch 14:00 - 15:30 h - Oficina DRYFLOR (cont.) - Dr. Marcelo T. Nascimento Monitores: Bianca Reis, Igor Broggio, Mariana Faitanin e Julia Weintritt (via skype) 16:00 - 16:30 h- Interval 16:30-18:00 h - Final discussion on DRYFLOR and future projects The workshop had 18 participants from different Brazilian Institutes, researchers working in permanent inventory plots. The workshop was very important for defining how to modify the DRYFLOR platform for the entry of abundance data (for example in defining what metadata should be associated with each plot). As a concrete output, all members of the workshop group have uploaded plot data to DRYFLOR that is the basis for a paper on floristic turnover in different major biomes in Brazil (rain forest, dry forest and savanna). - Grupo de trabalho para dar apoio à entrada de dados: Julia Weintritt, Igor Broggio e Mariana Faitanin) - Campos mínimos para cada área a ser incluída na plataforma DryFlor: no. total de indivíduos e área basal de cada espécie; - Data de finalização da entrada de dados: outubro/2017 - Foram incluídos na base de dados 152 novos sítios - Data de finalização da análise preliminar dos dados: dezembro/2017 - Responsável pela revisão da lista de espécies: Haroldo C de Lima - Responsáveis pela preparação do rascunho do manuscrito sobre diversidade beta: K. Dexter e T. Pennington Agradecimentos O workshop só foi possível devido ao suporte financeiro dos patrocinadores RCUK e FAPERJ, por meio do Programa Fundo Newton e com o apoio logístico da ENBT. A comissão de organização do workshop gostaria de agradecer a todos os participantes, palestrantes, professores e alunos pela presença e contribuição para a realização do evento, bem como pelo apoio para consolidar a proposta da criação da rede de pesquisas em matas secas, uma iniciativa organizada por RBGE, JBRJ e UENF. Agradecemos a Fernanda Negreiros, Igor Broggio, Mariana Faitanin e Fernanda Negreiros Almeida, pelo apoio na recepção dos participantes. Workshop participants: Ana Angélica Monteiro de Barros UERJ/São Gonçalo anaangbarros@gmail.com André Amorim UESC amorim.uesc@gmail.com Bianca Reis UENF biancareis_01@hotmail Davi Machado JBRJ/ENBT machado.davi@hotmail.com Fabrício Alvim Carvalho UFJF fabricioalvim@gmail.com Felipe Z. Saiter IFES felipezamborlini@yahoo.com.br Fernanda Felipe de Negreiros Almeida JBRJ/ENBT fernanada.negreiros@hotmail.com Haroldo C. de Lima JABOT hlima@jbrj.gov.br Igor Broggio UENF ifbbroggio@gmail.com Jacira Rabelo Lima UFRRJ jacirarabelo@gmail.com Marcelo Bueno UFMG buenotanica@gmail.com Marcelo T. Nascimento UENF mtn@uenf.br Mariana Faitanin UENF mfaitanin@gmail.com Pablo P. R. Rodrgues JABOT pablojfpr@hotmail.com Samir Rolim UFES-CEUNES sgrolim@gmail.com Solange de Vasconcelos A. Pessoa JBRJ spessoa@jbrj.gov.br Toby Pennington (via skype) RBGE tpennington@rbge.org.uk Tony de Oliveira UFPI tonycsoliveira@hotmail.com.br |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Seminar, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Seminar by Haroldo de Lima: "The coastal dry forests of Rio de Janeiro" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Seminer, University of Coimbra, Portugal |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk by Dora Villela: "Research of Biomass and Nutrient Cycling in the Mata Atlantica |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Talk to members of conservation of organisation in Rio de Janeiro (Asociaçao de Moradores de Alto Humaitá) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Supporters |
| Results and Impact | Talk by Haroldo de Lima about research required to conserve the Mata Atlantica forest in the city of Rio de Janeiro and how important this vegetation is for providing ecosystem services to the city |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Workshop: Dry forest biomes in Brazil: biodiversity and ecosystem services |
| 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 | SUMMARY REPORT Workshop Programa Fundo Newton RCUK/NERC-CONFAP/FAPERJ Matas Secas no Brasil: biodiversidade e serviços do ecossistema UENF, Campos dos Goytacazes, 14 a 16 de abril de 2016 SUMMARY The workshop was attend by 49 invited participants from Brazil and other countries, emphasising the impact of the event for the scientific community involved in projects in dry biomes in Brazil. The programme addressed the objective of developing a research network for dry forests in Brazil to integrate biodiversity data with studies of ecosystem services. The symposium comprised two highly productive days during which the participants participated in training and discussed cutting-edge research, knowledge gaps and new techniques and mechanisms for sharing data. The strategy of offering the participants training using the ForestPlots platform proved an efficient means of advancing discussions of how to share and analyse biodiversity data. A result of this is that a pathway to increase the number of plots in dry biome in Brazil is viable over short or medium timescales. The courses offered before and after the workshop were also well attended by post-graduate students working on projects involving data management in ecology and biogeography. DISCUSSIONS AND DIRECTIONS OF THE MAIN MEETING As a strategy to facilitate discussions and to define pathways to organise a network for monitoring dry biomes, working groups were formed to address four research questions: 1. Does dry forest have different patterns of diversity (alpha/beta) and dominance to other biomes? 2. How does dry forest change in biomass and structure along environmental gradients? 3. How does the phylogenetic diversity of dry forest compare to other biomes? 4. What are the functional traits of dry forest species? Below are summaries of discussions and decisions reached by each working group Group 1: Patterns of diversity (alpha/beta) and dominance Participants: Toby Pennington (moderator) Haroldo C. de Lima (moderator) Ana Angélica Monteiro de Barros Davi Machado Fabrício Carvalho Elizabeth Córdula Fernanda Negreiros Karla Maria Pedra de Abreu Lucas Castro Vieira Luis Fernando Tavares de Menezes Marco Aurélio Leite Fontes Marcus Alves Samir G. Rolim Oberdan José Pereira To study diversity (alpha/beta) and dominance it is best to use a broad definition of dry forest during the data collection phase because this can be refined later for specific analyses (e.g., to include or exclude semi-deciduous formations). Because recent large scale studies of alpha/beta diversity and dominance incorporating abundance data do not exist for neotropical dry forests, a priority could be a publication with even a relatively limited dataset based using data already available in the literature and existing databases. Toby Pennington and Haroldo de Lima will prepare a document to attract and organise a working group to collect data and write a preliminary version of a manuscript. It will be necessary to develop a system to share floristic and abundance data amongst participant in the dry biomes network. The group expressed interest in the use of the DRYFLOR system and subsequently the IT team at the RBGE has confirmed that this will be possible. Toby Pennington will discuss the issues of modiying the DRYFLOR system with the RBGE IT team and will develop a timetable to move forward this aspect of the work. Group 2: Biomass and forest dynamics Participants: Tim Baker (moderator) Marcelo T. Nascimento (moderator) Camila Silva Henrique Machado Dias Luiz Eduardo Aragão Márcia Cristina Mendes Marques Rafael Flora Simone Vieira Key environmental gradients to monitor for biomass and forest dynamics include elevation and seasonality, and both natural and human influenced forests Key questions to address could be how forest biomass and structure changes along these environmental gradients, how forest biomass is determined by spatial variation in productivity or mortality in dry biomes, which species contribute most to carbon stocks and productivity in dry forests and how this varies over time with varying environmental conditions and how fast biomass recovers in these systems from human disturbance. It would be interesting to explicitly compare these patterns with wetter forests. Key issues to resolve relate to standardising methods (e.g. multiple stems, plot size and minimum diameter) Other measurements that would be useful to make would be of wood density and tree height in these areas, to assist calculations of carbon stocks Grupo 3: Phylogenetic diversity Participants: Kyle Dexter (moderator) Danilo Neves (moderator) Carlos Eduardo de Rezende Cláudio Bohrer Fernanda Coelho Lidiany Carvalho Luis Antonio P. Gonzaga Marcelo Bueno Pablo J. F. Pena Rodrigues Rubens Santos Most interest from participants was in local scale studies using plot data for which they are responsible. A good example is the study for northern Rio de Janeiro presented by Kyle Dexter and Marcelo Nascimento as part of the symposium, which is already being prepared for publication. Others (Rubens Santos) suggested that it would be interesting to see how phylogenetic composition of communities interacted with the level of deciduousness of the community. Another suggestion could involve examining phylogenetic diversity over succession in Tingua (Pablo J. F. Pena Rodrigues). This links to an important issue that was discussed, which is accounting for and studying the impact of humans on biodiversity patterns (including phylogenetic diversity patterns). This is more relevant for dry forests than moist forests, given the higher impact of humans in this biome. As in other groups there was discussion of 'what is a dry forest'? However, it was concluded that for phylogenetic diversity studies analyses would not necessarily have to categorise forest types because there could be continuous explanatory variables (e.g. mean annual precipitation, climatological water deficit). Group 4: Functional traits Participants: John Grace (moderator) Dora Villela (moderator) Claudia F. Barros Eduardo Arcoverde Flávia Pezzine Guilherme Rabello Mariana Iguatemi Mário Marcos Espirito Santo Maura da Cunha Pedro Higuchi Saulo Pireda Fernandes Tomas Domingues The focus of this group was functional diversity of forests, addressing a question fundamental for future studies: "in a dry climate, which species will win and why?" In order to answer this question, the following research priorities were suggested. 1. Characterisation and definition of the functional traits of the principal arboreal species, including: lifecycles and their characteristics, physiology, biochemistry, stable isotopes and their relation to climate and studies of stomatal function. 2. Anatomical studies to understand the strategies used by species growing in dry climates, such as leaf anatomy, wood and root anatomy, ratio of root to aerial parts and root depth. Of the many functional traits of tree species in dry forests, wood anatomy is probably one of the most evolutionarily conserved. In addition, this attribute is accessible from herbarium collections. Two strategies were suggested to meet the proposed research objective: (i) The development of a long transect traversing the gradient between wet and dry forest, along which functional traits of species could be investigated. In addition the use of herbarium specimens, experimental approaches (especially drought experiments), the use of existing data from permanent plots. (ii) The selection of climate models for species including functional traits in order to model niches. In this way, one could obtain results and draw conclusions that are comparable amongst the different geographic areas of Brazilian dry forest, resulting in a better understanding of their functional diversity and allowing predictions to be made of the effects of climate change on them. FUTURE DIRECTIONS To ensure continuity of discussions and to consolidate the network, the next stages will include a technical meeting to synthesise and revise inventory data from dry forests (species lists with abundance data for each species) and the production of a manuscript focusing on alpha/beta diversity and dominance. Haroldo Cavalcante de Lima (hlima@jbrj.gov.br) and Toby Pennington (t.pennington@rbge.ac.uk) will be responsible for the technical meeting and manuscript. With regard to the entry of data into the ForestPlots.net platform, participants interested in sharing data will be contacted to facilitate data transfer. Gabriela Lopez Gonzalez, Leeds University (g.lopez-gonzalez@leeds.ac.uk) will be responsible for this. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The workshop was made possible with the finalcial support of RCUK and FAPERJ via the Newton Fund. In addition to logistic support from UENF, the event was supported by collaboration from ForestPlots, PPBio Mata Atlântica and the DRYFLOR network. The organising committee would like to thank all the participants, speakers and students and their contribution to the meeting's goal of creating a research network to study dry biomes, an initiative started by RBGE, JBRJ and UENF. We wish to thank the following people for the support: Márcia Gama; Bianca Reis; Vitor Cyrino; Thaline Oliveira; Nathalie Loureiro |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |