ARBOLES: A trait-based Understanding of LATAM Forest Biodiversity and Resilience
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: Sch of Geography
Abstract
Latin American forests cover a very large latitudinal and climate gradient extending from the tropics to Southern hemisphere high latitudes. The continent therefore hosts a large variety of forest types including the Amazon - the world's largest tropical forest - as well as the diverse Atlantic forests concentrated along the coast, temperate forests in Chile and Argentina as well as the cold rainforests of Valdivia and the Nothofagus forests of Patagonia. These forests are global epicentres of biological diversity and include several tropical and extra-tropical biodiversity hotspots. For example, the Amazon rainforest is home to ~10% of terrestrial plant and animal species and store a large fraction of global organic carbon. hotspots.
Some of these Latin American forests still cover a large fraction of their original (pre-colombian) extent: the Amazon still covers approximately 5 Million km2, which is 80% of its original area. However, others, such as the Atlantic forest, have nearly disappeared and are now heavily fragmented. Temperate forests have also shrunk, despite efforts to halt further reduction. However, economic development, population rises and the growth in global drivers of environmental change mean that all forests now face strong anthropogenic pressures. Locally stressors generally result from ongoing development, selective logging, the hunting of larger birds and mammals, over-exploitation of key forest resources such as valuable palm fruits, mining, and/or forest conversion for agricultural use. Global environmental drivers stem from the world's warming climate. Yet it is not clear how these local pressures and changing environmental conditions will alter the composition of Latin American forests, and whether there are thresholds between human impacts - such as the lack of dispersers in heavily fragmented forest landscapes or climate conditions exceeding limits of species tolerance - and the community level responses of forest plants.
We aim to investigate this, supporting the development of strategies that can preserve the diversity of these forests and their functioning. We achieve this by investigating the relationships between diversity and functioning of these forests; exploring whether there are thresholds in functioning resulting both from pressures of forest use and changing climate; by experimentally testing responses; and by generalizing predictive capability to large scales. ARBOLES aims to achieve these goals by integrating established forest inventory approaches with cutting-edge functional trait, genomics, experimental and remote sensing approaches.
Our approach involves combining forest plots with plant traits, which will enable us to characterize state and shifts over time in the face of local human disturbance and changing climate and atmospheric composition. We will focus on traits along the following axes: (i) life-history strategies measuring investment in structure (like wood density, leaf mass per area, maximum height), (ii) investment in productive organs (like leaf nutrients), (iii) investment in reproductive organs, (iv) tolerance to water stress and heat stress. The work is being conducted in collaboration with research groups in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru - and will provide a first cross-continent assessment of how humans are influencing Latin American forests.
Some of these Latin American forests still cover a large fraction of their original (pre-colombian) extent: the Amazon still covers approximately 5 Million km2, which is 80% of its original area. However, others, such as the Atlantic forest, have nearly disappeared and are now heavily fragmented. Temperate forests have also shrunk, despite efforts to halt further reduction. However, economic development, population rises and the growth in global drivers of environmental change mean that all forests now face strong anthropogenic pressures. Locally stressors generally result from ongoing development, selective logging, the hunting of larger birds and mammals, over-exploitation of key forest resources such as valuable palm fruits, mining, and/or forest conversion for agricultural use. Global environmental drivers stem from the world's warming climate. Yet it is not clear how these local pressures and changing environmental conditions will alter the composition of Latin American forests, and whether there are thresholds between human impacts - such as the lack of dispersers in heavily fragmented forest landscapes or climate conditions exceeding limits of species tolerance - and the community level responses of forest plants.
We aim to investigate this, supporting the development of strategies that can preserve the diversity of these forests and their functioning. We achieve this by investigating the relationships between diversity and functioning of these forests; exploring whether there are thresholds in functioning resulting both from pressures of forest use and changing climate; by experimentally testing responses; and by generalizing predictive capability to large scales. ARBOLES aims to achieve these goals by integrating established forest inventory approaches with cutting-edge functional trait, genomics, experimental and remote sensing approaches.
Our approach involves combining forest plots with plant traits, which will enable us to characterize state and shifts over time in the face of local human disturbance and changing climate and atmospheric composition. We will focus on traits along the following axes: (i) life-history strategies measuring investment in structure (like wood density, leaf mass per area, maximum height), (ii) investment in productive organs (like leaf nutrients), (iii) investment in reproductive organs, (iv) tolerance to water stress and heat stress. The work is being conducted in collaboration with research groups in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru - and will provide a first cross-continent assessment of how humans are influencing Latin American forests.
Planned Impact
ARBOLES has clear societal applications. Results of our analyses will demonstrate which plant species groups are most impacted by global environmental change and by local disturbances. Furthermore, they will inform us about which plant attributes (traits) underpin ongoing changes in composition across LATAM forests. Our results will further highlight the relative impacts of different forms of disturbance (e.g. defaunation, logging) thus providing a basis for prioritising policy for conservation. Our experimental work (warming/drying) on key plant species used for restoration will provide a basis for restoration practitioners to select species which are more tolerant to climate change (climate-smart agriculture). Similar work conducted on taxa of important agricultural and forestry values will further yield insights into the sensitivity of these species to climate change. Finally, our remote sensing work will provide new large-scale insights into the resilience of LATAM forests to local and global change that are likely to have important development and conservation implications, providing regional policymakers with understanding of how vulnerable different forest types may be to local and global stressors.
ARBOLES team members span four LATAM countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru). The project will enhance scientific capacity within LATAM countries by promoting clear opportunities for early-career scientists to be part a leading scientific team. The reach of the scientific capacity building we propose will be supported by the diverse range of research institutions involved beyond the funded partner countries (including project partner participation from Bolivia, Colombia and Venezuela). ARBOLES will fully supporting science-society links by engaging with government and non-government institutions involved in natural resource management or monitoring, such as the National Institute of Space Research(INPE) who oversee monitoring activities in Brazil, the Forestry Institute (INFOR) in Chile who have been undertaking forest inventories across the country, the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) who coordinate community-based restoration in Mato Grosso and the Jardin Botánico de Missouri who are a scientific and education NGO based in Oxapampa in Peru. These linkages will ensure that our results have a clear path to policy impact.
ARBOLES team members span four LATAM countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru). The project will enhance scientific capacity within LATAM countries by promoting clear opportunities for early-career scientists to be part a leading scientific team. The reach of the scientific capacity building we propose will be supported by the diverse range of research institutions involved beyond the funded partner countries (including project partner participation from Bolivia, Colombia and Venezuela). ARBOLES will fully supporting science-society links by engaging with government and non-government institutions involved in natural resource management or monitoring, such as the National Institute of Space Research(INPE) who oversee monitoring activities in Brazil, the Forestry Institute (INFOR) in Chile who have been undertaking forest inventories across the country, the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) who coordinate community-based restoration in Mato Grosso and the Jardin Botánico de Missouri who are a scientific and education NGO based in Oxapampa in Peru. These linkages will ensure that our results have a clear path to policy impact.
Organisations
- University of Leeds (Lead Research Organisation)
- Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (Collaboration)
- IISER Pune (Collaboration)
- Austral University of Chile (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- UNEMAT - Nova Xavantina (Collaboration)
- National Institute for Space Research Brazil (Collaboration)
- Universities UK International (Collaboration)
- National University of Córdoba (Project Partner)
- Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia (Project Partner)
- National Institute for Space Research (Project Partner)
- Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Project Partner)
- Universidade de São Paulo (Project Partner)
- Socio-environmental Institute (ISA) (Project Partner)
- Federal University of São Carlos (Project Partner)
- Universidad de Aysén (Project Partner)
- Missouri Botanical Garden (Project Partner)
- University (State) of Campinas (Unicamp) (Project Partner)
- Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Project Partner)
- University of Arizona (Project Partner)
- State University of Santa Cruz (Project Partner)
- Forest Institute of Chile (Project Partner)
- University of Birmingham (Project Partner)
- Research Inst for Forestry Development (Project Partner)
- French National Centre for Scientific Research (Project Partner)
- Instituto Investig. Amazonia Peruana (Project Partner)
- Mato Grosso State University (Project Partner)
- University Gabriel Rene Moreno (Project Partner)
Publications
Aguirre-Gutiérrez J
(2021)
Pantropical modelling of canopy functional traits using Sentinel-2 remote sensing data
in Remote Sensing of Environment
Araújo I
(2021)
Trees at the Amazonia-Cerrado transition are approaching high temperature thresholds
in Environmental Research Letters
Banks-Leite C
(2022)
The macroecology of landscape ecology.
in Trends in ecology & evolution
Barragán-Ruiz CE
(2021)
Moderate Genetic Diversity and Demographic Reduction in the Threatened Giant Anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla.
in Frontiers in genetics
Bauman D
(2022)
Tropical tree growth sensitivity to climate is driven by species intrinsic growth rate and leaf traits.
in Global change biology
Carvalho CS
(2022)
Efficiency of eDNA and iDNA in assessing vertebrate diversity and its abundance.
in Molecular ecology resources
Carvalho RL
(2023)
Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research.
in Current biology : CB
Chambers-Ostler A
(2022)
Vessel tapering is conserved along a precipitation gradient in tropical trees of the genus Cedrela
in Trees
Coelho De Souza F
(2019)
Evolutionary diversity is associated with wood productivity in Amazonian forests.
in Nature ecology & evolution
Dalagnol R
(2019)
Quantifying Canopy Tree Loss and Gap Recovery in Tropical Forests under Low-Intensity Logging Using VHR Satellite Imagery and Airborne LiDAR
in Remote Sensing
De Lima R
(2022)
Making forest data fair and open
in Nature Ecology & Evolution
De Oliveira M
(2021)
A review of philopatry and dispersal in felids living in an anthropised world
in Mammal Review
Docherty EM
(2023)
Long-term drought effects on the thermal sensitivity of Amazon forest trees.
in Plant, cell & environment
Esquivel-Muelbert A
(2019)
Compositional response of Amazon forests to climate change.
in Global change biology
Esquivel-Muelbert A
(2020)
Tree mode of death and mortality risk factors across Amazon forests
in Nature Communications
Fancourt M
(2022)
Background climate conditions regulated the photosynthetic response of Amazon forests to the 2015/2016 El Nino-Southern Oscillation event
in Communications Earth & Environment
Fauset S
(2019)
Contrasting responses of stomatal conductance and photosynthetic capacity to warming and elevated CO2 in the tropical tree species Alchornea glandulosa under heatwave conditions
in Environmental and Experimental Botany
Ferraz K
(2022)
Best of both worlds: Combining ecological and social research to inform conservation decisions in a Neotropical biodiversity hotspot
in Journal for Nature Conservation
ForestPlots.net
(2021)
Taking the pulse of Earth's tropical forests using networks of highly distributed plots
in Biological Conservation
Gestich C
(2021)
Forest loss and fragmentation can promote the crowding effect in a forest-specialist primate
in Landscape Ecology
Gopalakrishna T
(2022)
Existing land uses constrain climate change mitigation potential of forest restoration in India
in Conservation Letters
Gopalakrishna T
(2022)
Existing land uses constrain climate change mitigation potential of forest restoration in India
in Conservation Letters
Honorio Coronado EN
(2019)
Comparative phylogeography of five widespread tree species: Insights into the history of western Amazonia.
in Ecology and evolution
Labrière N
(2023)
Toward a forest biomass reference measurement system for remote sensing applications.
in Global change biology
Lara,A
(2019)
Informe País Estado del Medio Ambiente en Chile 2018
Loubota Panzou G
(2020)
Pantropical variability in tree crown allometry
in Global Ecology and Biogeography
Marimon-Junior B
(2019)
Soil water-holding capacity and monodominance in Southern Amazon tropical forests
in Plant and Soil
Pettorelli N
(2021)
Time to integrate global climate change and biodiversity science-policy agendas
in Journal of Applied Ecology
Reis S
(2022)
Climate and crown damage drive tree mortality in southern Amazonian edge forests
in Journal of Ecology
Ribeiro-Júnior N
(2023)
Anatomical functional traits and hydraulic vulnerability of trees in different water conditions in southern Amazonia
in American Journal of Botany
Saranholi B
(2022)
Long-term persistence of the large mammal lowland tapir is at risk in the largest Atlantic forest corridor
in Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation
Signori-Müller C
(2021)
Variation of non-structural carbohydrates across the fast-slow continuum in Amazon Forest canopy trees
in Functional Ecology
Silva C
(2020)
Estimating the multi-decadal carbon deficit of burned Amazonian forests
in Environmental Research Letters
Silva FDS
(2021)
Virtual pollination trade uncovers global dependence on biodiversity of developing countries.
in Science advances
Silva Junior C
(2021)
Amazonian forest degradation must be incorporated into the COP26 agenda
in Nature Geoscience
Tagle Casapia X
(2019)
Identifying and Quantifying the Abundance of Economically Important Palms in Tropical Moist Forest Using UAV Imagery
in Remote Sensing
Tiwari R
(2021)
Photosynthetic quantum efficiency in south-eastern Amazonian trees may be already affected by climate change.
in Plant, cell & environment
Urrutia-Jalabert R
(2020)
Low Growth Sensitivity and Fast Replenishment of Non-structural Carbohydrates in a Long-Lived Endangered Conifer After Drought.
in Frontiers in plant science
Urrutia-Jalabert R
(2021)
Climate response and drought resilience of Nothofagus obliqua secondary forests across a latitudinal gradient in south-central Chile
in Forest Ecology and Management
Wang Y
(2019)
Mapping tropical disturbed forests using multi-decadal 30 m optical satellite imagery
in Remote Sensing of Environment
Werkmeister GA
(2022)
A novel in situ passive heating method for evaluating whole-tree responses to daytime warming in remote environments.
in Plant methods
| Description | Although several core ARBOLES papers have still to be published, the grant has contributed to several key research findings to date. These include: 1) The largest analysis of the causes of tree mortality in Amazon rainforests undertaken to date (Esquivel Muelbert et al. 2020, Nature Communications, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18996-3), based on 120,000 trees from over 3800 species. The analysis evaluates how species and individual-level traits affect the probability of mortality of Amazon trees. 2) Quantification of the net CO2 emissions associated with Amazonian wildfires (Silva et al. 2020, Environmental Research Letters, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abb62c). 3) New insights into the tolerance of leaves of southern Amazon tree species to extreme temperatures (Tiwari et al. 2020, Plant, Cell and Environment, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pce.13770). The study evaluates key thermal sensitivity traits of of trees in the Amazon's most-stressed region. 4) First analysis of the thermal safety margins (i.e. how close leaf temperatures are to leaf damage thresholds) of trees in the Amazon-Cerrado transition. (Araujo et al. 2021, Environmental Research Letters, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abe3b9). Current work either in review or in preparation evaluates how traits that that indicate sensitivity to heat and drought vary across Latin American forests, how plant functional traits have shifted over time and how these are related to forest function. |
| Exploitation Route | The results published thus far are highly relevant for our understanding of how LATAM forests respond to climate change and anthropogenic degradation. The new insights of the functional trait basis of forest function and resilience is of great relevance for modelling groups seeking to better improve predictions of global change impacts on Latin American forests and also practitioners who wish to restore degraded areas. ARBOLES is already directly contributing to several PhD and MSc studentships in South America, as well as to BSc dissertations (Brazil, Peru and Chile). In Brazil alone, ARBOLES datasets and infrastructure are contributing to eight PhD and Master's theses. Furthermore, the new greenhouse infrastructure set up in Peru and Brazil will have lasting scientific impact, enabling continued use for scientific research well beyond the official end of the project. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| URL | https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/csi-amazon-epic-study-looks-at-whats-killing-amazon-trees |
| Description | Although it is too early for ARBOLES' findings to translate into non-academic impact at policy level, the project has already helped to substantially build capacity of young researchers in South America. This has been achieved through postgraduate training workshops and through ARBOLES-associated PhD/Masters theses/dissertations in Brazil. ARBOLES directly contributes to the disserations/theses of six students in Brazil and two in Peru that focuses on understanding which tropical forest species are most sensitive to heat and drought and their interactive effects. These results are still being written up, but suggest that heat differentially impacts species and plant functional groups and that elevated temperatures exacerbate the effect of water stress. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Environment |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | Modelagem das margens de segurança climática de florestas do sul da Amazônia |
| Amount | R$ 200,000 (BRL) |
| Funding ID | 401833/2022-4 |
| Organisation | National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Brazil |
| Start | 06/2022 |
| End | 06/2024 |
| Description | PhD of Igor Araujo |
| Amount | R$ 100,000 (BRL) |
| Organisation | Government of Brazil |
| Department | Coordination of Higher Education Personnel Training (CAPES) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Brazil |
| Start | 03/2020 |
| End | 02/2024 |
| Title | Absorption spectra of soybean measured in situ at two different temperatures and electron transport rate data |
| Description | The dataset was collected using the leaf chamber spectrometer connected to an infrared greenhouse gas analyser (Li-6400) on soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) cultivar (Williams 82) third trifoliate leaves on 3-week old plants (vegetative growth stages V3 and V4). Seeds were sourced from Iowa State University, USA. Plants were grown in pots in the controlled environment facility in the Faculty of Biological Sciences, Plant Growth Suite, University of Leeds. The growth conditions were 25C day/night temperatures, 50% relative humidity, with a 16 h photoperiod at an irradiance of 400-600 µmol photons /m2/s.Electron transport rates were measured on a separate set of plants using a leaf chamber fluorometer (Li-6400-40) attached to the infrared greenhouse gas analyzer (Li-6400). Leaves were exposed to temperatures between 25°C and 35°C in the leaf chamber. Each temperature point was allowed to stabilize for a minimum of 7 minutes. The leaves experienced increasing temperatures (25, 27, 30, 33, and 35°C) and for comparable durations before reaching 35°C. Hence, the data presented for the ETR are different in duration of treatment to the 15-minute fixed duration treatment experiments. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The study provided novel insights into leaf spectral responses to short-term temperature increases. |
| URL | https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Absorption_spectra_of_soybean_measured_in_situ_at_two_differen... |
| Title | New LATAM-wide compilation of plant traits |
| Description | In ARBOLES, we are working with a wide network of project partners to compile an extensive suite of plant traits which range from leaf and seed traits to very specific and much harder to measure physiological traits (e.g. P50). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The trait data set is still in the process of being compiled, but will ultimately be linked to data on species composition and habitat status to better understand the impact of habitat degradation and changing climate on forests across Latin America. |
| Title | New database of plant thermal traits |
| Description | In ARBOLES, we are measuring key thermal traits across LATAM forests. These include the temperature optima and maxima of leaf photosynthesis, the temperature dependency of leaf dark respiration and leaf thermotolerance measurements. This is the first large-scale database of its kind. Traits campaigns have already been carried out in two sites, with a further six trait campaigns due to take place this year. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This database will allow for the first assessment of how different LATAM forests vary in their sensitivity to temperature. Furthermore, it will provide key parameters for improving ecosystem models that predict the impact of climate change on tropical forests. |
| Description | Co-supervision of Masters student Akhil Javad, IISER Pune |
| Organisation | IISER Pune |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Ongoing regular meetings and field work design and co-supervision jointly with Dr. Deepak Barua. Will result in at least one publication. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Mutual contribution |
| Impact | Topic is thermoregulation of tropical forest canopies. Project advances very well. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Collaboration with INPE (Brazilian Space Institute) |
| Organisation | National Institute for Space Research Brazil |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | INPE lead an important component of the the project - namely the mapping of canopy traits from space using deep learning techniques. Current efforts involve the mapping of community-weighted mean wood density across Amazonia. UK partners provide an important role in providing base layers for validation of trait prediction algorithms (e.g. community-weighted mean density inferred from forest plot inventory data). |
| Collaborator Contribution | INPE lead on the remote sensing component of the project, providing advanced expertise in artificial intelligence methods that UK partners in the project do not current possess. |
| Impact | No specific outputs as yet |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Collaboration with UNEMAT |
| Organisation | UNEMAT - Nova Xavantina |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | One component of ARBOLES involves setting up climatically controlled greenhouses in the UNEMAT campus to evaluate the impact of controlled heat and drought on the performance of seedlings of commercially important species. ARBOLES contributes towards the costs of constructing the greenhouses and the installation of the temperature regulation system in the greenhouses. The project also pays for a full-time technician based in UNEMAT to run the greenhouses. ARBOLES directly contributes to two PhD students (Igor Araujo and Calil Torres) and three MRes students (Carla Heloisa Miranda, Edimeia Souza, Jose Wemerson Soares) at UNEMAT, co-supervised by David Galbraith, Emanuel Gloor, Beatriz Schwantes Marimon and Ben Hur Marimon. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our UNEMAT partners in Nova Xavantina are Prof. Ben Hur Marimon Junior and Prof. Beatriz Schwantes Marimon, who oversee greenhouse activities locally. The greenhouses are currently in the process of being constructed on the UNEMAT campus, next to the Plant Ecology laboratory, which Prof. Ben Hur and Prof. Beatriz coordinate. They have contributed a substantial amount of time into this component of the work. They also formally co-supervise the PhD students and MRes students listed above. |
| Impact | No outputs yet (still in installation stage) |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Collaboration with Universidad Austral de Chile |
| Organisation | Austral University of Chile |
| Country | Chile |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Universidad Austral de Chile is a key LATAM partner in this work, receiving funding from CONICYT to lead new measurements of vegetation traits extending from Mediterranean evergreen forests in the north to wet Patagonian Nothofagus pumilio forests in the south. This is overseen by Project Co-Is Rocio Urrutia and Antonio Lara. The Chilean PDRA, Daniel Carvajal, was trained by a University of Leeds team to make measurements of key plant hydraulic and thermal traits. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The collaboration with Chile has been very important for developing the field-based spectral capture of plant traits, led by the University of Oxford. Oxford Co-I Yadvinder Malhi and PDRA Jesus Aguirre-Gutierrez have visited Chile to take the drone-based multispectral reflectance data in various plots along the transect. |
| Impact | No specific outputs yet |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Collaboration with the Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonia Peruana |
| Organisation | Peruvian Amazon Research Institute |
| Country | Peru |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | IIAP is a core Latin American Project partner in ARBOLES, receiving CONCYTEC funding to establish climate-conditioned greenhouses to test the sensitivity of commercially sensitive tree species to temperature and water stress. The experimental set-up in IIAP mimics that being set up in our study site in Nova Xavantina, Brazil. Leeds has provided important inputs into the design of the greenhouse and the temperature regulation system. |
| Collaborator Contribution | IIAP partners (Jhon Aguilar, Nallaret Davila, Euridice Honorio) have coordinated the construction of the greenhouse (now in place) and are currently undertaking germination studies to decide on the species for the first round of warming experiments. IIAP will also lead the data collection within the Peruvian experiments. |
| Impact | No outputs yet |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Multiple collaborations enabled via ForestPlots.net |
| Organisation | Universities UK International |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Via ForestPlots.net we are entering into dozens of new collaborations each year, mostly academic exchanges of data, skills, training, and with increasing research outputs as well as some support for science policy. These are detailed here where they are updated regularly http://www.forestplots.net/en/join-forestplots/research-projects ForestPlots.net is global-leading research infrastructure hosted at the University of Leeds. The partnerships are worldwide, and powering global collaborations including much support for developing country scientists. This particular NERC-funded project has contributed to the development of the shared ForestPlots.net resource and particularly to the successful networking with our many partners in South America. |
| Collaborator Contribution | ForestPlots.net is led from the University of Leeds by Professor Oliver Phillips and colleagues, but it exists as a collective effort whose benefits and contributions are widely shared. Partners contribute immensely valuable field data from the tropics, and ideas for projects which they are now leading. They also contribute funded work (ie ForestPlots.net is now growing more due to NON-UK funded research than to UK-funded research). UK funding has therefore acted as a powerful multiplier. |
| Impact | There are too many to list and the outputs increase month-on-month. Outputs are reported on the ForestPlots website, eg http://www.forestplots.net/en/join-forestplots/research-projects http://www.forestplots.net/en/publications |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Delivery of Climate Sensitivity workshop in Acre, Brazil |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was run by a University of Leeds team (David Galbraith, Julia Tavares, Emma Docherty) at the Universidade Federal do Acre (UFAC), Brazil, in November 2019. At the workshop, postgraduate students were taught how to make key traits indicative of climate sensitivity (hydraulic and thermal traits), advanced analysis of trait data in R and the basics of ecosystem modelling with Python. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Ecophysiology workshop Sirsi, Indian Western Ghats |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Approximately 40 graduate and post-graduate students from all across India attended a 1 week tree ecophysiology workshop organised by the holder of the grant. It included theory, hands on training on instruments like LICOR, a two day project and presentation. The workshop was a success. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited Talk for International Tree Mortality Network |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | ~60 people attended the talk online, as part of a seminar series organised by the International Tree Mortality Network. The talk generated interesting discussion about best approaches to evaluate the sensitivity of tropical species to climate change. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.tree-mortality.net |
| Description | Invited panellist at UKRI's Latin America COP26 Climate and Biodiversity Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Panel discussion on the role of UK science in climate and biodiversity in Latin America |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://ukcop26.org/ |
| Description | Invited talk Plant Ecophysiology Workshop Kerala Forestry Institute KFRI |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited talk |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Live lecture to postgraduate students at the Universidade Federal do Pará |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This was a live lecture, streamed via youtube, on the carbon cycle of Amazon rainforests and its sensitivity to climate and land use change. The lecture was followed by a Q&A session where students from across Brazilian universities engaged with the discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkkpYz53GOo |
| Description | Panellist and speaker at launch of "Science Panel for the Amazon" in main event of COP26 in Glasgow. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Launch of science panel for the Amazon report on impact ongoing |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://ukcop26.org/ |
| Description | Q&A and 45 min panel discussion in session on "Amazon Development Pathways: Fostering Conservation and Prosperity |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Q&A and 45 min panel discussion in session on "Amazon Development Pathways: Fostering Conservation and Prosperity". Included spotlight report on me https://www.aaas.org/membership/member-spotlight/ecologist-jos-barlow-integrates-science-and-people-amazon-restoration |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2021/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/28206 |