LTREB: Plot recensus in Tropical Forests of Asia, to Generate Data on Dynamics and Species Demographies

075334阿什顿热带森林科学中心(CTFS)是史密森热带研究所的一个机构，成立的目的是促进美国和潮湿热带地区大学和研究机构之间的研究合作。CTF的一个重点是记录生物多样性低地热带森林中树木物种多样性的非生物和历史生物地理相关性，这在三个热带大陆上得到了一致的表达。揭示的模式将有助于形成可通过实验检验的维持生物多样性的解释性假设。在计算机模拟的帮助下，木材采伐和其他人为干预对树木物种多样性的影响正在被预测，并将在包括伐木实验在内的相关研究中得到检验。亚洲热带森林有六个核心研究地块，这项提案寻求资金重新普查这些地块。从已经确定的四个地块获得的动态数据将使研究人员能够首次记录森林动态沿区域规模的非生物梯度的变化，特别是降雨季节性的变化。自上一次普查以来，这四个地块中有两个经历了前所未有的干旱；这里的分析将提供气候变化对生物多样性热带生态系统影响的基线数据。

0075334AshtonThe Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) is an organ of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, established to foster research collaboration between universities and research institutions in the US and the humid tropics. A focus of CTFS is to document the abiotic and historical biogeographic correlates of tree species diversity in biodiverse lowland tropical forests, consistently expressed on the three tropical continents. The patterns revealed will facilitate formulation of explanatory hypotheses for the maintenance of biodiversity, testable by experiment. Aided by computer simulations , the impact of timber harvesting and other human interventions on tree species diversity is being predicted, and will be tested in associated research including logging experiments. There are six core study plots in Asian tropical forests and this proposal seeks funding to re-census these plots. Dynamic data forthcoming from four already established plots will enable the investigators to document changes in forest dynamics along abiotic gradients of regional scale, notably rainfall seasonality, for the first time. Two of these four plots experienced unprecedented droughts since their previous census; analysis will here yield base-line data on the impact of climate change on biodiverse tropical ecosystems.