The Impact of Climate on Tropical Forests: A natural experiment within the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania

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This PhD will use the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania (a global biodiversity hotspot) as a natural experiment. Forests across this mountain range experience a wide range in climate conditions (e.g. with temperatures ranging from 10-30C, and variations in seasonal patterns [with northern forests experiencing two rainy seasons, compared to only one in southern regions]). Such natural variation will help us to differentiate the effects of each aspect of climate (e.g. temperature vs drought) on forest ecosystems and assist predictions in how tropical forests might be impacted by future climate change. This research involves using rare long-term datasets on tree phenology (the timing of life cycle events [e.g. flowering]) and seed yield. The successful candidate will compliment these data with extensive fieldwork within Tanzania, re-censusing tree inventory plots that were last visited 10 years ago.