Forest Dynamics in an Extremely Diverse Tree Community: A Permanent Large Census Plot in Amazonian Ecuador

本研究项目是在亚马逊流域建立第一个大规模、详细的森林普查样地。它将作为长期研究树木生长、种群、森林组成和多样性的基线，以及它们如何对世界上物种最丰富的森林的气候变化作出反应。我们正在厄瓜多尔东部亚苏尼国家公园的25公顷高度多样化的雨林中完成树木和灌木的清单。其他的资金让我们建立了基地并开始了人口普查。目前，该图中大约15万棵树的树图绘制、测量、标记和每棵树的计算机数据输入工作已基本完成。目前的资金使我们能够完成鉴定1000多种树木的艰巨得多的任务，其中大多数以前从未被研究过。厄瓜多尔的地块是一个更广泛的项目的一部分，该项目在主要的热带森林地点建立了大型和永久的库存。目前，世界上有12个这样的森林动态图，战略性地放置在代表各种气候和土壤的位置，并且已经提供了关于热带森林资源、森林管理和气候变化影响的重要信息。这些数据提供给世界各地以及东道国的科学家，并被他们广泛使用。这是南美洲大陆上第一个这样的地块。

9806828FosterThis research project is the establishment of first large-scale and detailed census plot of a forest in the Amazon Basin. It will serve as the baseline for long term studies of tree growth, populations, forest composition and diversity, and how these respond to changes in climate in what appears to be the world's most species-rich forest. We are completing the inventory of trees and shrubs in 25 hectares of hyper-diverse rainforest in Yasuni National Park in eastern Ecuador. Other funds allowed us to establish the plot and initiate the census. The tree mapping, measuring, labeling, and computer data entry of each individual is now nearly complete for the approximately 150,000 trees in the plot. The current funds allow us to finish the much more difficult task of identification in the field of the more than 1,000 species of trees, most of which have never been studied before. The Ecuador plot is part of a broader program of large and permanent inventories in key tropical forest sites. There are now 12 such forest dynamics plots around the world, strategically placed to represent a wide range of climates and soils, and already yielding important information on tropical forest resources, forest management, and effects of climate change. The data is made available to and widely used by scientists throughout the world as well as in the host country. This is the first such plot in the continent of South America.