Community assembly processes in miombo woodland

热带稀树草原林地在全球范围内是广阔的，为大型动物提供了重要的栖息地，储存了大量的碳，并为当地社区提供了重要的资源。Miombo是世界上最大的稀树草原，横跨非洲南部，占地270万平方公里。然而，在miombo没有任何规模的长期生态动态样地，更广泛地说，71个森林全球地球观测站（ForestGeo）样地中只有一个在热带干林。该项目以赞比亚为中心，有三个主要目标。首先，在苗波建立了一个36公顷的长期森林动态样地。这将符合ForestGeo的标准，包括绘制、识别、测量和标记所有胸径超过1厘米的树木，为撒哈拉以南非洲的植物学家和生态学家提供更广泛的关键资源。其次，确定干扰对苗木年龄和生长结构的影响，验证苗木为SUBCLIMAX生境类型的理论。第三，量化植物性状和环境因子在决定苗木群落空间结构中的作用。为了实现这些目标，该项目将促进两位领先的热带生态学家之间的新的国际合作：英国谢菲尔德大学的爱德华兹教授和赞比亚世界农林业（ICRAF）的哈里森教授。在此过程中，该研究项目将为我们对miombo植物群落如何运作的理解提供一个根本性的进步，并建立对这些群落的长期监测手段，以了解它们将如何受到气候变化的影响。

Tropical savanna woodlands are vast in global extent, providing vital habitat for large animals, stocking substantial carbon, and providing critical resources for local communities. Miombo is the world's largest savanna, covering 2.7 million km2 across southern Africa. Yet, there are no long-term ecological dynamics plots of any size in the miombo, and more broadly, only one of 71 Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGeo) plots is in tropical dry forest. Focusing on Zambia as the core of the miombo, this project has three CENTRAL aims. First, to establish a 36-hectare long-term forest dynamics plot in the miombo. This will meet ForestGeo standards, including mapping, identifying, measuring and tagging all trees over 1 cm in diameter at breast height (DBH), providing a critical resource for sub-Saharan African botanists and ecologists more broadly. Second, to determine how disturbance impacts the age and growth structure of miombo, testing the theory that miombo is a SUBCLIMAX habitat type. Third, to quantify the role of plant traits and environmental factors in determining the spatial structure of miombo tree communities. To deliver these aims, this project will facilitate a new international collaboration between two leading tropical ecologists: Prof. Edwards from the University of Sheffield, UK, and Prof. Harrison from World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Zambia. In doing so, this research project will deliver a fundamental advance in our understanding of how miombo plant communities function and establishes the means for the long-term monitoring of these communities to understand how they will be affected by climate change.