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UK funding (£1,107,054): ARBOLES: A trait-based Understanding of LATAM Forest Biodiversity and Resilience Ukri 1 Feb 2019 UK Research and Innovation, United Kingdom
Overview
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ARBOLES: A trait-based Understanding of LATAM Forest Biodiversity and Resilience
| 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. |
| Category | Research Grant |
| Reference | NE/S011811/1 |
| Status | Closed |
| Funded period start | 01/02/2019 |
| Funded period end | 31/03/2022 |
| Funded value | £1,107,054.00 |
| Source | https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FS011811%2F1 |
Participating Organisations
| University of Leeds | |
| Peruvian Amazon Research Institute | |
| IISER Pune | |
| UNEMAT - Nova Xavantina | |
| Austral University of Chile | |
| National Institute for Space Research Brazil | |
| National Open & Distance University UNAD | |
| National University of Cordoba Argentina | |
| Naturalis Biodiversity Center | |
| National Inst for Space Research (INPE) | |
| University of Arizona | |
| Socio-environmental Institute (ISA) | |
| Federal University of Sao Carlos | |
| CNRS | |
| Universidade Estadual Santa Cruz (UESC) | |
| University of Aysen | |
| Missouri Botanical Garden | |
| State University of Campinas (unicamp) | |
| Embrapa Amazonia Oriental | |
| Forest Institute of Chile | |
| University of São Paulo | |
| Research Inst for Forestry Development | |
| Instituto Investig. Amazonia Peruana | |
| University of the State of Mato Grosso | |
| UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM | |
| University Gabriel Rene Moreno |
The filing refers to a past date, and does not necessarily reflect the current state. The latest known state is available on the following page: University of Leeds, LS2 9JT Leeds.
