1. ForestGEO : Understanding forest diversity and dynamics through a global observatory network
- Author
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David A. Orwig, Alfonso Alonso, Daoguang Zhu, Sean C. Thomas, Ana Andrade, Sean M. McMahon, Konstantinos Papathanassiou, Patrick J. Baker, Lauren Krizel, Yves Basset, Nestor Laurier Engone Obiang, Lillian Jennifer Rodriguez, Corneille E. N. Ewango, Alexandre Adalardo de Oliveira, Matthew Scott Luskin, Sandra L. Yap, Shawn K. Y. Lum, Helene C. Muller-Landau, Dairon Cárdenas, David Kenfack, Hongwei Ni, Kuo-Jung Chao, Richard P. Phillips, Fangliang He, William J. McShea, Keping Ma, George B. Chuyong, Sylvester Tan, Peter S. Ashton, Norman A. Bourg, Thomas W. Giambelluca, Jessica Shue, Stephen P. Hubbell, Kamariah Abu Salim, Rebecca Ostertag, Tomáš Vrška, Gregory S. Gilbert, David F. R. P. Burslem, Keith Clay, Wei Chun Chao, Geoffrey G. Parker, Michael O'Brien, Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin, C.V.S. Gunatilleke, Joseph S. Wright, Hans Pretzsch, Han Xu, Marco D. Visser, Amy Wolf, Somboon Kiratiprayoon, Minhua Zhang, Weiguo Sang, Jonah Filip, Rolando Pérez, Xiaojun Du, Mohizah Mohamad, Patrick A. Jansen, Xihua Wang, Christian P. Giardina, Zhanqing Hao, H. S. Dattaraja, Sisira Ediriweera, Min Cao, Vojtech Novotny, Erle C. Ellis, Liza S. Comita, Creighton M. Litton, Raman Sukumar, Pulchérie Bissiengou, Jill Thompson, Robin B. Foster, Jan den Ouden, Stephanie A. Bohlman, Ryan A. Chisholm, Susan Cordell, I-Fang Sun, David Allen, Suzanne Lao, Jess K. Zimmerman, Xugao Wang, Richard Condit, Gunter A. Fischer, Lawren Sack, Li Wan Chang, Robert W. Howe, Jonathan Myers, Andy Jones, Yu Liu, Mingjian Yu, Mingxi Jiang, Natalia Norden, Hong Truong Luu, George D. Weiblen, Andreas Huth, Ivette Perfecto, Alvaro Duque, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Daniel Zuleta, Alberto Vicentini, Erika Gonzalez-Akre, Li Zhu, Logan Monks, David Janík, Yadvinder Malhi, Xiankun Li, Iveren Abiem, Anudeep Singh, Mamoru Kanzaki, Chengjin Chu, Duncan Thomas, Guo Zhang M. Song, Amanda Uowolo, Haibo Ren, Shirong Liu, Jean-Remy Makana, Christopher W. Dick, James A. Lutz, Paul M. Musili, Faith Inman-Narahari, Edwino S. Fernando, Akira Itoh, Kang Min Ngo, María Uriarte, Warren Y. Brockelman, Wanhui Ye, Renato Valencia, Yu Yun Chen, Hazel M. Chapman, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Tze Leong Yao, Billy C.H. Hau, Daniel J. Johnson, Salomón Aguilar, Timothy J. S. Whitfeld, I. A. U. N. Gunatilleke, Nathan G. Swenson, Matteo Detto, Shameema Esufali, Benjamin L. Turner, Yide Li, Stuart J. Davies, Hervé Memiaghe, Hebbalalu S. Suresh, Nantachai Pongpattananurak, Matthew E. Baker, Gabriel Arellano, Xiangcheng Mi, John Vandermeer, Andrew J. Larson, Sabrina E. Russo, David Mitre, Caly McCarthy, Kamil Král, Adam R. Martin, Chia-Hao Chang-Yang, Glen Reynolds, and Anuttara Nathalang
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Capacity strengthening ,Tropical forests ,Network science ,Climate change ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Ecology and Environment ,Forest plot ,Ecosystem ,Bosecologie en Bosbeheer ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Nature and Landscape Conservation ,Demography ,Species diversity ,Abiotic component ,Forest dynamics ,business.industry ,010604 marine biology & hydrobiology ,Taiga ,Environmental resource management ,PE&RC ,Forest plots ,Forest Ecology and Forest Management ,Earth system science ,Geography ,Wildlife Ecology and Conservation ,Tree growth and mortality ,business - Abstract
ForestGEO is a network of scientists and long-term forest dynamics plots (FDPs) spanning the Earth's major forest types. ForestGEO's mission is to advance understanding of the diversity and dynamics of forests and to strengthen global capacity for forest science research. ForestGEO is unique among forest plot networks in its large-scale plot dimensions, censusing of all stems ≥1 cm in diameter, inclusion of tropical, temperate and boreal forests, and investigation of additional biotic (e.g., arthropods) and abiotic (e.g., soils) drivers, which together provide a holistic view of forest functioning. The 71 FDPs in 27 countries include approximately 7.33 million living trees and about 12,000 species, representing 20% of the world's known tree diversity. With >1300 published papers, ForestGEO researchers have made significant contributions in two fundamental areas: species coexistence and diversity, and ecosystem functioning. Specifically, defining the major biotic and abiotic controls on the distribution and coexistence of species and functional types and on variation in species' demography has led to improved understanding of how the multiple dimensions of forest diversity are structured across space and time and how this diversity relates to the processes controlling the role of forests in the Earth system. Nevertheless, knowledge gaps remain that impede our ability to predict how forest diversity and function will respond to climate change and other stressors. Meeting these global research challenges requires major advances in standardizing taxonomy of tropical species, resolving the main drivers of forest dynamics, and integrating plot-based ground and remote sensing observations to scale up estimates of forest diversity and function, coupled with improved predictive models. However, they cannot be met without greater financial commitment to sustain the long-term research of ForestGEO and other forest plot networks, greatly expanded scientific capacity across the world's forested nations, and increased collaboration and integration among research networks and disciplines addressing forest science.
- Published
- 2021