Open AccessEcological Insights from Long‐term Research Plots in Tropical and Temperate Forests
Author(s) -
Wolf Amy,
Davies Stuart,
Condit Richard
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the bulletin of the ecological society of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2327-6096
pISSN - 0012-9623
DOI - 10.1890/0012-9623-90.4.519
Subject(s) - temperate rainforest , temperate climate , ecology , geography , temperate forest , forest dynamics , tropics , tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests , session (web analytics) , subtropics , global change , agroforestry , forestry , ecosystem , environmental science , climate change , biology , world wide web , computer science
This session was devoted to findings from an international network of long-term forest dynamics plots, providing some of the first comparisons between the tropical and temperate study areas. Whereas most ecologists recognize the importance of long-term research (Callahan 1984, Likens 1989, Magnuson 1990, Hobbie et al. 2003, and others), large-scale projects like this one are rare. The global network of forest dynamics plots has expanded since its origin in the early 1980s, yet research at the plots has remained integrated due to a combination of individual scientists’ efforts and institutional commitments from the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS, ‹www.ctfs.si.edu› of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University (Hubbell and Foster 1983, Condit 1995). Today, 26 large plots have been established in tropical or subtropical forests of Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, along with 8 recently added temperate forest plots. A standard protocol (Condit 1998) is followed at all sites, including the marking, mapping, and measuring of all trees and shrubs with stem diameters ≥1 cm.