{"id":2383,"date":"2021-07-06T13:22:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T13:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/ted-feldpausch\/?p=2383"},"modified":"2024-12-16T13:49:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T13:49:48","slug":"over-2500-researchers-working-together-to-transform-scientific-understanding-of-tropical-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/ted-feldpausch\/2021\/07\/06\/over-2500-researchers-working-together-to-transform-scientific-understanding-of-tropical-forests\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking the pulse of Earth\u2019s tropical forests using networks of highly distributed plots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This video<\/a> and paper<\/a> highlight the work we are doing through ForestPlots.net to take the pulse of Earth’s tropical forests. Research and activities through Forestplots.net for the past decade and a half have created opportunities to advance understanding of tropical forests and trained the next generation of tropical forest scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Tropical forests are the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth. While better understanding of these forests is critical for our collective future, until quite recently efforts to measure and monitor them have been largely disconnected. Networking is essential to discover the answers to questions that transcend borders and the horizons of funding agencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ForestPlots.net<\/a>, an international network, including researchers from the University of Exeter, brings together more than 2,500 scientists who have examined millions of trees to explore the effect of climate change on forests and biodiversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new research paper published in Biological Conservation<\/a><\/em> explains the origins of the network, and how the power of collaboration is transforming forest research in Africa, South America and Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paper includes 551 researchers and outlines 25 years of discovery in the carbon, biodiversity and dynamics of tropical forests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we show how a global community is responding to the challenges of tropical ecosystem research with diverse teams measuring forests tree-by-tree in thousands of long-term plots. We review the major scientific discoveries of this work and show how this process is changing tropical forest science. Our core approach involves linking long-term grassroots initiatives with standardized protocols and data management to generate robust scaled-up results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ForestPlots.net hosts data collected by NERC-FAPESP research project led by Prof. Ted Feldpausch and collaborators in Brazil, including Profs. Plinio Camargo, Kita Macario, Liana Anderson, Ben Hur Marimon, Beatriz Marimon, Luiz Aragao, and others, for our NERC-FAPESP Amazon Past Fire Project and Amazon PyroCarbon Projects. The network also hosts data networks including\u00a0AfriTRON<\/a>,\u00a0ECOFOR<\/a>,\u00a0PPBio<\/a>,\u00a0RAINFOR<\/a>, TROBIT and\u00a0T-FORCES<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working together equitably, the network has shown that long-term monitoring of forests on-the-ground is irreplaceable, making scientific discoveries across the globe. Through large scale analysis, ForestPlots.net researchers discover where and why forest carbon and biodiversity respond to climate change, and how they help control it with a billion tonne annual carbon sink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new research paper, \u201cTaking the pulse of Earth’s tropical forests using networks of highly distributed plots<\/a>\u201d, provides a vision for more integrated and equitable monitoring of Earth’s most precious ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The video showing the work by ForestPlots.net can be found here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7       ENGLISH: https:\/\/youtu.be\/SFM1tVziIk0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7       SPANISH: https:\/\/youtu.be\/80lXt58mAaw<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7       PORTUGUESE: https:\/\/youtu.be\/AoSW1bosYVY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download Paper:<\/strong> Taking the pulse of Earth’s tropical forests using networks of highly distributed plots. ForestPlots.net et al<\/em> 2020. Biological Conservation. DOI: 10.1016\/j.biocon.2020.108849<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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