Friday, August 16, 2019: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
M103, Kentucky International Convention Center
Co-organizer:
Helene Muller-Landau
Moderator:
Helene Muller-Landau
Tropical forests are extremely important to the global carbon budget, and tropical forest carbon stocks are highly sensitive to patterns of large tree mortality. However, patterns, mechanisms, and major causes of large tree death remain underexplored. This knowledge gap is particularly concerning now because tree mortality rates are increasing in many regions and this unexplained phenomenon is a major source of uncertainty for attempts to understand the effects of climate change. In recent years, efforts were launched to address this knowledge gap and they are beginning to answer many fundamental questions. This session brings together a diverse array of speakers that are using a variety of methods and study systems to explore the factors that regulate large tree mortality. Speakers will present new empirical data describing major mechanisms of tree mortality, including biotic agents – lianas and fungal heartrot – and abiotic factors such as drought, windthrow, and lightning. Other studies explore how patterns of large tree mortality are associated with tree traits and environmental conditions, and describe the current status of tree mortality models and the challenges these models must overcome. The results of these studies represent major advances in our understanding of tropical forest dynamics and include many of the first efforts to quantify the relative contributions of different mechanisms to total tree mortality rates. In addition to their relevance to tropical forest carbon dynamics, the processes described here likely contribute to tree species coexistence and therefore help maintain biodiversity in tropical forests.
8:00 AM
Drivers of tree mortality in Amazonia
Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert, University of Leeds, University of Birmingham;
David Galbraith, University of Leeds;
Oliver Phillips, University of Leeds;
Network Rainfor, Multiple Institutions
8:20 AM
Cancelled
OOS 31-2
8:40 AM
Cancelled
OOS 31-3
9:20 AM
Cancelled
OOS 31-5