OOS 31 - Mechanisms, Patterns, and Implications of Large Tropical Tree Mortality

Friday, August 16, 2019: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
M103, Kentucky International Convention Center
Organizer:
Evan Gora
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
Partitioning mortality into growth-dependent and growth-independent hazards across 203 tropical tree species (widthdrawn)
Daniel S. Falster, University of New South Wales; James Camac, University of Melbourne; Richard Condit, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Mark Westoby, Macquarie University; S Joseph Wright, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
8:40 AM Cancelled
OOS 31-3
Crown damage, growth, and life-history trade-offs: Direct and indirect effects on tropical tree mortality (widthdrawn)
Gabriel Arellano, University of Michigan; Nagore G. Medina, University of South Bohemia; Sylvester Tan, Forest Department Sarawak; Mohizah Mohamad, Sarawak Forestry Department; Stuart J. Davies, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
9:00 AM
The contributions of lianas to tropical tree mortality
Eva Arroyo, Columbia University; Marco D. Visser, Princeton University; S Joseph Wright, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Helene Muller-Landau, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
9:20 AM Cancelled
OOS 31-5
Extreme weather as drivers of the regional forest dynamics in the Amazon (widthdrawn)
Robinson Negron-Juarez, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
9:40 AM
9:50 AM
Lightning-caused disturbance in forests: Effects on large trees and their associates
Stephen P. Yanoviak, University of Louisville; Evan Gora, University of Louisville; Helene Muller-Landau, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Jeffrey C Burchfield, University of Alabama in Huntsville; Phillip M. Bitzer, University of Alabama in Huntsville
10:10 AM
Lightning-caused disturbance across landscapes, ecosystems, and continents
Evan Gora, University of Louisville; Jeffrey C Burchfield, University of Alabama in Huntsville; Helene Muller-Landau, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Phillip M. Bitzer, University of Alabama in Huntsville; Stephen P. Yanoviak, University of Louisville
11:10 AM
Do tropical trees die in climate models?
Emilie Joetzjer, LSCE, CNRM; Rosie A. Fisher, National Center for Atmospheric Research; Christine Delire, CNRM