School of Geography and the Environment

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Ecosystem Research Topics: Ecosystem Dynamics

The ECI Ecosystem Dynamics Programme seeks to understand what makes contemporary ecosystems; and how they may be affected by direct human pressures and global atmospheric change. The tools we employ in our research include:

• Intensive field observation of carbon, water and nutrient cycling; vegetation and soil properties; plant ecophysiology; and climate.
• Multi decadal and large scale monitoring and analysis of ecosystem structure, composition and dynamics.
• Quantitative modelling of ecosystem ecophysiology and biogeochemical cycling.
• Satellite remote sensing at local, regional and global scales
• Macro-ecological analysis of plant function and traits.
• Our interests are global, but we have particularly active research in the lowland tropical forests of Amazonia and Africa, the montane forests of the Andes, and the temperate woodlands of the UK.

Projects

• Forest Governance

  2009 onwards

  The ECI Forest Governance Programme seeks to strengthen our understanding of how state and non-state institutions and actors shape decisions about the conservation and use of forest resources around the world

• Climate change in the Andes

  2007 - 2009

  Using a transect of study sites ranging from the lowland Amazon forest to the high Andes this group of projects seek to understand what determines the carbon dynamics of Andean montane forests, and how this may be altered by climate change.

• Understanding the carbon balance of Amazon forests

  2008-2011

  The purpose of this four-year project is to determine and communicate the current carbon balance of Amazon forests together with the associated dominant ecological fluxes and their sensitivity to soil and climate variability. A subsidiary goal is to deepen and broaden the RAINFOR project so that the necessary scientific infrastructure is established to monitor the dynamics of Amazon biomass and soil carbon through the 21st century.

• Forest fires and carbon dynamics in Amazonia

  2008-2011

  Dr Luiz Aragao has been awarded a NERC Advanced Research Fellowship to provide a biome-scale quantification and a multi-temporal analysis of post-fire impacts on carbon pools and fluxes of the Amazon biome.

• Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests (OCTF)

  Launched 2008

  The OCTF has been launched to bring together the vast amount of intellectual capital and practical issues relating to tropical forests within the locality. The OCTF aims to foster greater links and intensify synergies between all those interested in the past, present and future of tropical forests.

• Quantifying carbon cycling research at Wytham Woods

  2008-2012

  Quantifying the carbon stocks and flows in current climatic conditions and examines the impact of extreme events, possible signatures of climate change.

• Avoided Deforestation.

  Ongoing

  ECI plays a leading role in understanding the dynamics and ecology of such forests, and is involved in large-scale monitoring projects within the Amazon region to better understand the ecological and climatological changes taking place in these important regions.

• Potential for avoided deforestation in Gabon

  2008-2009

  Creation of an above-ground biomass and carbon map of the Congo Basin to examine the potential for avoided deforestation in the Gabon.

• Temperate forest processes

  2006 - 2007

  Over the 21st Century southern England is projected to experience more frequent summer droughts, and our long-term goal is to understand how climate change will affect British woodlands.

• Tropical Biomes in Transition (TROBIT)

  2006 - 2009

  TROBIT is a NERC-funded consortium project looking at what drives changes in vegetation structure across wet-dry transitions in the tropics.

• Examining the impacts of recent drought in Amazonia

  Jan 06 - Dec 06

  The severe drought which affected Amazonia in 2005 provides a unique opportunity to assess the impact and response of biodiversity to extreme conditions, which may become more widespread in a warmer global climate.

• PAN-AMAZONIA – Project for the advancement of networked science in Amazonia

  2004 - 2007

  Over 70 researchers from 10 Latin American and 9 European countries form this network, with the overall aim of advancing our long term understanding of Amazonian forest structure and function in the face of global change.

• RAINFOR – Amazon Forest Inventory Network

  Continuous since 2000

  An international network established to monitor the biomass and dynamics of Amazonian forests.

• LBA Project: Amazonia's large scale atmosphere-biosphere experiment

  Continuous since 1998

  This network aims to create the knowledge necessary for understanding the climatological, ecological, biochemical, and hydrological interactions and functioning of Amazonia; and the impacts of landuse change on these functions.

• Real-time deforestation detection project - INPE

  Ongoing

  This project uses remote sensing to locate land cover changes in lowland rainforests through the detection of new deforestation bigger than 0.25km²

• Quantifying the ecosystem role in the carbon cycle (QUERCC)

  Jun 06 - 08

  QUERCC addresses land surface processes over timescales from days to centuries, with particular emphasis on the carbon cycle.

• Kruger environments.

  2006 - 2011

  Using paleoecology to establish long-term variability in savanna vegetation, and investigating the role of climate, fire and disturbance in ecosystem dynamics.

Climate Change and the Fate of the Amazon - 20th-22nd March 2007 The potential large-scale dieback of the Amazon rainforest is one of the most profound impacts of climate change in the 21st century. This workshop explores this threat in detail. Read more.

See more about ECI's research in the Amazon through this short video clip