CTFS‐ForestGEO: a worldwide network monitoring forests in an era of global change

• Published in: Global change biology Vol. 21; no. 2; pp. 528 - 549
• Main Authors: Anderson‐Teixeira, Kristina J, Davies, Stuart J, Bennett, Amy C, Gonzalez‐Akre, Erika B, Muller‐Landau, Helene C, Joseph Wright, S, Abu Salim, Kamariah, Almeyda Zambrano, Angélica M, Alonso, Alfonso, Baltzer, Jennifer L, Basset, Yves, Bourg, Norman A, Broadbent, Eben N, Brockelman, Warren Y, Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh, Burslem, David F. R. P, Butt, Nathalie, Cao, Min, Cardenas, Dairon, Chuyong, George B, Clay, Keith, Cordell, Susan, Dattaraja, Handanakere S, Deng, Xiaobao, Duque, Alvaro, Erikson, David L, Ewango, Corneille E.N, Fischer, Gunter A, Fletcher, Christine, Giardina, Christian P, Gilbert, Gregory S, Gunatilleke, Nimal, Gunatilleke, Savitri, Hao, Zhanqing, Hargrove, William W, Hart, Terese B, Hau, Billy C.H, He, Fangliang, Howe, Robert W, Hubbell, Stephen P, Inman‐Narahari, Faith M, Jansen, Patrick A, Jiang, Mingxi, Johnson, Daniel J, Kanzaki, Mamoru, Kassim, Abdul Rahman, Kenfack, David, Kibet, Staline, Kinnaird, Margaret F, Korte, Lisa, Kral, Kamil, Kumar, Jitendra, Larson, Andrew J, Li, Yide, Li, Xiankun, Liu, Shirong, Lum, Shawn K.Y, Lutz, James A, Ma, Keping, Maddalena, Damian M, Makana, Jean‐Remy, Malhi, Yadvinder, Marthews, Toby, McMahon, Sean M, McShea, William J, Memiaghe, Hervé R, Mi, Xiangcheng, Mizuno, Takashi, Morecroft, Michael, Myers, Jonathan A, Novotny, Vojtech, Oliveira, Alexandre A, Orwig, David A, Ostertag, Rebecca, Ouden, Jan, Parker, Geoffrey G, Phillips, Richard P, Sack, Lawren, Sang, Weiguo, Sri‐ngernyuang, Kriangsak, Sukumar, Raman, Sungpalee, Witchaphart, Suresh, Hebbalalu Sathyanarayana, Tan, Sylvester, Thomas, Sean C, Thomas, Duncan W, Thompson, Jill, Turner, Benjamin L, Uriarte, Maria, Valencia, Renato, Vallejo, Marta I, Vicentini, Alberto, Vrška, Tomáš, Wang, Xihua, Wang, Xugao, Weiblen, George, Wolf, Amy, Xu, Han, Yap, Sandra, Zimmerman, Jess
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Science 01-02-2015; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Wiley
• Subjects: animals; atmospheric deposition; Biodiversity; Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS); climate; Climate Change; Conservation of Natural Resources; demography; dispersal limitation; ecosystem services; Ecosystems; el-nino; environmental factors; Environmental Monitoring; ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; forest dynamics plot; Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO); Forests; functional traits; global change; habitat fragmentation; landscapes; latitude; long-term monitoring; long-term nitrogen; monitoring; neotropical forest; nitrogen; phylogenetic structure; rain-forest; seedling recruitment; spatial analysis; spatial-patterns; stems; sulfur; trees; tropical tree community; biodiversity; spatial analysis; Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS); demography; Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO); forest dynamics plot; long-term monitoring; climate change
• ISSN: 1354-1013; 1365-2486
• DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12712

Global change is impacting forests worldwide, threatening biodiversity and ecosystem services including climate regulation. Understanding how forests respond is critical to forest conservation and climate protection. This review describes an international network of 59 long‐term forest dynamics research sites (CTFS‐ForestGEO) useful for characterizing forest responses to global change. Within very large plots (median size 25 ha), all stems ≥1 cm diameter are identified to species, mapped, and regularly recensused according to standardized protocols. CTFS‐ForestGEO spans 25°S–61°N latitude, is generally representative of the range of bioclimatic, edaphic, and topographic conditions experienced by forests worldwide, and is the only forest monitoring network that applies a standardized protocol to each of the world's major forest biomes. Supplementary standardized measurements at subsets of the sites provide additional information on plants, animals, and ecosystem and environmental variables. CTFS‐ForestGEO sites are experiencing multifaceted anthropogenic global change pressures including warming (average 0.61 °C), changes in precipitation (up to ±30% change), atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and sulfur compounds (up to 3.8 g N m⁻² yr⁻¹and 3.1 g S m⁻² yr⁻¹), and forest fragmentation in the surrounding landscape (up to 88% reduced tree cover within 5 km). The broad suite of measurements made at CTFS‐ForestGEO sites makes it possible to investigate the complex ways in which global change is impacting forest dynamics. Ongoing research across the CTFS‐ForestGEO network is yielding insights into how and why the forests are changing, and continued monitoring will provide vital contributions to understanding worldwide forest diversity and dynamics in an era of global change.