A1.1 Forest growth dynamics and climate history - Dendroecological reconstruction and climate modelling

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PI(s) for this project:

Prof. Dr. Achim Bräuning

Project abstract: Dendroecological reconstruction and modelling of climate and forest growth variability in the surrounding of Loja in southern Ecuador during historic times.

Project description: Seasonal tree-growth dynamics and wood formation shall be studied with the help of high-resolution dendrometer measurements and quantitative analysis of wood microcores collected in monthly intervals. In contrast to investigations carried out during the previous project, the proposed study shall be conducted along a climatic gradient in southern Ecuador including humid mountain rainforests and dry deciduous forests. Based on the derived climate-growth relationships, local climate reconstructions using long increment cores from different tree species shall be developed from ring width measurements and analyses of stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in the wood cellulose. These tree-ring data will be calibrated with spatial fields of certain climate parameters derived from NCEP/NCAR data by using the MM5 model. From these calibrations a climate-growth model named CLIVATREC shall be developed that relates variations in tree-ring data to regional variations of climate parameters. This model is used to reconstruct areal changes of climate variability during the past ca. 300 years and potential tree growth reactions on future climate developments. A close comparison to vegetation history derived from pollen analysis will be carried out. On the plot level, forest dynamics and tree reaction to management measures shall be deepened by analysing the growth reactions to controlled tree fellings that were conducted in the forest of the RBSF.

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Keywords

aboveground biomass Agroforestry air temperature altitudinal gradient AM fungi Andes Biodiversity biodiversity Biodiversity conservation boosted regression trees C source limitation calcium carbon stocks climate climate change clouds conservation payments database design DOC DOI ECSF Ecuador environmental gradients fire history foliar N forest forest and open land forest line generalized linear models grassland Holocene hydrochemistry hydrological processes information management system insect herbivores isotopes Lagunas Natosas land-use change landslide Late Glacial leaf dark respiration light-saturated net photosynthesis mean transit time mean–variance metadatabase microcatchment 2 mineral N model comparison Modern Oldfield trap Modern pollen rain mountain forest native species Newsletter nitrate nitrogen nutrient limitation nutrient manipulation Palaeoecology palynology Pampa parameters estimation Paramo pH phosphorus phosphorus availability Pilodyn wood tester Piperaceae Pleistocene Poaceae pollen pollen analysis pollen grain morphology Páramo Q2 rainwater chemistry realistic forcing reforestation regionalization research group Setaria sphacelata simulation model soil N availability soil nutrients soil organic matter South America South Ecuador species richness estimate statistical modeling stochastic dominance sulphur temporal trends thermal structure tracer tree growth tree seeds tropical lowland forests tropical montane forest tropical soils weighted model ensembles wood production