An International Training Workshop on Tropical Soil Properties and Hydrology Linked to Existing Forest Dynamics Projects; Barro Colorado Island, Panama; September 2003

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge LA

Investigators

Abstract

0314581 Harms This Americas Program award will support a workshop on how the structure and dynamics of a tropical forest are related to physical properties of the environment in which they occur. The meeting is being organized by Dr. Kyle Harms of Louisiana State University, in collaboration with Dr. Cristian Samper of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Balboa, Panama. The workshop will bring together graduate students and senior researchers from the United States, Europe, and eight tropical countries to learn and exchange techniques aimed at characterizing the soils and hydrology of research plots already established for long-term studies of forest diversity and dynamics. The workshop will contribute to an ongoing NSF-funded research project coordinated by the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute that is attempting to link tree diversity with global variation in tropical soils, climate and other physical factors. There are now 15 large-scale forest dynamics monitoring plots within the network coordinated by CTFS and the proposed workshop will more than double the participation of people and geographic regions in the overall project. Workshop activities will consist of: (1) evening lectures and informal discussions on the theory and background of nutrient cycling and hydrology in tropical forests; (2) Discussions of experimental design and sampling techniques to measure soil-borne resources; (3) Hands-on practice of key soils and hydrological analyses at the Barro Colorado site; and (4) Discussion and development of a variety of new measurements and protocols that could be carried out inexpensively, and independently by local collaborators at each site. Thus the proposed workshop would promote the involvement of many international participants in the design of projects, would ensure that data collection at all sites follows a unified set of methodologies, and would catalyze further cross-site comparisons.