SGER: Response of Tropical Montane Cloud Forest Ecotone to Severe Fires, Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic

Cornell Univ - State: Awds Made Prior May 2010, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

In spring 2005, severe natural fires burned through the virgin forests of the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic. Previous research in these forests attributed a discrete change in forest composition at about 2,000 m elevation to the effects of historic fires. Such discrete shifts in vegetation in the face of gradually changing environmental factors are exceptional, and strong feedbacks between forest composition and the likelihood of fire were hypothesized. The recent fires present a powerful empirical test of this hypothesis and could provide quantitative evidence of the strength of these feedbacks. The extent and pattern of spread of the fires will be mapped using remote imagery. Based on a set of permanent plots that were established before the fires, field sampling of fire intensity and ground truthing of remote imagery will be conducted. Initial vegetation recovery from the fires also will be quantified. Understanding of the sensitivity of globally-threatened tropical montane cloud forests to changes in fire frequency accompanying future climate change should be improved by this proposed study. Important broader impacts of the research will include the training of undergraduate students and the participation in the research by Dominican National Park Service staff who serve as guides and field assistants.