OPUS: Lessons Learned From Model Tropical Ecosystems

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

Building on almost two decades of field research in tropical systems of the Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica, this project synthesizes information on relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Over this time period, field studies that involved relatively simple experimental ecosystems comprising combinations of the most important plant life forms of the tropical rain forest were carried out. Through analysis of these experimental ecosystems, the role of biodiversity in ecosystem functioning was revealed, and the processes involved and mechanisms responsible for phenomena were observed. The objective of this research is to gain further, more synthetic, insights and understanding of the relationships among individual plant species and combinations of plant species, and factors that influence an ecosystem's capacity to be sustained. This will be accomplished by integrating results reported in the project's 50 publications and 11 theses together with new analyses of existing data on soil, water, and vegetation. The research will result in wide dissemination of findings through publications that target relatively broad audiences. Those publications will include, among others, a paper emphasizing the implications of the research for land use and restoration of ecosystem processes, plus a synthetic monograph that couples nutrient storage in vegetation and soil with nutrient flows linked to ecosystem processes such as productivity, leaching, and resource partitioning. Students first trained through an Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program will have an opportunity to be supported by this project and thereby gain experience in conducting synthesis research from large amounts of ecological data. The findings are intended to be applicable to ecological issues of broad importance to society, including the design of sustainable systems of land use and ecosystem restoration. By understanding the mechanisms and processes involved, resource managers will have improved ability to generalize and will be able to avoid having to treat each situation as unique.