NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute for FY 2012 in China

Hakkenberg Christopher, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Christopher Hakkenberg of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to conduct a research project, entitled "Filling in the Gaps: Restoring Forest Ecosystems in SW China" during the summer of 2012 at Kunming Institute of Botany in Yunnan, China. The host scientist is Dr. Xu Jianchu. Through a combination of afforestation and reforestation programs China has increased its forest coverage; two of the efforts are the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) and the Natural Forest Protection Program (NFPP). While the new forests emerging in China's heavily human-impacted landscapes may not match the original old-growth forests in structure and community diversity, plantation reforestation holds the potential to restore some vital ecosystem functions to degraded lands where persistent ecological barriers to succession might otherwise preclude native species' seedling recruitment. Because of their sacred status among local populations and their general inaccessibility to timber operations, remnant "near-natural" forest patches persist in montane northwestern Yunnan that are well suited to ecological restoration via natural regeneration. Reforestation campaigns like the SLCP and NFPP hold the potential to connect these disparate forest patches, thus enhancing landscape connectivity and biodiversity. This research is testing if these reforestation projects lead to different outcomes in the rate of tree species accumulation as well as the nature of forest composition. It compares processes of forest community assembly on degraded sites and analyzes how plots' spatial relationship from source "forest islands" compare with plot reforestation methods as a determinant of community composition, species abundance and diversity. Broader Impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce.