RAPID: Quantifying the impact of a large, infrequent disturbance on landscape carbon balance: strengthening conceptual understanding of ecosystem carbon fluxes

Brown University, Providence RI

Investigators

Abstract

Tropical forests are affected by severe windstorms that cause large trees to fall very suddenly. These storms are massive and unpredictable, so it has been difficult to understand their full impacts. This project will study a recent catastrophic storm event that caused considerable damage in the lowlands of Costa Rica. The extent of fallen trees, and the amount of carbon in those trees, will be measured by flying a detector over the forest while taking some basic measurements of forest structure on the ground. Later, the pictures taken from the air will be analyzed to produce a measurement of fallen trees and carbon. The project will directly support graduate and undergraduate students in the U.S. All of the data generated by this research will be made publicly available without restriction. The findings of this research will be published in open-access journals, or with an open access option, whenever possible. This research tests two predictions about how disturbance events influence carbon inputs and outputs. The approach will examine changes in above ground carbon stocks before and after a recent catastrophic storm at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. The measurement of fallen trees will be conducted by a very high resolution remote sensing aircraft using the LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technique. LIDAR is a surveying method that measures distance to a target by illuminating the target with pulsed laser light and measuring the reflected pulses with a sensor. These measurements will be accompanied by ground surveys of fallen trees to provide important additional information. The occurrence of this storm at a well-studied field station with the infrastructure and baseline measurements necessary to advance conceptual understanding of forest carbon cycling is an unprecedented research opportunity. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.