Causes and consequences of tree mortality across the world’s tropical forests

Abrupt shifts in tree mortality can significantly affect ecosystem services provided by forests, such as biodiversity, food provision, medicinal resources, and climate regulation.

While increasing tree mortality in temperate regions has been reported, evidence from tropical forests is geographically restricted and focuses on extreme events.

This project aims to address this gap by integrating ground-based measurements from thousands of forest permanent plots across more than 40 countries.

The main objectives include identifying spatial controls on tree mortality rates, testing temporal trends in mortality rates, and assessing species-specific impacts on forest dynamics and biodiversity.

The project leader and a doctoral student will collaborate with hundreds of tropical forest scientists through meetings, workshops, and virtual sessions to analyze data, conduct fieldwork, and perform advanced statistical analysis.

By incorporating diverse forest types often overlooked in global assessments, this project will provide crucial insights for carbon budgeting, remote sensing validation, climate-vegetation predictions, and biodiversity conservation policies.