Details of Award
NERC Reference : NER/A/S/2003/00608/2
Why do different Amazonian forests grow at different rates?
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor YS Malhi, University of Oxford, Geography - SoGE
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor OL Phillips, University of Leeds, Sch of Geography
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor P Meir, University of Edinburgh, Sch of Geosciences
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor P Ineson, University of York, Biology
- Grant held at:
- University of Oxford, Geography - SoGE
- Science Area:
- Terrestrial
- Atmospheric
- Overall Classification:
- Terrestrial
- ENRIs:
- Natural Resource Management
- Global Change
- Biodiversity
- Science Topics:
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Ecosystem Scale Processes
- Soil science
- Abstract:
- What determines the growth rate of a tropical forest? Answering this fairly obvious question would give important insights into tropical forest ecology, as well as greater understanding into the potential responses of tropical forests to atmospheric change and their potential as 'sinks' of carbon dioxide. We have recently discovered that mature tropical forests in the western Amazon grow twice as fast as forests in the eastern Amazon, and that the rate of growth seems driven by soil fertility, and, surprisingly, not by climate. This work has opened up several questions: do the western forests grow faster because they photosynthesise at higher rates? Or (as the circumstantial evidence so far indicates) do they photosynthesise at similar rates, but have to spend higher amounts of carbon on respiration, or allocate more to fine roots, leaving less available for above-ground growth ? We propose to directly answer these questions by conducting a suite of above-ground and below-ground measurements on paired forest plots on fertile and infertile soils, with experiment design duplicated in two regions of the Amazon. At one site, we will also attempt to measure nutrient demand within the soil, to explore which soil nutrient may be limiting.
- NERC Reference:
- NER/A/S/2003/00608/2
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Standard Grants Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Standard Grant
This grant award has a total value of £251,449
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Staff | Total - T&S | Total - Other Costs | Total - Equipment | Total - Indirect Costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £84,416 | £57,796 | £57,796 | £12,610 | £38,831 |
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