Investigating Forest Dynamics Using data from the CTFS global network of large-scale forest plots, researchers are answering scientific questions about tropical forests that were impossible to address just a few years ago. These include questions such as:
The unique long-term, large-scale nature of CTFS data sets enables scientists to answer these questions and explain the mechanisms and processes of tropical forests, knowledge of which is key to their sustainable management and conservation. In addition, data from new temperate plots will augment these data sets and allow scientists to make the tropical-temperate comparisons necessary for comprehensively evaluating climate change and advancing ecologically viable responses to it. Research Areas •Applied Ecology•Arthropod Monitoring•Carbon •DNA Barcoding•Paleoecology•Phylogeography & Phylogenetics•Plant Functional Traits •Soils•Vertebrate Monitoring |