Abstract
Societal Impact StatementUnderstanding of tropical forests has been revolutionized by monitoring in permanent plots. Data from global plot networks have transformed our knowledge of forests’ diversity, function, contribution to global biogeochemical cycles, and sensitivity to climate change. Monitoring has thus far been concentrated in rain forests. Despite increasing appreciation of their threatened status, biodiversity, and importance to the global carbon cycle, monitoring in tropical dry forests is still in its infancy. We provide a protocol for permanent monitoring plots in tropical dry forests. Expanding monitoring into dry biomes is critical for overcoming the linked challenges of climate change, land use change, and the biodiversity crisis.
Highlights
We provide a protocol for permanent monitoring plots in tropical dry forests
CTFS-forestGEO employs much larger plots where every stem ≥ 1 cm in diameter is measured, and this more intensive survey means that there are fewer (
Protocols designed for 1 ha plots in the moist tropics (e.g. Phillips, 2018) fail to capture the majority of growth, mortality, or recruitment dynamics in these systems, primarily because mature individuals of many species do not reach a minimum diameter at breast height (DBH) of 10 cm
Summary
Despite increasing appreciation of their threatened status, biodiversity, and importance to the global carbon cycle, monitoring in tropical dry forests is still in its infancy. We provide a protocol for permanent monitoring plots in tropical dry forests.
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