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The Importance of Biotic Interactions in Tropical Rain Forest Regeneration (February 1999)
This project will investigate mechanisms of tropical forest regeneration using Sepilok forest in the Malaysian state of Sabah as a model for the lowland forests of Southeast Asia dominated by the Dipterocarpaceae. These processes are important because the forests at Sepilok contain a very high diversity of dipterocarp canopy trees, and the mechanisms by which this diversity is maintained are poorly understood. The project will test the hypothesis that biotic factors such as herbivores, mycorrhizas, seed predators, fungal pathogens and competitor species interact with the abiotic environment to determine the performance and survival of juvenile life-stages of dipterocarps. These experiments will allow us to examine whether the differential distributions of common species in relation to habitat heterogeneity in the forest can be predicted on the basis of interactions between the biotic factors and the abiotic environment, and to interpret long-term spatial and demographic data from permanent plots established since the 1950s. We will be using an experimental approach and standard designs across the programme, to enable us to investigate responses to combinations of biotic factors as well as the interaction between biotic factors and the abiotic environment. The outcome will be an integrated understanding of the functional significance of biotic interactions for maintenance of tropical tree species richness.
The consortium comprises ecologists from five UK institutions (Universities of Aberdeen, Sheffield and Leeds, Imperial College London and the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology) and three Malaysian Institutions (University of Malaysia Sabah, Forest Research Centre Sabah and Forest Research Institute of Malaysia), although we hope that collaborative links with other individuals and institutions will evolve over time, with the aim of making the programme as inclusive as possible. We will be shortly recruiting one postdoctoral research assistant and five PhD students, including two Malaysians, to begin work in September 1999. There will be regular reports in the Bulletin and presentations at the Winter Meeting about the programme as it progresses.
David Burslem, University of Aberdeen
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