Expanding tropical forest monitoring into Dry Forests: The DRYFLOR protocol for permanent plots

• Published in: Plants, people, planet Vol. 3; no. 3; pp. 295 - 300
• Main Authors: Moonlight, Peter W., Banda‐R, Karina, Phillips, Oliver L., Dexter, Kyle G., Pennington, R. Toby, Baker, Tim R., C. de Lima, Haroldo, Fajardo, Laurie, González‐M., Roy, Linares‐Palomino, Reynaldo, Lloyd, Jon, Nascimento, Marcelo, Prado, Darién, Quintana, Catalina, Riina, Ricarda, Rodríguez M., Gina M., Maria Villela, Dora, Aquino, Ana Carla M. M., Arroyo, Luzmila, Bezerra, Cidney, Tadeu Brunello, Alexandre, Brienen, Roel J. W., Cardoso, Domingos, Chao, Kuo‐Jung, Cotta Coutinho, Ítalo Antônio, Cunha, John, Domingues, Tomas, Espírito Santo, Mário Marcos, Feldpausch, Ted R., Ferreira Fernandes, Moabe, Goodwin, Zoë A., Jiménez, Eliana María, Levesley, Aurora, Lopez‐Toledo, Leonel, Marimon, Beatriz, Miatto, Raquel C., Mizushima, Marcelo, Monteagudo, Abel, Soelma Beserra de Moura, Magna, Murakami, Alejandro, Neves, Danilo, Nicora Chequín, Renata, César de Sousa Oliveira, Tony, Almeida de Oliveira, Edmar, P. de Queiroz, Luciano, Pilon, Alan, Marques Ramos, Desirée, Reynel, Carlos, Rodrigues, Priscyla M. S., Santos, Rubens, Särkinen, Tiina, Fernando da Silva, Valdemir, Souza, Rodolfo M. S., Vasquez, Rodolfo, Veenendaal, Elmar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lancaster John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.05.2021; Wiley
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Biogeochemical cycles; Carbon; Carbon cycle; Climate change; Climate change monitoring; Dry forests; Earth; Ecosystems; floristics; Forests; Land use; long term plots; Monitoring; Protocol; Rainforests; tropical dry forests; Tropical forests; vegetation dynamics; vegetation structure; Peru; Amazon Basin
• ISSN: 2572-2611; 2572-2611
• DOI: 10.1002/ppp3.10112

Societal Impact Statement Understanding 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. Understanding of tropical forests has been revolutionised 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.