Inside a tropical montane forest: Understanding patterns of plant diversity and ecosystem functioning across the Andes
OCTF seminar followed by drinks – all welcome

Andean tropical montane forests (TMFs) are one of the world’s most threatened terrestrial ecosystems. Despite representing a small fraction of the world’s tropical forests, they hold high levels of species richness and endemism, and are therefore critical for the conservation of global biodiversity. Unfortunately, our knowledge of the mechanisms shaping species composition, diversity and turnover in TMFs, as well as key ecosystem processes such as carbon storage, are partial or incomplete. Our research group aims to contribute to the current knowledge of Andean TMFs by studying the complex drivers shaping taxonomic and functional diversity, as well as ecosystem processes at different spatial scales, expanding our understanding of these highly specialized ecosystems. Our principal research questions are: 1) What are the mechanisms shaping species assemblages (competitive exclusion vs. environmental filtering) at different spatial scales? 2) How does leaf compoundness change along elevational gradients and what processes are responsible for the observed patterns? 3) How does species turnover change along altitudinal and latitudinal gradients? 4) What are the main biogeographical regions of TMFs in the Andes and which hold the highest plant diversity and endemicity? and 5) What is the contribution of TMFs to carbon storage? Our results will contribute to advance current biodiversity research in tropical ecosystems and support the effective conservation of these unique ecosystems.

Luis Cayuela is an Associate Professor at Rey Juan Carlos University, Spain, where he teaches courses on conservation biology, ecology and statistics. His research interests focus on tropical ecology from an integrative perspective, including the functioning, structure, dynamics, and management of tropical ecosystems. He belongs to the Tropical Ecology Lab (www.grupoecologiatropical.com), an interinstitutional group of professors and researchers sharing multidisciplinary interests in the field of tropical biology, including topics such as community ecology, floristics and botany, evolution, and conservation. At present he collaborates with research institutions from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Finland, UK and USA.
Date: 14 June 2019, 16:15
Venue: Dyson Perrins Building, off South Parks Road OX1 3QY
Venue Details: Gilbert Rooom, 1st floor (lift available)
Speaker: Luis Cayuela Delgado (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid)
Organising department: Oxford University Centre for the Environment
Organiser: Jane Applegarth (University of Oxford, Oxford University Centre for the Environment)
Organiser contact email address: jane.applegarth@eci.ox.ac.uk
Host: Professor Yadvinder Malhi (University of Oxford)
Part of: Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests
Topics:
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://bookwhen.com/octf#focus=ev-s413-20190614161500
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Jane Applegarth