National Science Foundation University of Connecticut PBDFF Louisianna State Universtiy CIECO Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y EzsenanzaWageningen Organization for Tropical Studies

Study Areas

Study areas

A team of researchers, postdocs, graduate, and undergraduate students are synthesizing results from four initially independent projects on secondary forest regeneration in central Amazonia, BrazilCosta Rica, and Chiapas, Mexico. These studies provide a wide array of successional sites, encompassing a range of successional stages, climatic gradients, and land-use histories in tropical forest ecosystems.

Annually monitored chronosequence sites

 

Study Location Previous Use Landscape Matrix Number of Plots Initial Stand Age Plot Size Year Initiated
NE Costa Rica No prior use Forest 2 Mature Forest 1 ha, 5 cm 2005
NE Costa Rica Pasture Agricultural matrix and Forest 2 11 1 ha, 5 cm 2005
NE Costa Rica Pasture Agricultural matrix and Forest 4 12, 15, 20, 25 1 ha, 5 cm 1997
NE Costa Rica Cleared, no pasture Agricultural matrix and Forest 4 1, 15, 15, 25 1.16 ha, 5 cm 1987
Chiapas, Mexico Swidden Agricultural matrix and forest 11 1-17 0.05 ha, 1 cm 2000
Manaus, Brazil Pasture, burned 0-7 times Second-growth mosaic in mature forest matrix 16 2-17 0.025 ha, 1-3 cm 1999
Manaus, Brazil Pasture, burned 0-7 times Second-growth mosaic in mature forest matrix 1 5 0.5 ha, 3 cm 2000
Manaus, Brazil Pasture, burned 0-7 times Second-growth mosaic in mature forest matrix 2 19 0.06 ha, 3 cm 2002

 

Sites contributing additional chronosequence points and their PIs

 

Study Location Previous Use Landscape Matrix Number of Plots Initial Stand Age Plot Size Year Initiated

Chiapas (Martínez-Ramos & Bongers)

Swidden; Pasture Agricultural Matrix and Forest Fragments 21, 66 2-13; 1-50 0.05 ha, 1 cm 1998

NE Costa Rica (Schedlbauer & Finegan)

Pasture Agricultural Matrix and Forest Fragments 12 8-22 0.25 ha, 10 cm, nested subplots 2005

NE Costa Rica (Letcher)

Various Agricultural matrix and forest 35 5-45 0.1 ha, 2.5 cm 2006

Manaus, Brazil (Lucas & Mesquita)

Various Agricultural matrix and Forest 4 30-35 0.1 ha, 5 cm 1995