Yan Moraes

Biologist

Tropical forests: plant vulnerability to drought and its effects on ecosystem hydrology


ABSTRACT: Here we address the ecophysiological linkages between plants and the water cycles in tropical forests. Specifically, we access a wide range of rain-to-dry forests that encompass three Brazilian biomes (Amazon, Atlantic, and Caatinga forests) combining global databases and field data collection on climate, plant transpiration, and mortality rates to address: 
  1. How much tropical forests have been exposed to extreme droughts (e.g., El Niño)?
  2. How extreme droughts affect tree mortality when combined with anthropogenic disturbances (e.g., logging and fire), and how it can be predicted by plant strategies?
  3. How drought effects on tree mortality can be mediated by biotic stress (e.g., insect outbreaks)?
  4. How plant strategies and mortality risk can be described by their transpiration rates, and how they are shaped by environmental filters?
  5. How does diff rent plant strategies contribute to hydrological processes such as evapotranspiration and rainfall interception?