Biomass dynamics of tropical upland forest, Colombia

Supervisors : Dr John Pitman, Dr. Mark Mulligan, Department of Geography, Kings College London

A major concern of tropical forest loss by deforestation is the effects this has on the storage/sequesterization of organic carbon by both living and dead above and below ground plant material. Central to the scientific understanding of the flux of both carbon and other chemical is sound knowledge of forest biomass components and their spatial and temporal dynamics.

This project will involve the destructive sampling of at least 1 ha plots of undisturbed tropical forest and the complete enumeration of the species composition of all plants/trees > 5cm gbh. The destructive sampling will allow the characterisation of the forest biomass and its stratification into leaves, branches, stems, roots for trees, lianes, and understory vegetation, and enable allometric equations to be used to determine the biomass of similar undisturbed plots elsewhere in the study area. Additionally, sampling of the biomass components for chemical compostion will enable a nutrient inventory to be made which will for a base-line for associated biogeochemical studies described above.

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