Natural and logged tropical forests in the context of climate change
I have just started a research position with the Join Research Unit Ecology of Guiana Forests where I will be studying the response of forest ecosystems to logging activities and climate change.
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Past research – Secondary succession in tropical dry forest
These studies were conducted as part of my doctoral research at Bangor University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, with the European doctoral program Forest and Nature for Society (Fonaso) and in collaboration with the Powers Lab. I used a combination of experiments, observations and meta-analysis to study the models and long-term trajectories of succession and their drivers and the underlying mechanisms and processes. My thesis is available here.
Changes in leaf traits of saplings during secondary succession in tropical dry forest
This study aims to improve the understanding of assembly in tropical dry forest communities. I investigate the changes of values of leaf morphological
and chemical traits related to resource acquisition strategies with succession
in communities of young trees in secondary tropical dry forest. My approach
takes into account intra-specific variability of trait values by sampling a
large number of individuals in a chronosequence of secondary forest. I explore the effect of environmental conditions and ontogeny on the
variability of trait values, at the scale of the community and of individual species.
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Isolated trees as nuclei of regeneration in tropical pastures
This study focuses on the factors structuring the regeneration under isolated trees in dry tropical pastures. I test the importance of landscape patterns and individual structural and functional traits of isolated trees in explaining the properties of regeneration assemblages. This is done through inventory of the woody regeneration under a large number of trees in actively grazed pastures. I examine the regenerating assemblages in both taxonomic and functional terms, considering traits associated with seed dispersal and drought tolerance.
Influence of canopy trees on seed germination and seedling establishment underneath
This study
uses an experimental approach to investigate the mechanisms underlying the
positive and negative interaction between trees forming the canopy and the
regeneration underneath, at different stages of secondary succession. For that,
I manipulate the effect of canopy trees (above and below ground) and monitor
the seed fate and the seedling establishment for species that have been
selected for their contrasting traits.
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