Jonathan Myers
The Tyson Forest Dynamics Plot is a large-scale (25 ha), long-term forest-dynamics plot that is part of the Smithsonian Center for Tropical Forest Science-Forest Global Earth Observatory (CTFS-ForestGEO), the largest, systematically studied network of forest-ecology plots in the world. Within the central 20-ha of the plot, all trees and shrubs >1 cm in diameter are tagged, identified, mapped, and measured every five years. Additional monitoring data include surveys of birds, coarse-woody debris, herbaceous plants, litter decomposition, mammals, microclimate, mycorrhizal fungi, plant functional traits, seed rain, seedling recruitment, soil chemistry, and ticks. Together with collaborators from around the world, the Myers Lab is using these data to explore a wide range of questions, including: 1) What ecological and evolutionary processes determine biodiversity and community assembly from local to global scales?; 2) How and why does global environmental change (e.g., climate change, drought, fire, invasive species) alter plant populations, communities, and forest ecosystems?; and 3) To what extent do the drivers of long-term population, community, and ecosystem dynamics differ across temperate and tropical forests?
