HUMANS OF TYSON 2021

Forest Biodiversity

The Forest Biodiversity team investigates patterns of biodiversity, biogeography, and community ecology at varying spatial and temporal scales. They have two ongoing projects this summer. The first one is their Species-Pool, Fire, and Diversity experiment, or SPFD, where the team measures the effects of fire, herbivory, and environmental variation on forest biodiversity. Their second project is part of the Forest Global Earth Observatory, or ForestGEO network, where the team observes long-term biodiversity trends such as tree growth in response to global environmental change. Their work consists of mostly in-person field work in the forests of the research center. Each morning at 8 a.m., the team gathers on the back porch of Tyson Headquarters for a group stretch, in preparation for the coming day of collecting seeds, measuring seedlings, or surveying tree demography (growth, survival, and recruitment) across Tyson’s steep woody landscapes.

Explore the team member profiles below to learn more about their perspectives during summer 2021.