Field Work in Rainforests
– Research in Border Ranges NP and Tropical Rainforests
Recovery of rainforest after fire on different soil types
This project, funded by the Hermon Slade Foundation, investigates how rainforest recovers after the devastating 2019-2020 bushfire season. Four years after the fire, there are still significant differences between burned and control plots and we are measuring several functional and structural aspects of this recovery on a nutrient-poor and a nutrient-rich soil in Northern NSW.
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Temperature responses of photosynthesis in rainforest trees
Australia is blessed with not only tropical rainforest but also subtropical, warm-temperate and cold-temperate rainforests. Field work occurred in various rainforests from the tropics to the south to measure how photosynthesis responded to temperatures to predict the capacity of rainforest to adapt to climate warming. Making these measurements in the field has rarely been done. Stay tuned!
Warming experiment in mature tropical trees
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Lowland tropical rainforest is rare in Australia and mostly cleared. However, the Daintree is a magical spot in Far North Queensland where you can step back in time and meet cassowaries.
The Daintree Research Observatory has a tall canopy crane reaching over 80 different species in a 1 ha plot, ideal for upper canopy measurements.
My first project was to determine how respiration rates varied throughout the canopy (Weerasinghe et al. 2014 Canopy position affects the relationships between leaf respiration and associated traits in a tropical rainforest in Far North Queensland) and I have been back to determine the temperature response curves of photosynthesis and respiration on some of the main representative species, as part of my DECRA work.
The rainforest is full of life and there is plenty of wildlife and other interesting things to discover, including all the biodiversity!
My latest project at DRO involved leaves heated in the canopy of mature trees.
Most people do warming experiments in the glasshouse on seedlings, I took on the challenge to warm leaves in mature trees about 25 m high in the canopy.
It was a very exciting and challenging project.
While installing this experiment, I came eye-to-eye with several canopy critters.
Stay tuned for more results!
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More info here- https://www.jcu.edu.au/daintree
