Landscape and Ecosystem Dynamics

Exploring locations for new fieldsites in savannah vegetation in the Chapada dos veadeiros national park in Brazil.

Large-scale experimental investigation of carbon and water fluxes at Puding Karst Ecosystem Research Station, Guizhou Province, China.

Small scale, tree-based grazing (silvopastoral) system in Mato Grosso, Brazilian Amazon.

Measuring carbon fluxes over oil palm on tropical peat in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Small scale tree-based agricultural (agroforestry) system in Mato Grosso, Brazilian Amazon.

The Chenqi catchment in the NERC-NSFC Karst Critical Zone Observatory in Guizhou Province, China.

Monitoring plot establishment in tropical dry forest, Bahia, Brazil (photo: Peter Moonlight).

Joint University of Exeter – James Cook University facility to study the impact of air pollutant (ozone) on tropical vegetation

This research cluster builds on the University of Exeter’s established strengths in carbon, water, and nutrient cycling, with expertise in biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and modelling in the major global biomes.

The group’s recent research has included:

Understanding global biomes

We have:

• made major advances in quantifying Amazonian forest productivity and change, the impacts of fire, land-use change, air quality, forest response to drought and the role of soil nutrients in the region;
• studied the resilience of tropical ecosystems to environmental change across the pan-tropics;
• studied acclimation of tropical montane forests to climate change;
• taken trace gas measurements in tropical Asian Oil Palm;
• studied processes driving functioning of peatland ecosystems at high latitudes and the role of tropical peatlands in the carbon cycle;
• investigated the role of nutrient cycling in controlling mature forest and grassland responses to rising atmospheric CO₂ concentrations;
• led major projects examining soil carbon dynamics in a range of terrestrial environments, from the role of erosion in agricultural systems to the biogeochemical consequences of permafrost thaw at high latitudes.

Pioneering technologies and techniques

We have:

• applied novel technologies, e.g. drones to capture landscape scale vegetation change;
• applied remote-sensing techniques (UAV, airborne LIDAR, satellite EO) to tropical forests, savannas and semi-arid ecosystems;
• developed global models of vegetation structure and function.

Developing and applying land management solutions

We have:

• applied global models of terrestrial ecosystems and the land carbon cycle, e.g. to study the role of land-based climate mitigation to avoid dangerous climate change;
• studied how land-use perturbs ecosystem service delivery and to identify approaches to minimise/reverse damaging impacts of soil erosion and land degradation;
• developed economical flux based assessments of nature based solutions;
• undertaken pioneering research in upland landscape and tropical savanna restoration to help create landscapes more resilient to land use and climate change;
• led the DRYFLOR network of >80 Latin American researchers and conservationists working in neotropical dry forests. We support conservation and livelihoods with focus on agroforestry and ecosystem restoration in some of the world’s most threatened tropical forests and savannas.
• studied peatland management, restoration and land use change impacts on peatland ecosystem functioning.