Monitoring tropical tree growth and mortality rates in relation to climate change

Shirley Xiaobi Dong

Over 10,000 dendrometer bands have been installed on size- and space-stratified samples of trees at various forest plot sites. In this way we monitor and record the circumference growth and mortality of trees from two to four times per year. The knowledge of how climate influences tree demographic rates will help us better understand the structure and dynamics of different tropical forests, and explain how and why they will change differently in relation to different changes in climate.