Tuesday, August 7, 2007: 1:30 PM-5:00 PM
A4&5, San Jose McEnery Convention Center
OOS 14 - Biogeochemical variation within and between tropical ecosystems
This session will focus on the origin and significance of spatial variations in nutrient cycling and plant productivity within and across tropical ecosystems. The tropics contain as much if not more variation in ecosystem types as the extra-tropics, but are often described as if the biome were biogeochemically homogenous. This is clearly an oversimplification, given broad differences in geology, biota, and climate, but it’s an open question whether and how a clearer picture of spatial variation would change our understanding and management of tropical ecosystems. This session will identify biogeochemical patterns within the tropics, discuss how these patterns may affect the function and services of tropical ecosystems, and consider how to incorporate this variation into models for predicting the response of the tropics to anthropogenic changes. Speakers will include terrestrial and aquatic biogeochemists, modelers, community and ecosystem ecologists, soil scientists, and geomorphologists. Questions include: 1) how widely do tropical ecosystems vary in basic biogeochemical properties? How does such variation differ from that in temperate ecosystems? What structures this variation? What scales are the most important for understanding the differences among tropical ecosystems? 2) Are there feedbacks between community composition and biogeochemical processes in the tropics, and how do they differ from site to site? 3) What factors influence how tropical ecosystems will respond to land use and climate change? 4) How can we refine climate models to include different responses to climate change for different tropical ecosystems? By addressing these questions, we hope to elucidate what is known, and illuminate the questions that need to be addressed as we move forward in our efforts to understand and manage tropical ecosystems.
Organizer:Stephen Porder, Brown University
Moderator:Stephen Porder, Brown University
1:30 PMOOS 14-1Causes and consequences of biogeochemical diversity in tropical rain forests
Alan R. Townsend, University of Colorado, Boulder, Gregory P. Asner, Carnegie Institution, Cory C. Cleveland, University of Colorado, Boulder, Sasha C. Reed, University of Colorado, Boulder, William R. Wieder, University of Colorado, Boulder
1:50 PMOOS 14-2Carbon and nitrogen biogeochemistry in tropical Amazon floodplains: A transitional environment between terrestrial and aquatic systems
John Melack, University of California, Santa Barbara, Diana Engle, University of California, Santa Barbara
2:10 PMOOS 14-3Ecosystem effects of tropical deforestation across soil types
Deborah Lawrence, University of Virginia
2:30 PMOOS 14-4The role of land use and topography in the biogeochemisty of tropical montane ecosystems in Amboro National Park, Bolivia
Nataly L. Ascarrunz, University of Colorado, Timothy R. Seastedt, University of Colorado
2:50 PMOOS 14-5Biogeochemical variations along hillslope catenas within the Bisley Research Watersheds, Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico
Frederick N. Scatena, University of Pennsylvania, Kristofer D. Johnson, University of Pennsylvania, T. Heartsill-Scalley, University of Pennsylvania
3:10 PM Break
3:20 PMOOS 14-6Causes and consequences of savanna catenary dynamics: 200ky of landscape chromatography
Anthony S. Hartshorn, University of California, Oliver A. Chadwick, University of California, Arjun M. Heimsath, Dartmouth College
3:40 PMOOS 14-7Temporal and spatial dynamics of redox-sensitive biogeochemistry in tropical forests: Implications for C, N, P, and Fe cycling
Whendee L. Silver, University of California, Berkeley, Kristen M. DeAngelis, University of California, Berkeley, Andrew W. Thompson, University of California, Berkeley, Mary K. Firestone, University of California, Berkeley
4:00 PMOOS 14-8Soil organic phosphorus and the nutrition of tropical forests
Benjamin L. Turner, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
4:20 PMOOS 14-9What determines the abundance of symbiotic N2 fixers within the tropical biome?
Yingping Wang, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Benjamin Z. Houlton, Stanford University, Christopher Field, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Peter M. Vitousek, Stanford University
4:40 PMOOS 14-10Changes in carbon and nutrient dynamics in tropical forests: The importance of litter
Edmund V.J. Tanner, University of Cambridge, Emma J. Sayer, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

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