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Map shows 22 established SIGEO sites in black (black dots) and 12 candidate sites in blue (red dots). [CRC = Smithsonian Institution Conservation & Research Center; SERC = Smithsonian Environmental Research Center]
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Global climate systems and life on the planet are changing fast. Policy-makers and scientists need long-term objective data on the fluctuations in primary productivity of forests around the globe, as well as changes in the abundance and distribution of biological diversity to be able to distinguish the components of global change that can be ascribed to planetary processes from those which may be caused by human activity. The Smithsonian Institution and its partners propose to provide the required data by expanding its long-term global network of tropical forest dynamic plots into the temperate zone and by collecting data on vertebrates, insects and soil microorganisms in addition to the trees that have been monitored for more than two decades. We will answer the following questions: Is climate change causing increases or decreases in forest biomass and does the rate of carbon sequestered by forests vary with latitude? How are the diversity and the relative abundance of forest organisms changing over time and space? What components of the changes that we are measuring are due to human activities? How can we modify our behavior and economies to ameliorate the changes we wish to reverse or slow down? Read More |
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