DyAFor - Dynamics and community assembly of tropical forests

Keywords
Community ecology
Functional ecology
Forest dynamics

Our main objective is to improve our understanding of tree community dynamics and assembly in tropical forests, in order to predict their potential future under different global change scenarios.

Using a diversity of tools from different fields (e.g. ecophysiology, genomics, remote sensing, modelling) in various environmental and anthropogenic contexts across the tropics, we provide evidence-based knowledge on the mechanisms that shape the temporal and spatial variability of the diversity, structure, and functioning of tropical forests.
To this end, we use three complementary approaches: i) the implementation of experiments that allow to empirically control variables or processes of interest in order to understand their effects; ii) the collection of field observations to document existing patterns and inform their underlying processes using statistical frameworks; iii) the development of models to assimilate various data and evaluate empirical knowledge on processes and their interactions. The integration of these three mutually-informative approaches allows to identify the spatial and temporal scales at which ecological and evolutionary processes act and interact in shaping the dynamics and assembly of tropical forests, and improve our ability to predict the fate of tropical forests with increasing anthropogenic pressure and climate stress. Our work focuses mainly on plants, but can also integrate other trophic levels (e.g. herbivores and micro-organisms) that play a key role in certain processes, such as the maintenance of local diversity through negative density dependence, or carbon and nutrient fluxes through decomposition.

Using a diversity of tools from different fields (e.g. ecophysiology, genomics, remote sensing, modelling) in various environmental and anthropogenic contexts across the tropics, we provide evidence-based knowledge on the mechanisms that shape the temporal and spatial variability of the diversity, structure, and functioning of tropical forests.
To this end, we use three complementary approaches: i) the implementation of experiments that allow to empirically control variables or processes of interest in order to understand their effects; ii) the collection of field observations to document existing patterns and inform their underlying processes using statistical frameworks; iii) the development of models to assimilate various data and evaluate empirical knowledge on processes and their interactions. The integration of these three mutually-informative approaches allows to identify the spatial and temporal scales at which ecological and evolutionary processes act and interact in shaping the dynamics and assembly of tropical forests, and improve our ability to predict the fate of tropical forests with increasing anthropogenic pressure and climate stress. Our work focuses mainly on plants, but can also integrate other trophic levels (e.g. herbivores and micro-organisms) that play a key role in certain processes, such as the maintenance of local diversity through negative density dependence, or carbon and nutrient fluxes through decomposition.

AcronymTitleDuration
ADMIREPartenariat pour l’Analyse des DynaMIques de REforestation et de la résilience forestière
Porteur : Philippe BIRNBAUM 
2021 - 2024
ALTAmazonian Landscapes in Transition
Porteur : Jérôme CHAVE (EDB, Toulouse)  
2022 - 2025
AMATACThe evolutionary relationship between the monocarpic tree genus Tachigali, polypore fungus Amauroderma, and N fixing bacteria Bradyrhizobium
Porteur : Claire FORTUNEL 
2024 - 2025
Biota Cerrado NetworkBiota Cerrado Network
Porteur : Guarino COLI (University of Brasilia)  
2024 - 2026
Carto Veg NHPC Phase 2Suivi de la dynamique du couvert végétal et des compensations du barrage de Nachtigal
Porteur : Nicolas BARBIER 
2022 - 2026
CoForFuncToward a biome-scale monitoring of the COngo basin FORest FUNCtional composition
Porteur : Raphaël PELISSIER 
2024 - 2027
DESSFORDegraded Stable States in Tropical Forests
Porteur : Maxime REJOU-MECHAIN 
2021 - 2025
DOPAMICSDomestication and adaptation in Neotropical palms – a microevolutionary history
Porteur : Louise BROUSSEAU 
2022 - 2027
EDENEExtinction dynamics of endemic trees in exotic-dominated ecosystems
Porteur : Robin POUTEAU 
2023 - 2026
FRAG'ILEFragmentation en milieu insulaire : caractérisation, suivi et conséquences sur la flore forestière
Porteur : Olivier FLORES (Université de La Réunion)  
2023 - 2025
FRM4BIOMASSFiducial Reference Measurements for biomass
Porteur : Jérôme CHAVE (EDB, Toulouse)  
2024 - 2025
IFIHSAInventaires forestriers par imagerie hyperspectrale aéroportée
Porteur : Olivier BRUNAUX (ONF)  
2023 - 2024
ISLETSIsland Leaf Ecophysiological Trait Synthesis
Porteurs : Claire FORTUNEL / Kasey BARTON (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa)  
2023 - 2026
LIDLStudy of liana dynamics at Nouragues research station: the case of "Grand Plateau" L strip
Porteurs : Julien ENGEL / Grégoire VINCENT 
2024 - 2025
MELANOBSTowards a Melanesian observatory of forest response to global change
Porteur : Thomas IBANEZ 
2023 - 2025
NATURAL FORESTORECapture and Storage of Carbon in Natural Tropical Forests
Porteur : Emmanuel PARADIS (ISEM)  
2024 - 2027
NeoFIREUnderstanding and scaling vulnerability of neotropical Amazon and transitional forests to altered fire regimes
Porteur : Imma OLIVERAS (University of Oxford)  
2022 - 2026
OFVIOne Forest Vision Initiative
Porteur : Jean-François SOUSSANA (INRAE)  
2023 - 2027
PhenobsTowards a phenology observatory in French Guiana to study climate-vegetation feedbacks and the diversity of plant strategies
Porteur : Nicolas BARBIER 
2020 - 2024
RIFTSoutien aux infrastructures, tours de Flux
Porteur : Jérôme DEMARTY (IRD)  
2024 - 2027
SynTreeSysSynthesis of Neotropical Tree Biodiversity with Plot Inventories
Porteurs : Jérôme CHAVE (EDB, Toulouse)  / Adriane ESQUIVEL MUELBERT (University of Birmingham (UK))  
2021 - 2024

BADOUARD Vincyane 2022 - 2025. Déterminants de la distribution spatiale des arbres du sous-étage en forêts tropicales. Ecole doctorale : GAIA / Université de Montpellier. Dir : VINCENT Grégoire / Co-dir. : MARCON Eric

CATHELINEAU Paul 2023 - 2026. biomécanique des fibres de palmiers d’Amazonie. Ecole doctorale : Diversités, Santé et Développement en Amazonie - ED 587 / Université de Guyane. Dir : BOSSU Julie / Co-dir. : BROUSSEAU Louise

LOFT Andrew-Ty 2024 - 2026. Revealing the Political Drivers of Ecosystem Degradation in the Miombo Woodlands. Ecole doctorale : Université d'Oxford / Université d'Oxford. Dir : OLIVERAS MENOR Immaculada

LOMWONG Noppawan 2024 - 2027. Elucidating the spatiotemporal dynamics of tropical forest structure and composition using a combination of field and advanced remote sensing technologies. Ecole doctorale : Chiang Mai University / Chiang Mai University. Dir : PIMMONRAT Tiansawa / Co-dir. : REJOU-MECHAIN Maxime

ROJAT Margaux 2023 - 2026. Interactions biotiques entre les plantes exotiques envahissantes et les arbres menacés endémiques des Mascareignes. Ecole doctorale : GAIA / Université de Montpellier. Dir : PELISSIER Raphaël

SOTO MINUTTI Valentina 2023 - 2027. Modélisation du bilan carbone et de la biodiversité des forêts tropicales fragmentées.. Ecole doctorale : SEVAB / Université de Toulouse. Dir : CHAVE Jérôme