PhD: Spatial and temporal patterns of liana success in Malaysia
Sir Clive Granger Building
University of Nottingham
Email Chris Chandler at Nottingham
I am interested in the dynamics of carbon and biodiversity in tropical forests and how the ecology of these ecosystems may change in response to global environmental change. In 2013 I completed a masters in biodiversity conservation and following that moved to Australia to work on a research project looking at the movement and storage of carbon and nitrogen in the soil.
Research Project:
My PhD project focuses on lianas – woody vines that restrict the ability of tropical forests to sequester and store carbon. This work will focus on understanding the current distribution of lianas in Malaysia and assessing whether the severity of liana infestation are caused by differences in disturbance levels. Spatial patterns of lianas will also be used to investigate changes in forest-level carbon storage and uptake. Furthermore, comparing with previous data, we can determine whether, and at what rate, liana abundance, biomass and infestation have increased over time. This research will combine ground measurements at permanent sampling plots and the use of airborne remote sensing data.