Eventos
Simone Aparecida Vieira
State University of Campinas (Unicamp)
Nucleus of Environmental Studies and Researches (Nepam)
Campinas, Brazil
Dr. Vieira holds a Ph.D. in Science, focusing on Ecosystems Function, especially in carbon dynamics in tropical forests. Her academic background was developed entirely in Brazil, with the University of São Paulo (CENA_USP), but she has always cooperated with worldwide researchers from the USA and UK, mainly, due to her active participation in the LBA Project. Currently, she is an associate research at the Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas Ambientais (NEPAM) at the University Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP).
Abstract
The influence of climate on carbon and nitrogen stock and dynamics in Atlantic Costal Ecosystems
Application of advanced techniques (e.g. acclerator mass spectrometry), combined with classical field ecology and forestry, to integrate biogeochemical processes in tropical forest to larger scales and to understand the vulnerability of tropical forest, mainly Amazonian, and Atlantic flora to human and climatic influences. For data collection, currently use long-term plots, with periodic forest inventory. Our main research question at the moment is how tropical forests will respond to climate change, especially with respect to carbon dynamics and biodiversity maintenance in Atlantic Forest.
Therefore, climate information is essential in understanding the dynamics of carbon in vegetation and soil. However, these data are scarce, both in spatial and temporal scales.
Detailed estimates of C and N stocks in remaining fragments in tropical forest can give new insights for better conservation and including regeneration practices of the Atlantic Forest and would improve our understanding about mechanisms that sustain and regulates biodiversity, as well as the processes controlling the structure and function of these forests. A good understanding of the C and N dynamics of forests is therefore important, particularly about how C stocks (and N) vary in relation to environmental conditions (microclimate) and changes in environmental conditions and human land-use activities.
My major goal will be to incorporate the new abiotic (mainly climate) information and of forest age structure into models of forest dynamics, using a new type of forest model capable of simulating forest response to climate change, logging, and other disturbance.