CAVElab Projects: TREECLIMBERS (ERC starting grant 637643)
Project Summary
Tropical forests play an essential role in the global carbon cycle. Lianas are key components of these forests and recent observations have revealed that lianas have been increasing in abundance and biomass over the last two decades. Liana proliferation might be a key adaptation mechanism of tropical forests to climate change, with large impacts on the long term tropical forest carbon balance. However, no single terrestrial ecosystem model currently includes lianas. The TREECLIMBERS project therefore aims (1) to understand how lianas influence tropical forest functioning and (2) to assess for the first time the impact of lianas on the carbon balance of tropical forests, by building the first vegetation model that accounts for lianas and by integrating available and new data on liana functioning with innovative terrestrial LiDAR observations of the 3D structure of the forest canopy. Intensive field campaigns are planned in Panama, French Guiana and Brazil.
Principal Investigator
Prof. dr. ir. Hans Verbeeck
Faculty of bioscience engineering, Campus Coupure, room A2.089
+32 (0) 264 61 13
Hans.Verbeeck@UGent.be
Scientific staff members (Post doc)
dr. ir. Felicien Meunier
Faculty of bioscience engineering, Campus Coupure, room A2.089
+32 (0) 264 61 13
Felicien.Meunier@UGent.be
dr. ir. Marie Combe
Faculty of bioscience engineering, Campus Coupure, room A2.089
+32 (0) 264 61 13
marie.combe@ugent.be
Faculty of bioscience engineering, Campus Coupure, room A2.089
+32 (0) 264 61 13
Elizabeth.Kearsley@UGent.be
Visiting scientific staff
dr. ir. Yunfei Bao
Visiting Post-doc (2017 - 2018)
Faculty of bioscience engineering, Campus Coupure, room A2.089
+32 (0) 264 61 13
Yunfei.Bao@ugent.be
Scientific staff members (PHD)
ir. Hannes De Deurwaerder
Faculty of bioscience engineering, Campus Coupure, room A2.089
+32 (0) 264 61 13
Hannes.DeDeurwaerder@UGent.be
M.Sc. Manfredo Di Porcia
Faculty of bioscience engineering, Campus Coupure, room A2.089
+32 (0) 264 61 13
manfredo.diporciaebrugnera@ugent.be
ir. Sruthi Moorthy
Faculty of bioscience engineering, Campus Coupure, room A2.089
+32 (0) 264 61 13
sruthi.krishnamoorthyparvathi@UGent.be
M. Sc Francis Mumbanza Mundodo
Faculty of bioscience engineering, Campus Coupure, room A2.089
+32 (0) 264 61 13
Francis.mumbanzamundodo@ugent.be
Lab-assistant
Oscar Vercleyen (2017)
Voluntary field work assistant
Bram Sercu (Rwanda, 2016)
Iebe Stroobants (Panama, 2016)
Wim van Nunen (French Guiana, 2017)
Dries Van Der Heyden (French Guiana, 2017)
Master students
Dissertation year 2017-2018
Laurence Stalmans
Topic: Entangling dry season below ground water competition between trees and lianas using stable water isotopes
Andreas Mastelinck
Topic: Studying tree canopy architecture and light transmittance in tropical rain forest using Terrestrial Laser Scanner
Long Nguyen Hoang
Topic: Modelling water use of lianas and trees in tropical forests
Dissertation year 2016-2017
Camille Meeussen
Topic: Study of lianas along an altitudinal gradient in Northern Ecuador
Stijn Pieters
Topic: Reconstruction of tropical forest structure using terrestrial laser scanning (LIDAR) to study the influence of lianas
Pieter Coulier
Topic: Calibrating the liana crown occupancy index and their effect on the tropical rainforest in French Guiana
Dissertation year 2015-2016
Nancy Pausenberger
Topic: Photosynthetic characteristics of lianas versus tree in tropical rainforest in French Guiana
Jana Roels
Topic: Leaf and wood traits of lianas versus trees in tropical rainforest in French Guiana