OCTF seminar followed by Q&A and drinks – all welcome

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Speaker: Belén Fadrique, PhD, Marie Curie Fellow, University of Leeds

Bamboos have been consistently excluded from ecological studies and monitoring efforts, particularly in the Neotropics. However, the extreme abundance, diversity and unique physiology of bamboos make them strong competitors, with high potential to influence the structure and functioning of the surrounding trees and forests. Therefore, the role of bamboos should be better explored, characterized, and monitored. Belén combines multiple approaches (remote sensing, population census, functional ecology and taxonomy) to increase our understanding of bamboo ecology, physiology, and systematics and obtains different perspectives of the interaction between bamboo and trees. She addresses these issues across a range of critical ecosystems from the lowland Amazonian forests to the high-elevation cloud forests and puna in the Peruvian Andes. Overall, She highlights the important role of bamboos in shaping forest structure, functioning and diversity. Future forest projections and conservation measurements rely on detailed knowledge of forest functioning, understanding bamboo is an essential step to that end.

Belén Fadrique is a Marie Curie Fellow at the School of Environment at the University of Leeds working on the Species Responses to Climate Change in the Amazon to Andes (RESCATA) project. As plant species in the Andes-Amazon region respond to climate change, their population size may change if they fail to migrate or acclimate. In RESCATA, she will test the role of several potential drivers of species success and failure. Before this position, Belen completed her PhD at University of Miami. Her research focused on investigating the role of bamboo as a potential modulator of local and regional forest dynamics.