PPBio: and international system for long term ecological research

Associate Professor Jean-Marc Hero Griffith University and Deputy Director, Environmental Futures Centre

11am 12^th February
The Royal Society room, South Australian Musem

The Program for Planned Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research (PPBio) has established a international network of RAPELD grids throughout Brasil, Australia and Nepal, with several organisations planning to establish RAPELD grids in Costa Rica, New Zealand and the USA in the near future. Many of these sites are now registered as International Long Term Ecological Research (ILTER) sites.

An advantage of the PPBio system is that it uses a standardised sampling design (each site has a grid of trails, with 250m long plots that follow the contours systematically distributed throughout the grid) and open access to data and metadata on the internet (see: http://ppbio.inpa.gov.br and www.griffith.ppbio). The standardised sampling design provides a platform for intercontinental comparisons of ecological processes (e.g. carbon sequestration in vegetation) as well as more targeted research questions associated with ecosystem processes and land-use management. The PPBio system is an international network that facilitates standardised sampling that provides baseline data for reserve managers to monitor ecosystem health and condition through ecological processes, in response to threats such as fire, human disturbance and climate change. To demonstrate the intercontinental potential of the PPBio program we compare the variation in the density of different plant functional groups, arboreal biomass, across landscapes in Brazil and Australian ILTER sites. The PPbio is an international system for long-term ecological research that provides answers to targeted research questions in the short term, while also providing standardised data at multiple scales for long-term natural resource management.