Forest ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Demographer for Smithsonian's Forest Global Earth Observatory.
Edgewater, Maryland
Joined November 2017
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This is an amazing opportunity for early career scientists. Enjoy Berlin, a diverse group of fellows, and the broader WIKO community.
Call for Applications: College for Life Sciences Fellowships 2023/24 for early career researchers in the #lifesciences and medicine. Deadline Nov 1st: wiko-berlin.de/fellow-werden… #fellowship #postdoc
Ugh. (this is not an 'ugh' from a tree lover, who wants trees to be happy and live long, productive lives, but a tree demographer, who wants clear, interpretable data!).
SeanMcMahon retweeted
In their new paper Needham, et al. compare field-based data from @STRI_Panama’s Barro Colorado Island 50-ha plot with FATES simulations to benchmark growth/mortality rates & better represent crown damage in vegetation models: doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16318
![Quoted excerpt from Needham, et al.: “Crown damage and damage-driven mortality are important processes shaping forest structure and response to disturbance. Despite this, crown damage is rarely represented in vegetation models. We introduce a crown damage module into the vegetation demographic model FATES [Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator] and find that damage itself alters demographic rates, the canopy structure of the forest, and the competitive dynamics of PFTs [Plant functional types].” In bottom left corner, ForestGEO logo.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FY2GvZlVsAAsyEq.jpg?name=orig)
ALT Quoted excerpt from Needham, et al.: “Crown damage and damage-driven mortality are important processes shaping forest structure and response to disturbance. Despite this, crown damage is rarely represented in vegetation models. We introduce a crown damage module into the vegetation demographic model FATES [Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator] and find that damage itself alters demographic rates, the canopy structure of the forest, and the competitive dynamics of PFTs [Plant functional types].” In bottom left corner, ForestGEO logo.
Crown damage accounts for 23% of canopy biomass turnover in tropical forests and is a strong predictor of tree mortality. 🌴
Read how tree crown damage impacts carbon cycling and canopy structure in this new @GlobalChangeBio study >>> ow.ly/9o1X50JYAag
ALT Figure 1 / Graphical Abstract from Global Change Biology Article
SeanMcMahon retweeted
Transcriptomically speaking, what makes a #liana (climbing vine) a liana? Let's read... @ForestGEO @Seanscience1 @Sammyjo_13 @Nate_G_Swenson journals.biologists.com/bio/…
The leaves were collected for a @NASA grant that will use @ISS_Research data with forest inventory data, the SCOPE model, and, yes, leaf measurements, to better understand tropical forest response to drought. Last week was our practice week at SERC! On to @stri_panama and BCI!
Do you want to measure features of canopy leaves--real canopy leaves? Amazing week last week with the super team of @albert_loren working with @DeLeavesDrone at @SmithsonianEnv in the @ForestGEO plot!
Do you want to measure features of canopy leaves--real canopy leaves? Amazing week last week with the super team of @albert_loren working with @DeLeavesDrone at @SmithsonianEnv in the @ForestGEO plot!
SeanMcMahon retweeted
Lots of ideas, new collaborations & friends during an amazing week discussing #tropicaltreemortality with experts from different forest plot networks
Thank you all!
Stay tuned for more 🌳
I noticed this in our water table data at SERC, Edgewater MD. Great to see this confirmed and advanced.
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I don’t quite understand this. I hope to. But it also seems important. Funny how that works. This goes into my “need to read the paper and a lot of Wikipedia” folder.
@NewPhyt: High atmospheric CO2 concentration causes increased respiration by the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway in chloroplasts
doi.org/10.1111/nph.18226
#metabolism #photosynthesis #climatechange #plantsci #plantscience #isotope #CO2 #biochem #biochemistry #biogeochemistry
ALT Oxidative pentose phosphate pathway in chloroplasts carrying anaplerotic flux into the Calvin-Benson cycle
SeanMcMahon retweeted
Another facet, and feedback, of the climate crisis - @davbauman took us into the thicket of details for Science in Action later today
bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct368…
Our new study has just been published in @Nature! We find a marked increase in tree mortality in the tropical moist forests of #Australia in the past decades, consistent across many species and sites. The results point at #ClimateChange as the most likely driver.
Climate simulations: recognize the ‘hot model’ problem nature.com/articles/d41586-0…
Imagine a world where those trees populated the region. It reminds us that preservation is more urgent than tree planting.
VPD is rising and yes trees are dying. A long term dataset from moist tropical forests in Australia is sending yet another signal that climate is shifting complex forest systems from their past dynamics.
Tropical trees are dying of dehydration twice as quickly as before, due to climate change. In Australia's rainforests, scientists led by @SmithsonianEnv & @UniofOxford discovered a hotter, thirstier atmosphere is sucking them dry: sercblog.si.edu/tropical-tre… (📸Alexander Schenkin)
ALT A lush green rainforest canopy under a cloudy gray sky, with one tall, vine-covered tree jutting up higher than the rest of the tree line
SeanMcMahon retweeted
Our new study has just been published in @Nature! We find a marked increase in tree mortality in the tropical moist forests of #Australia in the past decades, consistent across many species and sites. The results point at #ClimateChange as the most likely driver.
Demography offers a potentially important constraint for DGVM projections.
nature.com/articles/s41467-0…
A lot of scientists are collocating other remote sensing data with GEDI. It would be great to keep those integrative projects going. theguardian.com/environment/…