Tropical Forest Diversity and Conservation
Recent Research
Tropical Forest Diversity and Composition (supported by NSF 1461496 2015-19; NSF 1118340, 2011-15)
Composition of dry forest tree communities in the West Indies, patterns across space at multiple scales
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Seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF) of the Caribbean Islands (primarily West Indies) is floristically distinct from Neotropical SDTF in Central and South America. SDTF species composition was correlated with climatic variation. SDTF on large Greater Antillean islands (Hispaniola, Jamaica and Cuba) was characterized by endemic species, consistent with their geological history and the biogeography of plant lineages.
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Selected Publications:
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Franklin, J., Steadman, D.W., Majure, L.C., Oswald, J.A.*, Soltis, D.E., Encarnación, Y., Clase, T., Almonte-Espinosa, H., Kratter, A.W., Terrill, R.S., 2019, The changing ecological communities along an elevation gradient in seasonally dry tropical forest on Hispaniola (Sierra Martín García, Dominican Republic), Biotropica 51:802-816 DOI: 10.1111/btp.12707 DOWNLOAD
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Franklin, J., Andrade, R., Daniels, M.L., Fairbairn, P.W., Fandino, M.C., Gillespie, T.W., Gonzalez, G., Gonzalez, O., Imbert, D., Kapos, V., Kelly, D.L., Marcano-Vega, H., Meléndez-Ackerman, E., McLaren, K.P., McDonald, M.A., *Ripplinger, J., Rojas-Sandoval, J., Ross, M.S., Ruiz, J., Steadman, D.W., Tanner, E.V.J., Terrill, I., Vennetier, M., 2018, Geographical ecology of dry forest tree communities in the West Indies, Journal of Biogeography 45:1168-1181. DOI:10.1111/jbi.13198 DOWNLOAD
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Franklin, J. & Steadman, D.W. (2013) The winter bird communities in pine woodland vs. broadleaf forest on Abaco, The Bahamas. Caribbean Naturalist 3, 1-18. DOWNLOAD
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Composition of dry forest tree communities in the Indo-Pacific, spatio-temporal dynamics at multiple scales
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Although evolutionary processes such as rapid speciation may drive high biological diversity in the tropics, scientists strive to understand the ecological processes that maintain high diversity in tropical tree communities -- species characteristics (growth, shade tolerance) and species interactions (dispersal, competition, predation). In the Pacific Islands, forests are structurally and functionally similar to forests elsewhere in the tropics but have fewer species (limited by long distance dispersal). Remote oceanic islands are some of the few places in the world where humans did not had significant impact on natural ecosystems until the last few thousand years, but for up to 3000 years islands of the tropical Pacific have been subjected to intensive and extensive agricultural land use and other human pressures.
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Selected Publications:
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Ibanez, T., G. Keppel, C. Baider, C. Birkinshaw, H. Culmsee, S. Cordell, F. B. Vincent Florens, J. Franklin, C. P. Giardina, T. W. Gillespie, M. Laidlaw, C. M. Litton, T. Martin, R. Ostertag, N. Parthasathy, R. Randrianaivo, M. Randrianjanahary, M. Rajkumar, L. Rasingam, F. Ratovoson, L. Reza, L. Sack, A. Shin-ichiro, E. Webb, T. Whitfeld, R. Zang, P. Birnbaum, 2018, Regional forcing explains local species diversity and turnover on islands in the Indo-Pacific, Global Ecology and Biogeography 27:474-486. DOI: 10.1111/geb.12712. DOWNLOAD
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Franklin, J., G. Keppel, E. L. Webb, S. J. Rey, J. O. Seamon, S. K. Wiser, D. R. Drake, and D. W. Steadman, 2013, Dispersal limitations, speciation, environmental filtering and niche differentiation influence forest tree communities in West Polynesia. Journal of Biogeography 40:988-999. doi:10.1111/jbi.12038. DOWNLOAD
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Franklin, J., 2007, Recovery from clearing, cyclone and fire in rain forest of Tonga, South Pacific: vegetation dynamics 1995-2005, Austral Ecology 32(7): 789-797. DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2007.01766.x DOWNLOAD
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Global patterns of tropical forest tree communities
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These papers grew our of grass roots collaborations with vegetation scientists and botanists around the world.
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Selected Publications:
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Slik, J. W. F., J. Franklin, ... 2018, A phylogenetic classification of the world’s tropical forests, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 115(8):1837-1842. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1714977115 DOWNLOAD
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"More than 100 researchers have collaborated to classify the world's tropical forests according to their evolutionary history, a process that will help researchers predict the resilience or susceptibility of different forests to global environmental changes"
NEWS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
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DRYFLOR, 2016, Plant diversity patterns and their conservation implications in neotropical dry forest, Science, 353(6306):1383-1387. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf5080. DOWNLOAD
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"Tropical dry forests are among the most threatened habitats on the planet, yet remain overlooked by scientists and conservationists, warn researchers"
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DRYFLOR has also produced a short animated film that highlights the importance of dry forests in Latin America and the Caribbean, both historically and in the years to com
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