Abstract

Tropical forests present a major challenge for ecologists. We know tropical forest ecosystems are vital for regulating global biogeochemical cycles and have enormous biodiversity value, however, we are currently unable to effectively monitor change in these ecosystems because they are often remote, vast and inaccessible. Furthermore, the huge species richness of tropical forests means that identifying plant species consistently at large scales is extremely difficult. As a result, our understanding of compositional change through space and time is extremely uncertain. In this talk, I will discuss this major challenge and present a new research program that seeks to address these issues by combing traditional botany with new technological approaches.