Abstract

Tropical forests and their soils contain a large portion of global terrestrial carbon stores. Carbon and nutrient cycling in tropical forests, however, is not yet fully understood.

My research takes place within a long-term leaf litter manipulation project in a lowland semi-evergreen tropical forest in Panama. This project is an ideal setting for comparing nutrient cycling and carbon dynamics between current conditions (control plots), deficit conditions (litter removal plots), and an amplified version of conditions expected to occur with elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (litter addition plots). I am focusing on assessing effects of litter manipulation on nutrient limitation and developing a carbon budget for the litter manipulation plots centred on leaf litter. In my research I aim to clarify how tropical forests respond to changed nutrient availability and carbon inputs to better understand how tropical forests will respond to climate change and increased pollution.