Master’s of Science by Research on Biodiversity Resilience and Ecosystem Services in Post-Conflict Socio-Ecological Systems

Oct 21, 2019 | University of Exeter
View Original

Colombia ranks second most diverse country in the world and hosts over 10% of currently known species worldwide. The country is divided into five terrestrial ecoregions: Andean, Chocó, Caribbean, Amazon, and Orinoco savannah in addition to two coastal/marine regions in the Pacific and the Caribbean. In the Andean region, forests are currently highly modified but there is limited information about their environmental history in modern forests to hundreds and thousands of years. These long-term changes have likely modified biodiversity, carbon storage, and the provision of ecosystem services.

The recent Colombian peace treaty is resulting in significant political and socio-economical changes in post-conflict areas that have unknown consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services. This research project will use a number of approaches to examine the long-term resilience of degraded Andean forests in Colombia, establish ecological baselines for Andean ecosystems and improve understanding of the future implications of forest degradation for Colombian society. This understanding is essential if scientific evidence is to be integrated into long-term management plans and policy, as forest degradation in Colombia is strongly associated with changes to the fabric of social life, including the effects of sustained conflict.

The research

This research project will focus on long-term ecology of Andean ecosystems in Colombia. There are a number of projects available:

Paleaoecology (Dunia Urrego, lead supervisor): a) establish ecological baseline for degraded Andean forests and reconstructing historical vegetation change with the aim to inform restoration goals. b) Assess the resilience of modern forests to drivers of change including climate, degradation and fire. c) Track functional plant traits in degraded forest over time to identify potential ecosystem service losses due to degradation. d) Establish ecological baselines for fire regimes in the Colombian Andes. The research project can also be developed to fit the student’s interests.

Forest ecology and soil science-based geospatial analysis (Ted Feldpausch, lead supervisor): Evaluate how the properties and function of human-modified, socio-ecological forest systems vary, especially regarding fire, in comparison to more ‘intact’ systems? How are resistance and resilience to climate change and disturbance for current ecosystem services and biodiversity distributed across the landscape? What are the key changes needed to manage, conserve, and promote the sustainable use of socio-ecological systems?

Phylogenetics of intact and degraded forests (Toby Pennington, lead supervisor):  Using DNA barcoding to assist with identification, how does tree diversity vary with degree of degradation relative to intact forest, and with environmental gradients? Using a phylogenetic approach, how does the composition of forests affect resistance and resilience to disturbance and changing climate in contemporary forests? What is the evolutionary history of different forest types across Colombia?