VERDE: Vast Exploration and Research across Dry Forest Ecosystems

PI: Catherine Hulshof De La Peña (Virginia Commonwealth University)

Co-PIs: German Vargas Gutiérrez (Oregon State University), Jennifer Powers (University of Minnesota)

We propose Vast Exploration and Research in Dry Forest Ecosystems (VERDE), a working group to harness environmental data science for understanding the evolutionary past and probable futures of a globally distributed and threatened biome—tropical dry forests. Tropical dry forests are defined by drought deciduousness which determines ecosystem productivity and nutrient cycling. However, the origins of deciduousness, its degree of variation, and its role in determining the impacts of climate change in tropical dry forests are unclear. To understand the evolutionary history, contemporary biogeography, and probable futures of dry forests, we propose to examine the distribution of deciduousness across evolutionary time, across geographical gradients, and to forecast the success of the deciduous trait under future climates. We will achieve this by bringing together datasets that include phylogenetic trees, functional traits, field-based phenology data, remote sensing imagery, and ecosystem modeling. Importantly, our working group will broaden the century-old and geographically biased ‘temperate phenology paradigm’ by identifying past, present, and future determinants of tropical phenological variation. Our team is deliberately diverse, representing a spectrum of career stages, geography, and disciplines like ecophysiology, ecology, ecosystem science, macroevolution, forecasting, and remote sensing.