Forest Daisy
How fast tropical forests recover after deforestation has major consequences for climate change mitigation. A team including Smithsonian scientists discovered that some secondary tropical forests recover biomass quickly: half of the forests in the study attained 90 percent of old-growth forest levels in 66 years or less. Conservation planners can use their resulting biomass-recovery map for Latin America to prioritize conservation efforts.
Forest daisy
This study was unprecedented in scope: 45 sites in eight countries, 1,478 study plots and more than 168,000 trees. Sites covered the full latitudinal range of the tropics, from 20 degrees north in Mexico to 22 degrees south in Brazil, and extended across areas of high-to-low rainfall and low-to-high soil fertility. The extent of forest cover in the surrounding landscape (indicating the availability of tree seeds for regeneration) and the intensity of prior land use was also considered.
After 20 years of recovery, the average biomass in these regenerating forests was calculated to be equivalent to a carbon uptake rate 11 times that of Amazonian old-growth forests, and more than twice that of selectively logged Amazonian forests in which reduced-impact logging techniques had been used. However, biomass accumulation rates differed widely across sites. Sites with higher rainfall had higher absolute rates of biomass accumulation. Soil fertility, local forest cover and prior land-use were not found to have an effect. However, higher soil fertility did improve the relative rate of biomass accumulation compared to old-growth forests in the same area.
The authors produced a map of the potential for biomass recovery and carbon sequestration across the New World tropics. Areas such as the dry forests of Mexico and northeastern Brazil had low recovery rates, whereas the moister forests of Central America and large parts of Amazonia had high recovery rates. In moist forest areas, where potential for biomass accumulation is highest, restoration and reforestation may be the optimal land-use activities. Where the capacity of forest recovery is lower, such as seasonally dry forest, a higher emphasis should be placed on protection of existing forest to minimize forest loss.
Nominations can be made by patients, families and co-workers, who we are encouraging to nominate throughout the year if they have witnessed care that has gone above and beyond. You can nominate a nurse you would like to thank by downloading the form here and sending it to sfh-tr.daisyawards@nhs.net applications will then be judged by the DAISY judging panel and people who get an award will be presented with a certificate and a pin badge to recognise their dedication.
A borosilicate wine glass with an amber coloured daisy flower base and leaning stem Approximately 150ml capacity. Sold as a pair with each glass owning its own unique tilt. * We recommend hand washing with a soft bristle brush as opposed to the dishwasher. Avoid using strong alkali soaps which may damage the glass, and take care not to bump glassware against hard surfaces or other vessels. Avoid putting ice directly in the empty glass.