On the function and evolution of tropical dry ecosystems - a global comparative approach

Abstract:
The dry tropics are understudied compared to the wet tropics. The driving motivation of my research programme is to improve our knowledge of tropical dry ecosystems (TDEs), focusing on their function, ecology, evolutionary history and biogeography. The talk will first give a brief tour of TDEs and the factors that control their distribution and dynamics. I will then cover recent work showing that globally, TDEs are a carbon sink on par with that of tropical rain forests. I will then discuss an ongoing project to determine the drivers of variation in vegetative phenology across TDEs. Finally, I will conclude the talk with some reflections on the role of evolutionary history in TDE function and ecology.

Bio:
Kyle Dexter is currently Associate professor at the University of Torino, Italy. His research focuses on the ecology, evolution and biogeography of trees in tropical dry ecosystems. He completed his PhD at Duke University in the USA, working on the community and evolutionary ecology of trees in the Peruvian Amazon, and then undertook a postdoc researching similar themes at CNRS in Toulouse, France, with fieldwork in French Guiana. He began to wonder what would happen to the Amazon if it became drier, and shifted to working on tropical dry forests and savannas when he moved to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh in the UK. Dexter soon realised that these major biomes were understudied compared to rain forests and shifted his focus to the dry tropics. He currently leads global projects examining the carbon cycle and phenology of tropical savannas and dry forests, primarily in South America and Africa. Most of the fieldwork that he and his students currently do takes place in Angola and Namibia. Dexter is active in international networks and sits on the steering committees of DRYFLOR (www.dryflor.info/), SEOSAW (seosaw.github.io/) and the plots inventory group of GEO-TREES (www.geo-trees.org/).

HOST: Dr. Michele Dalponte