Cambridge Centre for Earth Observation seminar - Frederick Draper

Cambridge Centre for Earth Observation (CCEO) seminar - Dr Frederick Draper

Freddie Draper is a tropical forest ecologist; he is a NERC independent research fellow and lecturer at the University of Liverpool. He undertook his PhD at the University of Leeds and then held postdoctoral positions and a Marie Curie global fellowship in the USA at Carnegie Institution for Science, Florida International University and Arizona State University before returning to the University of Leeds.

His research spans three main topics: 1. Using new technologies to better understand floristic diversity in tropical forests, 2. The role of dominant tree species in driving ecosystem functioning and shaping our understanding of floristic composition and 3. Tropical peatlands forests and their importance for carbon cycling and biodiversity

The challenge of quantifying floristic change in Earth’s most biodiverse forests

Tropical forests present a major challenge for ecologists. We know tropical forest ecosystems are vital for regulating global biogeochemical cycles and have enormous biodiversity value, however, we are currently unable to effectively monitor change in these ecosystems because they are often remote, vast and inaccessible. Furthermore, the huge species richness of tropical forests means that identifying plant species consistently at large scales is extremely difficult. As a result, our understanding of compositional change through space and time is extremely uncertain. In this talk, I will discuss this major challenge and present a new research program that seeks to address these issues by combing traditional botany with new technological approaches.