Raman Sukumar, Honorary Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, will present a talk entitled, “Long-Term Dynamics of a Dry Tropical Forest in Relation to Climate in India.” He is an internationally renowned ecologist and conservation biologist and has been decorated for his accomplishments, namely the Cosmos Prize, The Presidential Award of the Chicago Zoological Society, and the Order of the Golden Ark. Read more about Sukumar’s work here.

The abstract is as follows:

Spatial and temporal scales are important considerations in understanding the underlying functioning of natural ecosystems. Mudumalai, a dry forest landscape in southern India, has been the site of long-term ecological research including floristics, forest dynamics, invasive species ecology, and fire ecology. The individual fate of over 80,000 individuals from nearly 200 species of woody plants has been monitored over nearly three decades. Species richness, basal area, and carbon stocks steadily increased over a 28-year period in the 50-ha plot despite droughts, fires, and high elephant-related mortality in some species. Tree mortality and growth were clearly related to rainfall, but with a time lag of 1-3 years. Contrary to expectation, deep-rooted trees species had lower survival during a prolonged drought. The rapid spread of an invasive plant Lantana camara was partly explained by the interaction between prolonged drought during 2000-04 and an intense fire during that period. Across the rainfall gradient, the more diverse moister forests have suffered greater loss of woody plant diversity. Overall, the importance of environmental stochasticity has been clear at Mudumalai and across a global network of tropical forest plots. Such long-term studies have particular relevance to predicting tropical forest response to future climate change.

The presentation will begin at 4:00 PM in Lapham N101, preceded by an informal reception from 3:45 – 4:00 PM.