News
Symposium: Study and conservation of the Latin American tropical dry forest
New video!
We are pleased to announce that Plant People Planet and the New Phytologist Foundation publish a new video, explaining the DRYFLOR protocol for long-term forest plots. The video highlights our article: ‘Expanding tropical forest monitoring into Dry Forests: The DRYFLOR protocol for permanent plots’ that was choose as a cover of the special issue. DRYFLOR protocol is a necessary tool for forest ecology and conservation. In English here: video
Symposium in Piura, November 2019
Simposio 2019
Herbario Nacional de Bolivia is a new DRYFLOR's partner
The National Herbario of Bolivia joined us in 2018 as a new partner. To learn about her work and background please visit Bolivian Partner Site.
DRYFLOR meeting in Quito, Ecuador. October 2018
The annual meeting of the Network ( 19 -21 of October of 2018) was held in Quito, with the support of the CYTED Program (Ibero-American Program of Science and Technology for development). The main partners from Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and the United Kingdom participated in the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.
The researcher and leader of the Ecuadorian group, Dr. Catalina Quintana, was the host of the successful meeting, where issues about diversity and monitoring of plants in dry Latin American forests were addressed. At the same time, the strategy of how to expand to the whole Latin American context, the efforts and advances made in Brazil about the compilation of quantitative data to the already established database was discussed. One of the challenges highlighted for cooperative work and joint studies throughout Latin America is how to establish permanent monitoring plots in dry forests, due to the high physiognomic diversity of these forests since the widely known protocols have been developed for the monitoring of humid forests.
Workshop in Lima 10-14 July 2018
Several DRYFLOR partners from Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and UK were able to meet at a British Council funded workshop in Lima, July 10th-14th 2018, “Valuing biodiversity and developing ecosystem service delivery models in densely inhabited Latin American dry and montane forests”. We were able to discuss how DRYFLOR data contribute to studies of ecosystem service delivery in tropical dry forests and link DRYFLOR to wider networks. We were able to discuss the entry of more species abundance data from plots into the DRYFLOR database. We were also very happy with the prospect of potential new partners from Argentina and Bolivia.
Dry forests conservation highlighted by CIFOR
CIFOR has highlighted the need for dry forests(and savannas) conservation in their blog. Please have a look at:
http://blog.cifor.org/33117/global-dry-forests-time-to-take-notice#.Ve7IiJeIl6B
http://blog.cifor.org/33117/global-dry-forests-time-to-take-notice#.Ve7IiJeIl6B
Beyond the Amazon symposium, 12-13th of March 2015
Beyond the Amazon: Conservation and Biodiversity of Dry Biomes symposium took place on 12th and 13th of March 2015 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. With 94 delegates and speakers from 10 countries it was a great opportunity for people involved in research and conservation of dry forest to talk about the ways to preserve it for future generations.
DRYFLOR meeting in the local TV
DRYFLOR meeting was presented in local TV. DRYFLOR partners were able to talk about the Network research and importance of dry forest. To see the programme follow the link:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/g45Wc2tt7Wg
https://www.youtube.com/embed/g45Wc2tt7Wg
Third DRYFLOR meeting in Brazil
Third DRYFLOR meeting took place in Januaria, Minas Gerais, Brazil on 5th and 6th of March 2015.
The emphasis of the meeting was on DRYFLOR data analysis, publications and efforts in conservation. The meeting was followed with short field trip to Parque Nacional Cavernas do Peruaçu.
The emphasis of the meeting was on DRYFLOR data analysis, publications and efforts in conservation. The meeting was followed with short field trip to Parque Nacional Cavernas do Peruaçu.
New Partner for Ecuador
Catalina Quintana has join DRYFLOR Network in May 2014 as partner for Ecuador. To learn about her work and background please visit Ecuador Partner Site.
Tropical Dry Forest a global strategy
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has published it´s global strategy titled: "Tropical Dry Forests. The state of global knowledge and recommendations for future research". It underlines the importance of dry forests for livelihoods and ecosystem services.
The strategy can be accessed under link:
http://www.cifor.org/publications/pdf_files/WPapers/DPBlackie1401.pdf
The strategy can be accessed under link:
http://www.cifor.org/publications/pdf_files/WPapers/DPBlackie1401.pdf
DRYFLOR Network second meeting
The DRYFLOR Network will hold its second meeting on 15th and 16th of February in Salta, Argentina. We are going to review progress and plan for the final year of the project. The meeting will be followed by symposium at the University of Salta focused on scientific understanding and conservation of Latin American dry forests. After that the team will take part in fieldwork in dry forests in Salta, Jujuy and Tucuman provinces.
New partners from Venezuela
Three new partners from Venezuela, Ricarda Riina,Gerard Aymard and Laurie Fajardo joined us in August 2013. To read more about their work and background please visit Venezuelan partners site.
New Partner for Caribbean Region
Pedro Acevedo from the Smithsonian Institution joined us in December 2012 as a new partner for the Caribbean region. Pedro is an expert on the West Indies flora. Recently, he led the publication of the Catalogue of the seed plants of the West Indies - http://botany.si.edu/antilles/WestIndies/catalog.htm.
Pedro has agreed to help with the Caribbean region for the DRYFLOR Network and we are very grateful to him for this.
Pedro has agreed to help with the Caribbean region for the DRYFLOR Network and we are very grateful to him for this.
DRYFLOR Database launched
Dr. Martin Pullan from the Biodiversity Informatics lab at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has developed a single, central database, hosted at RBGE, into which all DRYFLOR partners across the Neotropics can enter data directly. The database was officially launched on 28th of March 2013 and so far contains 145.267 species occurrence records (as on 15th of November 2013) from at least 1542 sites, mostly in Brazil and Andean countries. In addition it contains 14059 accepted scientific species names that are linked to 11766 synonyms.
DRYFLOR first meeting
First DRYFLOR meeting was held in Barranquilla, Colombia between 28th of May and 2nd of July. During a week of discussions we talked about data sources from partner countries, structure and content of the floristic database, publications and website delivery. We also held an open symposium “Floristic and Biogeography of Latin American Dry Forests” where network partners gave talks and were able to interact with an audience of c. 50 delegates from Barranquilla and elsewhere in Colombia. On Friday Dr. Linares-Palomino taught workshop about using the R statistical package to analyze floristic data. The workshop was followed by two field trips to experience Colombian dry forest and learn more about the efforts of the Fundación Ecosistemas Secos, the local hosts of the meeting, to preserve it. We went to Hacienda “El Ceibal”, one of the best preserved relicts of dry tropical forests in Caribbean, and to the DMI Luriza protected area, both on Caribbean coast of Colombia.
All the participants emphasized their excitement about the DRYFLOR project as a means of improving knowledge of dry forests and promoting their conservation, and expressed hopes that the project might be a start for wider and longer-term initiatives.We would like to thank Karina Banda, Gina Rodriguez and other members of the Fundación Ecosistemas Secos for their excellent organization and great hospitality.
All the participants emphasized their excitement about the DRYFLOR project as a means of improving knowledge of dry forests and promoting their conservation, and expressed hopes that the project might be a start for wider and longer-term initiatives.We would like to thank Karina Banda, Gina Rodriguez and other members of the Fundación Ecosistemas Secos for their excellent organization and great hospitality.