Scientists working in the tropical mountain rain forest of the San Francisco Valley report first results: They depict the impacts of nutrient additions on mycorrhiza as well as on the activity of phosphomonoesterases in the organic layer. Others describe the relationship between canopy evapotranspiration and leaf transpiration derived from a novel observational approach. First research results can also be presented from the other two ecosystems under investigation: leaf phenology and tree water use was analyzed in the dry forest at Laipuna whereas the effects of roads on the avifauna were studied in the Cajas Páramo. One group explains which trees and plots are now equipped with logging band dendrometers and another provides first results on the suitability of functional biodiversity indicators. The afforestation project “Nuevos Bosques para Ecuador” also gives a report and the Data Warehouse now has expanded to Ecuador. The Newsletter rounds off describing the successful approval of the dry forest area in the provinces Loja and El Oro as an UNESCO biosphere reserve where the application initiative was mainly pushed by the non-university partner NCI, supported by the DFG-PAK scientists. It should be stressed that all three DFG-PAK research sites now belong to three different UNESCO biosphere reserves.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5678/lcrs/pak823-825.cit.1287
