Whole-ecosystem experiments help us to understand tropical forests

Tropical forests are highly complex ecosystems. This makes it challenging to understand these habitats from either observational studies, or from experiments that are limited in scope. However, understanding these systems is becoming ever more important, as tropical forests around the world support high levels of biodiversity, and are also threatened by many human-driven changes. We argue for the necessity of “whole-ecosystem” experiments, in which the manipulation is expected to have ecosystem-wide impacts. We describe the recent increase in interest in such experiments, document their unique challenges and opportunities and suggest directions for future projects of this kind. We hope that this review will prove useful for those designing and implementing whole-ecosystem manipulations in tropical forests.

Fayle T.M., Turner E.C., Basset Y., Ewers R.M., Reynolds G., Novotny V. (2015) Whole-ecosystem experimental manipulations of tropical forests. TRENDS in Ecology & Evolution. Published online 17 April 2015. DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2015.03.010