Forest Regeneration After Bamboo Dieback in Southeastern Peru
Principal Investigator:
Regina Peón Díaz Barriga,
PhD candidate, Duke University
Co-workers:
Nadia Castro Izaguirre
Approximately 180,000 km2 of Southwestern Amazonian forests are dominated
by bamboo species of the genus Guadua (Poaceae: Bambuseae). Like most
woody bamboos, Amazonian species demonstrate vigorous clonal growth through
persistent rhizome networks that encompass large areas of land.
Sexual reproduction, in the form of semelparous monocarpic flowering and
fruiting, occurs at time intervals of about thirty years. Such reproductive
events create large-scale disturbances which undoubtedly affect forest
dynamics.
Bamboo-dominated forests near the Cocha Cashu Biological Station started
to undergo a massive flowering event in 2001. The central objective of
my doctoral dissertation is to understand the mechanisms that give origin
to the heterogeneous and dynamic structure of bamboo forests at different
spatial and temporal scales. The long-term goal of this work is to place
these mechanisms in the context of the larger-scale forest dynamics in
southwestern Amazonia.
A major part of my research involves working on the population dynamics
after regeneration from seed, of the dominant bamboo species (Guadua sarcocarpa
Londoño and Peterson) at the study location. At a landscape level,
I will use Landsat satellite images to trace the movement of bamboo along
the Alto Madre de Dios basin.
Funding: Duke University, CONACYT, Fulbright-García Robles.
Regina en la playa
de EBCC
Guadua sarcocarpa flowering
near Playa Bonita , Photo: RPDB
CONTACT
Regina Peón Díaz Barriga
Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
Duke University PO Box 90328
Tel (919) 613-8091
rp11@duke.edu