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Human-modified Tropical Forests

Announcement of Opportunity - Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes in Human Modified Tropical Forests

Closing date: 19 December 2012 at 16:00 UK local time (GMT)
Call is only open to those successful at the Expression of Interest stage

NERC invites Full Proposals for a major new collaborative five-year research programme on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes in Human Modified Tropical Forests. The aim of the programme is to carry out site studies in Sabah, Malaysia, and Brazil that significantly improve our understanding of the links between biodiversity and biogeochemical cycles in tropical forests. The Brazilian part of the programme will be delivered in partnership with the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).

This Announcement of Opportunity calls for Full Proposals to deliver one or more of the following 5 programme goals:

1. Improve understanding of the role of biodiversity in major forest biogeochemical cycles (C, N & P) through the integration of experimental and observational data with models linked through up-scaling studies to explore the potential regional impacts of environmental change;
2. Explore the spatial correlations between ecosystem function in terms of biogeochemical cycles and the distribution of species of conservation concern;
3. Critically assess the potential of forest management and policy options (eg REDD+) to protect both key ecosystem functions (biogeochemical cycles) and biodiversity;
4. Develop and test new technological capability for sustainable long-term observations of biogeochemical cycling that may be deployed as a legacy of the programme across a range of tropical environments; and
5. Explore whether the methodologies and approaches adopted by the programme at the Sabah site can provide insights into comparable biodiversity and ecosystem function issues in contrasting tropical locations.

The study site for Goals 1 to 4 will be the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) research platform, which is part of The Royal Society's South East Asia Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP). Up to £5·65m of NERC funding is available for this component of the programme.

The Brazil-based part of the programme, Goal 5, will be jointly funded by NERC and FAPESP and has been allocated funding of up to £3m (£1·45m from NERC and R$5m from FAPESP)*.

Full Proposal to deliver the Sabah-based Goal/s are invited from UK researchers eligible for funding from NERC. Full Proposal to deliver the Brazil-based element of the programme are invited from partnerships involving researchers eligible for funding from NERC and FAPESP. This call closes at 16:00 GMT on Wednesday 19 December 2012.

Please see the Full Proposal Announcement of Opportunity document below for full details.

Announcement of Opportunity (158KB)

If you require any further information please contact the Tropical Forests Programme Team.

* The intention of the funding partners is to provide roughly equivalent contributions toward this work package. Total funds available in UK Pounds Sterling are ca. £3m. Due to fluctuation in exchange rates total available UK funds are approximate. To ensure parity with UK funds, up to R$5m is available from FAPESP to support Brazilian researchers.