Quarterly reports and results
By December 2008 all 12 plots had been located. Half of the plots had been tagged, with a total of 12,000 trees and approximately 200 species. Establishment of beehives had begun, but as this relied on finding swarms of native bees locally, was ongoing.
Over the next three months a further four plots were finished, with 15,000 trees tagged, and approximately a third of the bee hives in place.
By the end of 2009 trees in all plots were tagged (fig 2), dendrometers and litterfall traps in place and phenology observations begun.
Figure 1 number of trees in plots
In the first quarter of 2010 observations on the jatai bees have begun – unfortunately hive establishment has been difficult for tubuna bees, and as yet there are not enough hives to begin studying this species. Monthly measuring of dendrometers, leaflitter collection and phenology observations are continuing, as is collection of climatic data.
In the second quarter of 2010 the bee hives were thriving. Winter maintenance of the hives was carried out, and plans were made to focus on completing collection of tubuna bees in the next quarter. Collection of growth data from dendrometer bands, litterfall traps and phenology observations continued with the help of volunteers, who also spent much time sorting leaf litter in the laboratory.
Figure 2 HSBC climate champions in Brazil measure tree growth with a dendrometer
Data collection and data entry are ongoing, with the help of HSBC climate champions.
In the last quarter of 2010, all 1200 dendrometer bands were replaced with bands of a slightly amended design, which will improve measurements. There are still a total of 1200 bands, but c. 500 are on different trees, selected after having analysed data from the first year of measurements. Due to the amount of time required to sort leaf litter, collections will be limited to 10 trees per plot, trees selected from the two most dominant species in each plot. Measurement of Jatai bee hives are progressing well, but colonies of Tubuna bees are still proving difficult to capture. 2011 is set to be a busy year, with a full schedule of Climate Champions to help with data collection, and plans to publish the first scientific papers.
From January to March 2011 measurement of all 1200 dendrometer bands continued. In order to assess the accuracy of the data, scientists checked dendrometer measurements by climate champions immediately after they were taken. No differences were found, showing the high accuracy of data collected by climate champions. There is now a year’s worth of data from the Jatai hives, which is following anticipated patterns: weight increased during the summer, but decreased during the stressful winter conditions. Measurements will continue throughout the coming year. Data on carbon storage in the plots and weather data is being checked and analysed.
From April to June 2011 measurement of the 1200 dendrometer bands continued, as did collection of litterfall from the traps. The Jatai bee hives have now been monitored for almost a year, with measurements continuing. It has been a particularly cold winter, which the team are expecting to cause high mortality in the bees. With the help of a master’s student, the backlog of leaf litter continues to be sorted.
In the penultimate quarter of the HCP programme the team in Brazil have been kept busy with the continued dendrometer band measurements and leaf litter trapping. With the help of interns, leaf litter from 2010 has now been fully sorted, and that from 2011 will be completed by December with the help of a team of Climate Champions. The team are also analysing data and writing it up, in order to share their results with other scientists through publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals.