D (David) Pacuk

As a PhD candidate, my research is about the functional understanding of fire resilience across Amazonian forests of Bolivia and Brazil (acronym: FUNFIRE). These forests serve as immense carbon sinks, are far-reaching sources of precipitation, harbour an estimated 16,000 tree species, and provide livelihoods to millions of people. However, half of the total forest loss across the Amazon is caused by fires, and these fires are occurring at unprecedented frequencies and intensities due to climate change. This means these forests face the threat of massive dieback, which would result in large-scale carbon emissions and biodiversity loss.

Managing these threats requires a better understanding of the ability of these forests to resist and recover from fire (i.e., their fire resilience). This resilience is known to vary depending on many structural factors, but these do not necessarily account for species composition effects. That is why we work on a mechanistic understanding of fire resilience based on functional plant traits. With the help of remote sensing tools and population response data, we aim to upscale this understanding of fire resilience to an Amazon-wide level. The result should be a functional framework of fire resilience in Amazonian forests, through which we hope to provide input to relevant conservation strategies.