Ecosystems Lab researchers share new tropical forest research at ATBC 2026
- Delaney Demaret
- 13 minutes ago
- 3 min read
A delegation from the Ecosystems Lab recently travelled to Xishuangbanna, China, to present their latest research at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC), held from 28 June–3 July 2026. This year's conference brought together tropical biology and conservation researchers from around the world under the theme ‘Achieving a Shared Ecological Civilization for Long-Term Resilience’.
Five members of the Ecosystems and Biodiversity Programme represented the lab through plenary talks and research presentations spanning forest resilience, ecosystem energetics, biodiversity, climate change, and soil ecology. Prof Yadvinder Malhi was also honoured as one of this year's keynote speakers.
Capturing the energy of tropical ecosystems
In his plenary lecture, Captured Sunshine: An Energetic View of Tropical Terrestrial Ecosystems, Yadvinder explored how tracing the flow of energy through ecosystems can provide a new perspective on biodiversity and ecosystem health.
Drawing on research from tropical forests in the Amazon, Borneo and across sub-Saharan Africa, the talk examined how energy flows through plants, birds and mammals, how logging reshapes these pathways, and how energetic approaches could help assess ecosystem recovery. The lecture proposed the concept of vibrancy as a novel metric for measuring both the amount and distribution of energy flowing through ecological communities.
Understanding how forests respond to change
Several presentations focused on how tropical forests are responding to increasing environmental pressures.
Dr Isamar Cortes presented research investigating the drivers of forest resilience at a global scale. By combining long-term forest inventory records with extensive plant trait data, the project aims to identify the characteristics that help forests maintain their diversity and functioning in the face of environmental change.
Dr Huanyuan Zhang-Zheng shared findings from more than a decade of monitoring tropical forests across Ghana. The research showed that increasing atmospheric dryness has caused substantial declines in forest productivity and carbon uptake, even where forest biomass has remained stable. The findings suggest that measuring biomass alone may overlook important changes in ecosystem functioning as the climate warms.
Exploring ecosystems from the ground up
Dr Jesús Aguirre Gutiérrez presented research examining the links between plant functional traits and soil microbial communities across tropical forests. By combining measurements of plant traits with DNA sequencing of soil bacteria and fungi, the study explores how below-ground biodiversity influences nutrient cycling, plant growth and overall ecosystem functioning, offering new insights into the interactions that sustain tropical forests.
Following energy through tropical wildlife
Bhavya Palugudi presented research investigating how energy flows through bird and mammal communities in tropical forests in Peru and Borneo. The study found that, despite similar levels of plant productivity, the two ecosystems channel energy through very different groups of animals, reflecting their distinct evolutionary histories and the impacts of human activity. The findings suggest that tracking energy flow provides a richer picture of ecosystem functioning than traditional biodiversity measures alone, with potential applications for conservation and ecological restoration.
Alongside presenting their research, the conference offered opportunities to reconnect with collaborators and Ecosystems Lab alumni from around the world, including former postdoctoral researcher Dr David Bauman, now a Research Scientist at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD).
Following the conference, members of the Ecosystems team joined a field excursion to southern Yunnan to learn about Asian elephant conservation at the northern edge of the species' range. The trip explored landscape-scale habitat restoration and innovative approaches to reducing human–wildlife conflict, highlighting how conservation, local communities and ecosystem restoration can support long-term coexistence.
Congratulations to the Ecosystems team on their successful presentations at ATBC 2026. Their work highlights the breadth of research underway across the programme, from global analyses of forest resilience to new ways of understanding ecosystem functioning in a rapidly changing world.
