Dr. Catherine Potvin

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: The Sardinilla experiment

The bulk of experimental evidence for the biodiversity and ecosystem function relationship comes from experimental systems, either artificial grasslands or microcosm. Since 2001, my research group is monitoring the pools and fluxes of carbon (C) in a tropical biodiversity plantation established with plots of 1 to 18 native tree species. The plantation, in Sardinilla central Panama, allows scaling up our understanding of biodiversity effects. It is an international collaborative research platform where we examine multiple aspects of C, nutrients and water cycling. Specific aspects of this large project are the main focus of my NSERC Discovery grant.

Related Publications:

• Zeugin, F., Potvin, C., Jansa, J. and Scherer-Lorenzen, M.. 2010. Is tree diversity an important driver for phosphorus and nitrogen acquisition of a young tropical plantation? Forest Ecology and Management 260: 1424-1433.
• Ruiz-Jaen, MC and C. Potvin 2010. Tree diversity explained patterns of variation in ecosystem function in a neotropical forest. Biotropica 42(6): 638-646.
• Potvin, C. Oelmann, Y., Potvin, C., Mark, T., Werther, L., Tapernon, S. and, Wilcke, W. 2010. Tree mixture effects on aboveground nutrient pools of trees in an experimental plantation in Panama. Plant and Soil 326 Sp. Iss. SI: 199-212.
• Sarlo, M, Healy, C and Potvin C. 2010. Tropical tree plantations with native species: linking carbon storage with concerns for biodiversity in. Dallmeier, F., A. Fenech, D. Maciver, and R. Szaro (ed.) Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Sustainability in the Americas. A Smithsonian Contribution to Knowledge. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, Washington, D.C. p. 103-122.
• Potvin, C. and Dutilleul, P. 2009. Neighborhood effects and size-asymmetric competition in a tree plantation varying in diversity. Ecology 90(2): 321-327.
• Paquette, A., Hawryshyn, J., Vyta Senikas, A. and Potvin, C. 2009. Enrichment Planting in Secondary Forests: a Promising Clean Development Mechanism to Increase Terrestrial Carbon Sinks. Ecology and Society 14 (1): 31. [online]
• Sarlo, M, Healy, C and Potvin C. 2009. Tropical tree plantations with native species: linking carbon storage with concerns for biodiversity in. Dallmeier, F., A. Fenech, D. Maciver, and R. Szaro (ed.) Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Sustainability in the Americas. A Smithsonian Contribution to Knowledge. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, Washington, D.C. (October 8th 2008)
• Healey, C., Gotelli, N. and Potvin, C. 2008. Partitioning the effects of biodiversity and environmental heterogeneity for productivity and mortality in a tropical tree plantation. Journal of Ecology 96: 903-913.
• Potvin, C. and Gotelli, N. 2008. Biodiversity enhances individual performance but does not affect survivorship in tropical trees. Ecology Letters 11: 217-223
• Coll, L., Potvin, C., Messier, C. and Delagrange, S. 2008. Carbon storage, allocation patterns and root architecture of tropical trees with contrasting shade tolerance in young mixed plantations. Trees - Structure and Function 22: 585-596
• Murphy, M., Balser, T., Buchmann, N., Hann, V. and Potvin, C. 2008. Linking tree biodiversity to belowground process in a young tropical plantation: impacts on soil CO2 flux. Forest Ecology and Management 255: 2577-2588
• Delagrange, S., Coll, L, Messier, Ch, and Potvin, C. 2008. Linking multiple-level tree traits with biomass accumulation in native tree species used for reforestation in Panama. Trees - Structure and Function 22: 337-349
• Schwendenmann L., Pendall, E. and Potvin C. Surface soil organic carbon pool, mineralization rates and CO₂ efflux under different land-use types in Central Panama. 2007. In: Tscharntke T, Leuschner Ch, Guhardja E, Zeller M (eds.) “The stability of tropical rainforest margins: linking ecological, economic and social constraints of land use and conservation.” Series:  Environmental Science. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York. p. 109-131.
• Scherer-Lorensen, M, Bonilla, J.L. and Potvin, C.  2007. Tree species richness affects litter production and decomposition dynamics in a tropical biodiversity experiment.  Oikos 116:2108-2124
• Scherer-Lorenzen, M., C. Potvin, J. Koricheva, B. Schmid, A. Hector, Z. Bornik, G. Reynolds, E.-D. Schulze. 2004. The design of experimental tree plantations for functional biodiversity research. In M. Scherer-Lorenzen, C.  Körner, E.-D. Schulze, editors. The functional significance of forest diversity. Ecological Studies. Vol. 176. Springer, Heidelberg, New York. pp. 347-376
• Potvin, C., Whidden, E. and Moore, T. 2004. A case study of carbon pools under three different land-uses in Panama. Climatic Change 67: 291-307
• B. Wilsey, G. Parent, N. Roulet, T. Moore and C. Potvin. 2002. Tropical pasture carbon cycling: relationships between C source/sink strength, aboveground biomass, and grazing. Ecol. Letters. 5(3): 367-376
• Wilsey, B.J. and C. Potvin. 2000. Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: the importance of species evenness and identity in a Quebec old field. Ecology 81:887-892.