HR: 08:00h
AN: H21I-01    [Abstracts]
TI: The Agua Salud Project, Central Panama
AU: * Stallard, R F
EM: stallard@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey, 3215 Marine Street (E127), Boulder, CO 80303-1066, United States
AU: Elsenbeer, H
EM: helmut.elsenbeer@uni-potsdam.de
AF: Institute of Geoecology University of Potsdam, PO Box 60 15 52, Potsdams, 14415, Germany
AU: Ogden, F L
EM: fogden@uwyo.edu
AF: Department of Civil & Architectural Engineering University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071, United States
AU: Hall, J S
EM: HallJe@si.edu
AF: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, UNIT 0948, APO, AA 34002-0948, United States
AB: The Agua Salud Project utilizes the Panama Canal's central role in world commerce to focus global attention on the ecosystem services provided by tropical forests. It will be the largest field experiment of its kind in the tropics aimed at quantifying the environmental services (water, carbon, and biodiversity) provided by tropical forests. The Agua Salud Watershed is our principal field site. This watershed and the headwaters of several adjacent rivers include both protected mature forests and a wide variety of land uses that are typical of rural Panama. Experiments at the scale of entire catchments will permit complete water and carbon inventories and exchanges for different landscape uses. The following questions will be addressed: (1) How do landscape treatments and management approaches affect ecosystem services such as carbon storage, water quality and quantity, dry- season water supply, and biodiversity? (2) Can management techniques be designed to optimize forest production along with ecosystem services during reforestation? (3) Do different tree planting treatments and landscape management approaches influence groundwater storage, which is thought to be critical to maintaining dry-season flow, thus insuring the full operation of the Canal during periods of reduced rainfall and severe climatic events such as El Niño. In addition we anticipate expanding this project to address biodiversity, social, and economic values of these forests.
DE: 0410 Biodiversity
DE: 1813 Eco-hydrology
DE: 1815 Erosion
DE: 1834 Human impacts
DE: 4815 Ecosystems, structure, dynamics, and modeling (0439)
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting