Dear Colleagues,

Models of global climate change consistently predict that temperature increases in the tropics over the next century will be relatively moderate, but extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, will become more frequent. These extreme weather events will affect diversity and other community parameters of tropical forests. For example, floods can trigger outbreaks in tropical forests via disrupting natural enemy control of herbivores and altering host plant abundance and quality. In addition to climate change, concomitant increases in fragmentation and habitat loss along with increases in invasive species have drastic consequences for tropical communities and are likely to synergize with the negative effects of extreme weather events. We seek papers that address questions about the community-level consequences of climate change on tropical forests as well as the more general and interactive effects of other global change parameters. Empirical studies from natural and managed tropical ecosystems should include at least one of the following: careful models, a strong experimental approach, thorough observational data, results from mensurative experiments, or elucidation of multiple mechanisms by which global change changes tropical forest diversity or related community parameters. Thorough review papers, including meta-analyses are also encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Lee A. Dyer
Guest Editor

• extreme weather events
• tropical forests
• biodiversity
• global change
• communities
• ecosystems
• outbreaks