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| Name |
Armesto, Juan J. |
| Location
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Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile |
| Primary Field
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Environmental Sciences and Ecology |
 Election Citation
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Juan J. Armesto researches the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in South American forests, and their role in alleviating the impacts of global change.
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Research Interests
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He directs the laboratory of Terrestrial Ecosystems at the Ecology Department, Universidad Católica de Chile and in Senda Darwin Biological Research Station, Chiloé Island. His main research interest is the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in semiarid and evergreen temperate forest environments.
This question is addressed using field and laboratory experiments, focusing on its relevance to alleviate the impacts of global change. In recent years, the lab has investigated the consequences of an experimental reduction of the amount of rainfall, by removing throughfall and stemflow from the temperate forest. Response variables have included leaf fall and tree regeneration patterns, as well as tree growth. An additional interest of the group is the role of fog water interception by the canopy in the hydric status of relict patches of rain forest on coastal mountaintops of semiarid Chile and the consequences of climate change on the long-term trends in fog water inputs. The main goal is to develop general models of forest susceptibility to changes in water supply via rainfall or oceanic fog.
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