2020: The Year in Pictures

Ailaoshan is a mid-mountain, moist evergreen, broad-leaved forest in the Yunnan Province of China.  It joined the ForestGEO network in February and is a 20-ha plot.

We curated a list of blogs, papers, and videos on science writing, software support, and statistical analysis that ForestGEO staff and collaborators have found useful in their work.

Ordway Swisher FDP, an upland sandhill forest in Florida, USA, joined the ForestGEO network this summer.  It is a 23.04 ha-plot and undergoes a regimen of prescribed burn every 3-4 years.

The ForestGEO Climate Data Portal, released by the Ecosystems & Climate Lab, acts as a directory of extant climate data for ForestGEO sites.  It also provides climate and other environmental data specific to ForestGEO sites.

The ForestGEO Systems Group revised and updated the ForestGEO Database Handbook.  Among other features, it now includes a matrix of applicable steps for paper vs. electronic records and for census vs. re-census data protocol.

David Kenfack, ForestGEO staff scientist and coordinator of the Africa Program, was elected as a Fellow to the African Academy of Science in recognition of his leadership, scholarship, and service to ForestGEO, the Smithsonian, and African forest science. 

Members of our network published 42 new articles and chapters using ForestGEO data.  Three of these were published in Science and two in Nature. 

In September we launched our ForestGEO Virtual Seminar Series, a monthly real-time gathering of network members to present research in a short talk format, followed by a Q&A session. 

...and of course, 2020 was overwhelmingly shaped by the reality of a global pandemic.  We are grateful for the creative ways that network members found opportunity amid the disruption.