Oliver Phillips (ecologist) explained

Oliver L. Phillips
Workplaces:University of Leeds
Thesis Title:Comparative Valuation of Tropical Forests in Amazonian Peru
Known For:Ecology of tropical forests

Oliver Lawrence Phillips, is a British ecologist who specializes in tropical forests and is currently Professor of Tropical Ecology in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds. He is noted for his work coordinating large-scale, collaborative research projects that study how humans have changed the world's tropical forests, and the implications for climate change.[1] [2]

Early life and career

Phillips studied Natural Sciences at St Catharine's College, University of Cambridge. He took his Ph.D. at Washington University in St. Louis from 1988 to 1993, with a thesis titled "Comparative Valuation of Tropical Forests in Amazonian Peru", and a period of study at Missouri Botanical Garden. He moved to Leeds University in 1995 and has worked there ever since.[3]

Research interests

Phillips' research goal is "to understand the dynamics of carbon and biodiversity across the world's tropical forests, how these change with our changing climate, and how they may feedback on the whole planet".[3] [4]

With this in mind, he currently coordinates two large-scale collaborative research projects: ForestPlots.net, established in 2009, which monitors over 6,150 areas of forestry (comprising 2.4 million trees of around 15,000 species) in 62 countries through a network of over 2,500 researchers,[5] and RAINFOR (Red Amazónica de Inventarios Forestales/Amazon Forest Inventory Network), established in 2000, in which 100 researchers from 15 countries share data and collaborate on rainforest research (currently documented in over 300 published papers).[6] According to Phillips, this collaborative approach "provides a unique perspective on forest carbon storage and fluxes, which is measured on-the-ground across the tropics by thousands of skilled scientists".[7] [8]

Phillips has argued that "grassroots" contributions like these are vital to tackling two of the world's most pressing environmental problems: "To make the most of what nature can offer to tackle biodiversity loss and the climate crisis, we need to start by properly valuing the tropical scientists measuring them and the forest communities whose lives depend on them".[4] [9]

Data from these projects has been used to estimate the number of tree species on Earth at roughly 73,000, including 9,200 that have not yet been discovered. Around 40 percent of the undiscovered species are thought to be in South America. According to Phillips: "With 3,900 tree species yet to be discovered in this one continent, our analysis shows that many are concentrated in endangered hotspots of diversity where the Amazon forest meets the Andes in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia. This makes forest science and conservation of paramount priority in South America".[10] [11]

Phillips' work has also included long-term studies of Borneo's rainforests, their ability to act as effective carbon sinks, and their vulnerability to droughts and changes in land use.[12] [13]

Awards

Phillips was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2020.[1]

Selected publications

Books

Papers

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Oliver Phillips FRS: Fellow Detail Page . The Royal Society . 24 July 2022.
  2. Web site: Professor Oliver Phillips honoured as a new Fellow of The Royal Society . University of Leeds . 24 July 2022 . 1 May 2020.
  3. Web site: Professor Oliver Phillips FRS . School of Geography . University of Leeds . 24 July 2022.
  4. Web site: Phillips . Oliver . Sanchez . Aida Cuni . Lima . Renato . Forests in the tropics are critical for tackling climate change – yet the people showing how are being exploited . The Conversation . 24 July 2022 . 28 April 2022.
  5. Web site: Map: ForestPlots.NET . 25 July 2022.
  6. Web site: Our Mission: Rainfor . Rainfor . 25 July 2022.
  7. Web site: Carbon surprise in disappearing African tropical mountain forests . University of Leeds . 24 July 2022 . 26 August 2021.
  8. News: Wight . Andrew . How To Make Tropical Science Better? Fairer Data! . 24 July 2022 . Forbes . 22 December 2019.
  9. News: A global observatory is needed to understand how global change is transforming forests . 24 July 2022 . Envirotec . June 2022.
  10. Web site: Harrison . Anna . The number of tree species on Earth . University of Leeds . 25 July 2022 . 2 February 2022.
  11. 5. Cazzolla Gatti . Roberto . Reich . Peter B. . Gamarra . Javier G. P. . Crowther . Tom . Hui . Cang . Morera . Albert . Bastin . Jean-Francois . de-Miguel . Sergio . Nabuurs . Gert-Jan . Svenning . Jens-Christian . Serra-Diaz . Josep M. . Merow . Cory . Enquist . Brian . Kamenetsky . Maria . Lee . Junho . Zhu . Jun . Fang . Jinyun . Jacobs . Douglass F. . Pijanowski . Bryan . Banerjee . Arindam . Giaquinto . Robert A. . Alberti . Giorgio . Almeyda Zambrano . Angelica Maria . Alvarez-Davila . Esteban . Araujo-Murakami . Alejandro . Avitabile . Valerio . Aymard . Gerardo A. . Balazy . Radomir . Baraloto . Chris . Barroso . Jorcely G. . Bastian . Meredith L. . Birnbaum . Philippe . Bitariho . Robert . Bogaert . Jan . Bongers . Frans . Bouriaud . Olivier . Brancalion . Pedro H. S. . Brearley . Francis Q. . Broadbent . Eben North . Bussotti . Filippo . Castro da Silva . Wendeson . César . Ricardo Gomes . Češljar . Goran . Chama Moscoso . Víctor . Chen . Han Y. H. . Cienciala . Emil . Clark . Connie J. . Coomes . David A. . Dayanandan . Selvadurai . Decuyper . Mathieu . Dee . Laura E. . Del Aguila Pasquel . Jhon . Derroire . Géraldine . Djuikouo . Marie Noel Kamdem . Van Do . Tran . Dolezal . Jiri . Đorđević . Ilija Đ. . Engel . Julien . Fayle . Tom M. . Feldpausch . Ted R. . Fridman . Jonas K. . Harris . David J. . Hemp . Andreas . Hengeveld . Geerten . Herault . Bruno . Herold . Martin . Ibanez . Thomas . Jagodzinski . Andrzej M. . Jaroszewicz . Bogdan . Jeffery . Kathryn J. . Johannsen . Vivian Kvist . Jucker . Tommaso . Kangur . Ahto . Karminov . Victor N. . Kartawinata . Kuswata . Kennard . Deborah K. . Kepfer-Rojas . Sebastian . Keppel . Gunnar . Khan . Mohammed Latif . Khare . Pramod Kumar . Kileen . Timothy J. . Kim . Hyun Seok . Korjus . Henn . Kumar . Amit . Kumar . Ashwani . Laarmann . Diana . Labrière . Nicolas . Lang . Mait . Lewis . Simon L. . Lukina . Natalia . Maitner . Brian S. . Malhi . Yadvinder . Marshall . Andrew R. . Martynenko . Olga V. . Monteagudo Mendoza . Abel L. . Ontikov . Petr V. . Ortiz-Malavasi . Edgar . Pallqui Camacho . Nadir C. . Paquette . Alain . Park . Minjee . Parthasarathy . Narayanaswamy . Peri . Pablo Luis . Petronelli . Pascal . Pfautsch . Sebastian . Phillips . Oliver L. . Picard . Nicolas . Piotto . Daniel . Poorter . Lourens . Poulsen . John R. . Pretzsch . Hans . Ramírez-Angulo . Hirma . Restrepo Correa . Zorayda . Rodeghiero . Mirco . Rojas Gonzáles . Rocío Del Pilar . Rolim . Samir G. . Rovero . Francesco . Rutishauser . Ervan . Saikia . Purabi . Salas-Eljatib . Christian . Schepaschenko . Dmitry . Scherer-Lorenzen . Michael . Šebeň . Vladimír . Silveira . Marcos . Slik . Ferry . Sonké . Bonaventure . Souza . Alexandre F. . Stereńczak . Krzysztof Jan . Svoboda . Miroslav . Taedoumg . Hermann . Tchebakova . Nadja . Terborgh . John . Tikhonova . Elena . Torres-Lezama . Armando . van der Plas . Fons . Vásquez . Rodolfo . Viana . Helder . Vibrans . Alexander C. . Vilanova . Emilio . Vos . Vincent A. . Wang . Hua-Feng . Westerlund . Bertil . White . Lee J. T. . Wiser . Susan K. . Zawiła-Niedźwiecki . Tomasz . Zemagho . Lise . Zhu . Zhi-Xin . Zo-Bi . Irié C. . Liang . Jingjing . The number of tree species on Earth . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 31 January 2022 . 119 . 6 . 0027-8424 . 1091-6490 . 10.1073/pnas.2115329119 . 35101981 . 8833151 . 2022PNAS..11915329C .
  12. 5. Qie . Lan . Lewis . Simon L. . Sullivan . Martin J. P. . Lopez-Gonzalez . Gabriela . Pickavance . Georgia C. . Sunderland . Terry . Ashton . Peter . Hubau . Wannes . Abu Salim . Kamariah . Aiba . Shin-Ichiro . Banin . Lindsay F. . Berry . Nicholas . Brearley . Francis Q. . Burslem . David F. R. P. . Dančák . Martin . Davies . Stuart J. . Fredriksson . Gabriella . Hamer . Keith C. . Hédl . Radim . Kho . Lip Khoon . Kitayama . Kanehiro . Krisnawati . Haruni . Lhota . Stanislav . Malhi . Yadvinder . Maycock . Colin . Metali . Faizah . Mirmanto . Edi . Nagy . Laszlo . Nilus . Reuben . Ong . Robert . Pendry . Colin A. . Poulsen . Axel Dalberg . Primack . Richard B. . Rutishauser . Ervan . Samsoedin . Ismayadi . Saragih . Bernaulus . Sist . Plinio . Slik . J. W. Ferry . Sukri . Rahayu Sukmaria . Svátek . Martin . Tan . Sylvester . Tjoa . Aiyen . van Nieuwstadt . Mark . Vernimmen . Ronald R. E. . Yassir . Ishak . Kidd . Petra Susan . Fitriadi . Muhammad . Ideris . Nur Khalish Hafizhah . Serudin . Rafizah Mat . Abdullah Lim . Layla Syaznie . Saparudin . Muhammad Shahruney . Phillips . Oliver L. . Long-term carbon sink in Borneo's forests halted by drought and vulnerable to edge effects . Nature Communications . December 2017 . 8 . 1 . 1966 . 2041-1723 . 10.1038/s41467-017-01997-0 . 29259276 . 5736600 . 2017NatCo...8.1966Q .
  13. Earth sciences: Borneo's forests are a vulnerable tropical carbon sink . Nature Communications . 20 December 2017 . 10.1038/s41467-017-01997-0 . 29259276 . Qie . L. . Lewis . S. L. . Sullivan MJP . Lopez-Gonzalez . G. . Pickavance . G. C. . Sunderland . T. . Ashton . P. . Hubau . W. . Abu Salim . K. . Aiba . S. I. . Banin . L. F. . Berry . N. . Brearley . F. Q. . Burslem DFRP . Dančák . M. . Davies . S. J. . Fredriksson . G. . Hamer . K. C. . Hédl . R. . Kho . L. K. . Kitayama . K. . Krisnawati . H. . Lhota . S. . Malhi . Y. . Maycock . C. . Metali . F. . Mirmanto . E. . Nagy . L. . Nilus . R. . Ong . R. . 8 . 1 . 1966 . 5736600 . 2017NatCo...8.1966Q . 1 .

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