Introduction | Contacts | Purpose | Site Description | Measurements | DEM | Pictures

Purpose

The purpose of the Cape Tribulation flux station was:

• to measure exchanges of carbon dioxide, water vapour and energy between the tropical rainforest and the atmosphere using micrometeorological techniques

• to quantify the changes in carbon and energy balances of an Australian tropical rainforest during the course of post-cyclone canopy recovery. Closely linked to the micrometeorological ecosystem-level studies are leaf-level studies of the major tree and liana species at the site (Dr Owin Atkin, ANU; Dr Peter Hietz, Vienna) and water balance and soil carbon studies (Drs P. Nelson, Marc Le Blanc, JCU)

• to recommend management strategies for the conservation of carbon stores in tropical rainforest ecosystems that are subject to relatively frequent cyclone disturbance.
  

This work was part of an intensive study of the ecology at the Daintree Rainforest Observatory site which was initiated in 1999.