Jaú National Park - Brazil

Jaú National Park extends over 22.720 km2 and is located 220 km NW the city of Manaus, at approximately -01º54’ and -61º27’. It includes upland forest (terra firme), white-sand forest (campinarana) and black-water inundation forest (igapó). The igapó forest under study is mostly pristine, and subject to annual floods of up to 9 m through the oscillating water-levels of the Jaú and Negro Rivers. The species-rich igapó forest contains several endemic tree species, some of which grow at extremely flooded sites and with individuals that have ages of up to 1,000 years, as measured by dendrochronological analyses. The monitoring of wood growth, mortality, and regeneration in these tree species indicate how tree populations react to intensified flood and drought regimes, how they are predicted to occur under global climate change.