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Zachary Chu

@zchu01.bsky.social
18 followers 24 following 4 posts

NERC CENTA DTP PhD Student at University of Birmingham and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Mechanistically modelling vascular epiphyte restoration with epiphyte biogeography fieldwork in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

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Zachary Chu @zchu01.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
More species are retained with introduction of a) all adults into b) older forests However, faster-growing, lightweight epiphytes such as small ferns (left) can be introduced earlier and slow-growing heavy epiphytes such as large orchids (right) can be introduced later 4/4
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Zachary Chu @zchu01.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
We simulated the introduction of communities of vascular epiphytes growing across three dimensions of virtual tropical forests at different years after restoration, population sizes, and proportion of adults 3/4
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Zachary Chu @zchu01.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Epiphytes, or plants growing on other plants, can make up over a third of vascular plants in tropical forests, intercepting rainfall during storms, sequestering carbon, and sustaining pollinators. Despite their huge diversity and value to people, they are rarely restored 2/4
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Zachary Chu @zchu01.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
First PhD chapter out! How can we restore the epiphytic plants in our tropical forest canopies? With Thomas Kappas, Mohammad Afraz Ahmed, @laurajanegraham.bsky.social , Alexandre Antonelli, and @jsarmentocabral.bsky.social besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/13… 1/4
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