Skip to main content
Paulo Bittencourt

Dr Paulo Bittencourt

Teams and roles for Paulo Bittencourt

Overview

I am a Tropical Plant Ecologist focused on understanding how plants and water drive the ecology, evolution and function of tropical environments. My work is built upon an in-depth understanding of plant ecophysiology and the development of new sensor technologies, allowing me to study how plants shape our planet.

 

Earth - Planet Plant

If you placed the leaves of every plant side-by-side, they would cover the surface of Earth. And under each of those leaves there would be hundreds of microscopic conduits supporting them mechanically, keeping them hydrated and supplied with nutrients. Those conduits form the water transport system of plants and set the limits within which plants can function and, consequently, drives their ecology, evolution and responses to climate change.

 

The Water Transport System of Plants

The evolution of the water transport system of plants (i.e. their hydraulic system) was the most important evolutionary event in the past 550 million years. The plant hydraulic system is 60% of all living biomass and returns 70% of all rainfall back to the atmosphere. Its evolution changed every single geomorphological, biochemical and climatic process on the planet. How the water transport system of tropical plants modulate those processes, from nano-physiology to ecosystem ecology and large-scale biogeochemistry, is the focus of my studies.

 

Large Scale Tropical Experiments

The Amazon Free-air CO2 Fertilization Experiment (AmazonFACE, left) and the Caxiuanã Throughfall Exclusion Experiment (eSecaFlor, right).

The water transport system is the central node of a tree’s function. It not only determines their drought sensitivity but set the boundaries for canopy function and biomechanical resistance while holding most of the tree’s nutrient. I have been leading key work in some of the largest tropical experiments to understand how responses of tropical trees to changes in water, CO2 and nutrient availability are modulated by their water transport system.

 

Giant Tropical Forests

Tree climber at the top of a 70m tall Dinizia excelsa tree (left) and dendrometric growth sensors being installed in its trunk (right).

I also work with giant tropical forests. Those incredible ecosystems have high density of large trees, some over 80 m tall, holding huge amounts of biomass and an unique and still unexplored biodiversity. These giant trees are 1% of all tropical trees but store >50% of the forest aboveground carbon and are predicted to face a growing risk of drought-induced mortality, with major implications for Earth’s terrestrial carbon stores. Those giant forests do not occur randomly across the tropics but in very specific locations in each continent. Why they occur where they do, who are those giant trees, how they function and transport water and how sensitive they are to climate change are all questions I seek to answer.

 

Understanding Complex Interactions

Tropical forests delayed critical climate change thresholds by 20+ years. With climate change impacts costing over 1.5 trillion dollars annually, knowing precisely how much time tropical forests can still buy us is urgent. However, current models fail to predict the fate of tropical forests. This is due to the underlying mechanistic understanding of tree function stemming from studies focusing on single limiting factors whilst the reality is that multiple stressors interact to simultaneously co-limit tree function. To understand the fate of tropical forests, we need to understand how biotic (ontogeny, size, phylogeny, plasticity) and abiotic (wind, fertility, light, water, CO2, temperature) factors and stressors interact and co-limit tropical forest function.

 

The Next Generation of Technology for Tropical Ecology

Unravelling how tropical forest function requires monitoring the water, carbon and biomechanical system of thousands of trees growing in diverse conditions across the tropics. Progress in this area is hindered by the lack of suitable monitoring technologies. I strongly believe new technologies can change this game. To address this challenge, I developed a strong electronic engineering background and became one of the only researchers capable of developing sensors for tropical ecology and environments.

 

Working in the field

Tumucumaque Mountains National Park, The Mysteries of Giant Amazonian Trees, photo by Leonardo Chaves – Revista Fapesp

I am particularly passionate about field work and the immense value it brings. Tropical field work brings together a unique cross-cultural experience allowing us to better understand how working together with actors from diverse backgrounds is fundamental for a better world. Connecting and strengthening those multiple groups, from riverine communities, students, academics, innovators and decision-makers, is my favourite part of this job.

Publication

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2014

Articles

Contact Details

Email BittencourtP@cardiff.ac.uk

Campuses Main Building, Floor 2, Room 2.36c, Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3AT

Research themes

Specialisms

  • Ecosystem ecology
  • Tropical Forests
  • Plant Ecophysiology
  • Ecohydrology
  • Electronics, sensors and digital hardware
Amazon could survive long-term drought but at a high cost, study finds

Amazon could survive long-term drought but at a high cost, study finds

22 May 2025