Sensitivity and threat in high-elevation rainforests: Outcomes and consequences of the IBISCA-Queensland project

The IBISCA approach to biodiversity assessment in forests was, initially, the brainchild of Yves Basset, Bruno Corbara and Hector Barrios (Basset et al. 2007). The four IBISCA projects carried out to date have examined selected aspects of beta-diversity in tropical, subtropical and temperate forests. In each case a set of research questions were defined and a sampling design executed. Researchers with interests in particular taxa or ecological processes were invited to join one or more of the proposed field expeditions to carry out sub-projects of their choice within the general experimental design. When successful, this approach not only provides individual researchers or groups of researchers with analyzable and publishable data sets in their specific areas of interest but it also facilitates comparative and other meta-analyses with homogeneous criteria