Wireless Sensing Networks for Environmental Monitoring: Two Case Studies from Tropical Forests

The emergence of new environmental monitoring tools utilizing Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) represents new opportunities to understand locally driven ecological processes in tropical environments at larger spatial and temporal scales, while at the same time opens new opportunities for eScience research. In this paper we present results from the outcome of two WSNs deployments aimed to evaluate this new technology in tropical environments. Leaf temperature and Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) were measured at high temporal resolution in Panama and Brazil, respectively. Our results indicate that WSN technologies can be used effectively enough to measure important micro-meteorological variables that are sensitive to climate change and land use/cover change. Some of the temperatures recorded during our experiments in Panama were significantly high than those suggested as critical environmental thresholds for tropical environments. Our PAR results from Brazil showcase the value of this technology to evaluate the role of light patterns on ecosystem succession as a result of regional land use/cover change process. Our experiments indicate the WSN can serve as a key element in future understandings of ecosystem process driven by eScience in the years to come.