Email Address: Charles_Cannon@nparks.gov.sg

Research Interests

I’ve been fascinated with the ecology and evolution of the incredible rainforests of Southeast Asia since 1987, when I spent a year living in Indonesian Kalimantan (Borneo) as an undergraduate research assistant. While sometimes I’d prefer to be deep in the woods somewhere far away looking at trees or chasing primates, my concern about the future of these forests has dominated my research focus and drawn me to questions about how we can best safeguard and manage their diversity and vitality while also benefiting humanity. I’ve lived and worked extensively in Indonesia, Malaysia, and China, including being based at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden where I was introduced to the wonderful world of botanic gardens.

I’ve studied the effects of logging on forest structure and diversity, developed ecoregional conservation priorities for the island of Sulawesi with the Nature Conservancy, reconstructed the deep history of the stone oaks (Lithocarpus) and the forests of Sundaland, and thought deeply about how trees and forests function and adapt in natural and built environments. Most recently, I was a founding member of a team that competed in the finals of the X-Prize Rainforest challenge to autonomously measure and report out on the biodiversity of Amazonian forests on the Rio Negro, working closely with engineers and innovators on creating new technology to discover and monitor our natural wealth.

I’m excited to work with the team at the Singapore Botanic Garden and my colleagues at the National Parks Board as we pursue Singapore’s vision to create a City in Nature. Given Singapore’s position in the heart of Southeast Asia, the opportunity to develop, implement and scale up nature-based solutions across the region is substantial and inspiring. Combining long-term field-based natural history observations with cutting edge technologies and models, my research interests are focused on achieving a future where forests and people can thrive together, in close proximity and in mutual benefit.

Current Research

1. Understanding how rainforests and tropical trees adapt and evolve in a human dominated world
2. Developing practical and robust technologies to automate and streamline the monitoring of tree and forest health
3. Designing long-term experiments and observational platforms across the natural to built gradient
4. Contribute to the discovery and classification of SE Asian tree diversity

Selected  Publications