By Dr. Florencia Montagnini, Dr. Carl F. Jordan (auth.)
Research in tropical forestry is faced with the duty of discovering ideas to relieve strain on last forests and methods to reinforce wooded area regeneration and fix deserted lands, utilizing effective choices that may be beautiful to neighborhood human populations. furthermore, sustainable forestry in tropical nations needs to be supported via sufficient regulations to advertise and hold particular actions at neighborhood and local scales.
Here, a multi-disciplinary strategy is gifted to higher the certainty of tropical woodland ecology, as an important step in constructing enough concepts for conservation and administration. The authors have lengthy adventure in either educational and functional issues concerning tropical wooded area ecology and management.
Read or Download Tropical Forest Ecology: The Basis for Conservation and Management PDF
Similar conservation books
Keeping Faith with Nature: Ecosystems, Democracy, and America's Public Lands
Because the twenty first century dawns, public land coverage is coming into a brand new period. This well timed publication examines the ancient, clinical, political, criminal, and institutional advancements which are altering administration priorities and guidelines - advancements that compel us to view the general public lands as an built-in ecological entity and a key biodiversity stronghold.
The 1st renowned publication to accommodate bathrooms in a entire but authoritative demeanour.
Energy independence: your everyday guide to reducing fuel consumption
Power Independence is the basic consultant to the main achievable and reasonable replacement power strategies for the standard consumer―including sun panels, wind turbines, hydrogen gas cells, wooden, hydro-electric, geothermal warmth pumps, and extra. For all these looking both to complement their conventional fuel-burning furnace or to redesign their domestic, this publication has what they should start.
- Digital Control of High-Frequency Switched-Mode Power Converters
- Oology and Ralph's Talking Eggs: Bird Conservation Comes Out of Its Shell (Mildred Wyatt-Wold Series in Ornithology)
- Geophysics
- U.S. energy policy: crisis and complacency
Extra resources for Tropical Forest Ecology: The Basis for Conservation and Management
Example text
Because of the high herbivore pressure on many tropical plants, a variety of defense mechanisms have evolved. One that is common in tropical plants is the presence of secondary plant chemicals that make leaves unpalatable to many herbivores (Coley 1980). Another defense mechanism of tropical forests against pests and disease outbreaks is a characteristic of the ecosystem: high species diversity. High diversity of tree species in the tropics provides survival benefit for the forest. Many herbivores and diseases are specific to a particular species.
Pioneer species are rarely considered endangered species. Logging, shifting cultivation, and other anthropogenic disturbances ensure the survival of pioneer species, often considered to be weeds. In the end, there is little agreement on the reasons for high diversity in the tropics. Perhaps the Eurocentric perspective of scientists caused them to look at the problem from the wrong viewpoint. 1 that diversity tends to decrease with increases in stress. Diversity is highest where stress is least, that is, where temperatures are optimum year round, rainfall is adequate, and nutrients are plentiful and well balanced.
However, there is a great difference in the amount of light reaching the Earth's surface per year, when temperatures are above freezing. There is a strong decrease in the amount of light when temperatures are above freezing, along a line from equator to poles. Consequently, there is much less light available for photosynthesis at high latitudes than at low latitudes. There are also lower average yearly temperatures. However, average daytime temperatures during the growing (frost-free) season vary very little along a latitudinal gradient (at locations at the same elevation), so this cannot be the factor that causes differences in diversity.