Open access copy available
Using Lightweight Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Monitor Tropical Forest RecoveryBackgroundOpen access copy available |
Participatory Monitoring in Tropical Forest Management: A Review of Tools, Concepts and Lessons LearnedbackgroundThis report reviews the impacts, challenges, and shortcomings of well-documented cases of successful as well as unsuccessful participatory monitoring programs in tropical forests across the globe. Open access copy available |
Enjeux fonciers, exploitation des ressources naturelles et Forêts des Communautés Locales en périphérie de Kinshasa, RDC (Land Issues, Exploitation of Natural Resources, and Local Community Forests on the Outskirts of Kinshasa, DRC)backgroundThe authors discuss factors affecting peri-urban forests that surround Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo and identify mismanagement of forest resources by local authorities as well as the willingness of local communities to take part in forest management. Open access copy available |
Explorer la banque de graines du sol pour mieuxcomprendre la dynamique de régénération des forêtstropicales africaines (synthèse bibliographique)The authors provide a review of the current knowledge of soil seed banks in African tropical forests. They argue that increased knowledge of soil seed banks will lead to better understanding of forest regeneration and therefore more successful reforestation efforts. Finally, the authors call for better characterization of seed banks based on forest community, as this could aid reforestation and sustainable forest management efforts in African tropical forests.
Open access copy available |
Live Fences and Landscape Connectivity in a Neotropical Agricultural LandscapeBackgroundThis article describes the role and importance of live fences in the tropical regions of Central America. The study site covered an area of 4483ha and is located in a wet tropical forest zone in the Province of Heredia, Costa Rica. The landscape is dominated by cattle pasture and possesses a small, fragmented and homogenous structure with small patches of forests. Open access copy available |
Designing Pest-Suppressive Multistrata Perennial Crop Systems: Shade-Grown Coffee in Central AmericabackgroundThis paper analyzes opportunities to realize the benefits of the presence microflora and fauna in coffee plantations by considering species selection, complimentary characteristics, density, and spatial arrangement of tree species . This study addresses reducing the presence of pests and pathogens such as leaf rust, coffee leaf minor, berry borer, and the American leaf spot. The authors hypothesize that for every soil and climate for coffee, a multistrata system creates a micro-environment that can create a complex ecosystem to resist pests as a whole as opposed to a pest-by-pest strategy. Open access copy available |
Can Pinus Plantations Facilitate Reintroduction of Endangered Cloud Forest Species?backgroundThis study tested the hypothesis that pine plantations can simulate the conditions of early forest succession, acting as a habitat for other native or endangered species to establish. In the cloud forest region of central Mexico, some tree species have become endangered due to land use change for both livestock production and tree plantations. Open access copy available |
Coffee Agroforests Remain Beneficial for Neotropical Bird Community Conservation across SeasonsBackgroundThis study compares bird community composition in coffee agroforestry systems with secondary forest fragments, while accounting for seasonal bird migration and differences in bird detectability between habitats. It was conducted in the San Luis Valley of northwest Costa Rica, a montane forest region that encompasses many microhabitats. Open access copy available |
Indigenous Fruit Trees of Madagascar: Potential Components of Agroforestry Systems to Improve Human Nutrition and Restore Biological DiversitybackgroundThis study focuses on three sites in the humid forest of Eastern Madagascar, namely Masoala, Andasibe and Ranomafana. Research Goals & MethodsA total of 150 wild fruit tree species from 82 genera and 42 families were identified through interviews with the local populations, from which a further 26 indigenous and exotic fruit species were shortlisted based on taste, nutritional value, income generation potential, diversification from currently planted species and biodiversity protection. Open access copy available |
Creating Woodland Islets to Reconcile Ecological Restoration, Conservation, and Agricultural Land UseBAckgroundThe paper recognizes that there exists an agriculture and conservation paradox - agriculture is frequently in conflict with the other environmental services that forests provide. Thus, the authors review existing approaches to woodland restoration and consider the use of the woodland islets approach. Open access copy available |
