Journal Articles

20th-Century hurricanes leave long-lasting legacies on tropical forest height and the abundance of a dominant wind-resistant palm

BACKGROUND:

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The potential of secondary forests to restore biodiversity of the lost forests in semi-deciduous West Africa

BACKGROUND:

The human population in West Africa has increased considerably over the past four decades, leading to a high demand for food. This has led to the conversion of vast forest lands to agricultural lands in the region. Degraded forest landscapes have the capacity to regain fertility and naturally regenerate, resulting in the widespread spread of secondary forests in West Africa. Despite the significant presence of secondary forests in the region, there is rare knowledge about forest successional stages and general dynamics.

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Carbon sequestration and biodiversity following 18 years of active tropical forest restoration

BACKGROUND:

Vast tropical forests have been degraded and converted to other land uses such as agriculture. Degraded forests can regenerate naturally to improve biodiversity and carbon sequestration. However, major degradation factors, such as wildfires, hinder natural regeneration. Forest restoration can play an essential role in such circumstances. Nonetheless, research on methods to increase carbon storage and improve the ecosystem function of tropical forests is limited.

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Restoring tropical forests on lands mined for bauxite: Examples from the Brazilian Amazon

Background:

Effective forest restoration is required to avoid the adverse environmental impacts of mining. However, restorationists working in most tropical regions lack the requisite knowledge of species selection and disturbance ecology to aid in mimicking the pre-disturbed ecosystem.  One noteworthy exception to this is the forest restoration initiative created by a Brazilian bauxite mining company operating at Trombetas in Pará State, central Amazonia, since the early 1980s.

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Developing a framework for sustainable development indicators for the mining and minerals industry

BACKGROUND:

Minerals are essential to a variety of industries that help in everyday life. However, the extraction of minerals is often associated with numerous negative environmental impacts. The mining industry is responsible for more pressing sustainability challenges than any other industry. The mining industry must address these challenges by addressing the concerns of different stakeholders, as demonstrated by the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development project.

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Understanding the importance of primary tropical forest protection as a mitigation strategy

Background:

Primary tropical forests play a key role in the urgent task of mitigating climate change. Nevertheless, despite the recognition of forest-based mitigation strategies, the role of primary forest protection has not been explicitly considered in international policy negotiations. The authors aim to address this deficit by estimating primary tropical forest ecosystem carbon stocks and flows.

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Ecological filtering shapes the impacts of agricultural deforestation on biodiversity

Background:

Deforestation for agriculture poses a significant threat to biodiversity. However, the severity of these impacts varies in agricultural landscapes. This study emphasizes the need to understand the factors underlying this variation to predict future biodiversity impacts of agricultural land use. While previous studies focused on landscape features and management regimes, this article introduces the concept of filtering, suggesting that natural and anthropogenic filtering may shape biodiversity responses at large geographical scales

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The carbon sink of secondary and degraded humid tropical forests

Background:

The Forest and Land use Declaration from the 26th Climate Change Conference of the Parties underscores the crucial role of tropical moist forests  as a nature-based solution to address climate and ecological emergencies. However, the Amazon, Borneo, and Central Africa forests experience ongoing forest cover losses due to various anthropogenic drivers. This has led to a mosaic of recovering forests at different stages post-disturbance, with limited understanding of their impact on forest carbon dynamics. 

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Large carbon sink potential of secondary forests in the Brazilian Amazon to mitigate climate change

Background:

With the Brazilian Amazon being a region of global significance for its carbon storage potential, there is a growing need to understand the dynamics of secondary forest regrowth and its implications for carbon sequestration. Previous studies have laid the groundwork for understanding the broad-scale patterns of secondary forest regrowth, but there is a need for a more detailed and spatially explicit analysis that considers both environmental and anthropogenic drivers of regrowth. The urgency to address this knowledge gap is further underscored by the commitment to national and international climate targets.

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Maximizing biodiversity conservation and carbon stocking inrestored tropical forests

Background:

Ecological restoration plays a critical role in fragmented mega-diverse regions, particularly for endangered species with low dispersal rates. Species with impoverished populations, limited dispersal capacity, and important functionsas food resources for animals should be prioritized for active reintroduction in order to increase the conservation value ofrestored forests. However, seedlings from these species are often hard to find or too costly to include in many restoration projects.

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