General
In Equal Measure: A User Guide to Gender Analysis in AgroforestrybackgroundThis guide provides tools for practioners working with rural communities in tropical countries. It describes how gender roles and responsibiities play a significant role in adoption and development of agroforestry systems. Open access copy available |
Succession and Management of Tropical Dry Forests in the Americas: Review and New PerspectivesBackgroundThis article emphasizes the importance of understanding of successional processes in tropical dry forests. It provides an overview of the current knowledge of the ecology of tropical dry forest ecosystems and discusses management implications . The authors describe rapidly increasing degradation and destruction of these ecosystems and identify gaps in knowledge to be addressed by future research. Available with subscription or purchase |
Effects of Invasive Alien Plants on Fire RegimesBackgroundThis article considers how invasive plant species affect native ecosystems by altering fuel properties, fire behavior and fire regime characteristics. These may impact the ability of a site to restore to its previous state. Open access copy available |
Four Opportunities for Studies of Ecological SuccessionBackgroundThe authors introduce two approaches to the study of forest succession: 1) Standardized experimental manipulation - removal or addition of abiotic and biotic factors - across ecological gradients can help elucidate the drivers of succession and 2) the use of meta-analyses of successional data improve the ability to observe temporal changes across broader geographical scales. Available with subscription or purchase |
A Place for Alien Species in Ecosystem RestorationBackgroundThis article makes the case that non-native, or "alien," species may be useful in some restoration efforts, and should not be overlooked or completely condemned because they are non-native. Such species can provide ecological and socioeconomic services and in some cases speed up successional processes. Available with subscription or purchase |
The Role of Seed Banks in Vegetation Dynamics and Restoration of Dry Tropical EcosystemsBackgroundThis paper reviews studies on seed banks in tropical dry forests, comparing them with wet tropical and subtropical vegetation. Research Goals & MethodsSeed banks in dry tropical forests tend to be low and they are density dependant on moisture levels of the area in question. Subtropical seed banks had similar values to dry tropical forests. Majority of the seeds are from pioneer forests. Available with subscription or purchase |
Seeding ecological restoration of tropical forests: Priority setting under REDD+BackgroundTropical deforestation continues to be the major driver of biodiversity loss and a considerable contributor to climate change. Increasing numbers of forest-dependent rural poor rely on degraded forest for their livelihoods. Ecological restoration of tropical forests has the potential to not only contribute to biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation, but also poverty alleviation. REDD+ provides a potentially powerful mechanism for supporting ecological restoration of tropical forests in developing countries. Available with subscription or purchase |
Microbiological Indicators of Soil Quality and Degradation Following Conversion of Native Forests to Continuous CroplandsBackgroundAvailable with subscription or purchase |
Self-restoration of post-agrogenic soils of Calcisol-Solonetz complex: Soil development, carbon stock dynamics of carbon poolsBackgroundAbandoned land may move towards self-restoration without human intervention. In the European part of Russia, over half a million km2 was abandoned between 1987 and 2007; another 200,000 km2 was abandoned in Eastern Russia. The majority of abandonments occurred in unirrigated dry steppe, land that is arable but less favorable for agriculture. This study compares differences in self-restoration based on underlying soil types, climate, and land-use history across a chronosequence of abandoned land in the dry steppe zone of Russia in a Calcisol–Solonetz complex, reporting on vegetation and soil characteristics. Available with subscription or purchase |
Edge-Effects Drive Tropical Forest Fragments Towards an Early-Successional SystemBackgroundThis paper argues that edge effects trigger a rapid and inevitable successional process that drives most remaining neotropical forest fragments towards a persistent early-successional system. Open access copy available |
