Resource Library Search

Type any text into the search box. Narrow your search using the dropdown boxes or the filters in the sidebar. If there are no results, try using fewer filters or broder dropdown options. 

Forest ecosystem services at landscape level – Why forest transition matters?

Background

Forest transition theory describes patterns of forest decline and recovery. This theory explains what services change as forested landscapes shift in the three stages of recovery. This model covers both forest-type gradients (diversity and usage) and landscape gradients (connectivity and coverage). It is not yet understood how these forest transition stages influence the quantity and quality of ecosystem services.

Open access copy available

Forest structure predicts species richness and functional diversity in Amazonian mixed-species bird flocks

Background

Secondary forests between forest fragments are valuable sources of biodiversity during the regeneration process. In the Brazilian Amazon, understory birds are often an indicator of forest regeneration and overall health. Functional diversity is an important component of ecosystem health and services, yet little is known about the role it plays in the return of mixed-species bird flocks.

Open access copy available

Seed removal, seed dispersers, and the allocation of tissues in Myrtaceae seeds

Background

Plants allocate resources to protective seed tissues in order to avoid seed death and ensure successful reproduction. Myrtaceae is an abundant plant family in the Brazilian Atlantic forest with many species producing fleshy fruits that are attractive to birds, rodents, and other mammals. Myrtaceae species may adapt seed characteristics to avoid predation.

Available with subscription or purchase

Edaphic factors and initial conditions influence successional trajectories of early regenerating tropical dry forests

Background

Edaphic factors include soil characteristics and topography of a landscape. These factors are thought to have strong impacts on forest communities and can predict the trajectory of forest regeneration. Differing soil conditions and slopes result in varying species assemblages, growth rates, and overall tree cover.

Open access copy available

Pollinator recognition by a keystone tropical plant

Background

The evolution of flowering plants is complex and has resulted in a great amount of diversity in species both genetically and structurally. Pollination is the key to providing this variability and is responsible for evolutionary patterns and trends in flowering plant species. Some flowering plants are generalists, allowing for many types of pollinators to visit, while others are highly specified. The mechanism for this specialization is not well understood.

Open access copy available

Regeneration Status and Role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge for Cloud Forest Ecosystem Restoration in Ecuador

Background

Open access copy available

Soil Biological Activity, Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics in Modified Coffee Agroforestry Systems in Mexico

Background

Coffee agroforestry systems bring a plethora of economic, social, and ecological benefits. Specifically, they aid soil biological activity. In Mexico, due to cost and production challenges, coffee is being replaced by avocado plantations. The impact of coffee agroforestry systems on specific soil biological characteristics and processes is not fully understood. Nor are the impacts of avocado plantations on soil biological activity.

Open access copy available

Tree diversity in a tropical agricultural‑forest mosaic landscape in Honduras

Background

Tropical forests hold high biodiversity values, but are also valued for agricultural land uses. Particularly in Central America, a region with particularly high biodiversity, intensive land management practices have reduced and continue to reduce forest and species abundance. There is a push to change land use practices in order to restore and promote biodiversity, though the potential for biodiversity on agricultural landscapes is an understudied subject.

Open access copy available