Assisted Natural Regeneration

Assisted Natural Regeneration: Methods, Results and Issues Relevant to Sustained Participation by Communities

Background

This article describes forest restoration in Kandis village on Palawan Island, Philippines, an  assisted natural regeneration (ANR) project, and focuses on the social issues that affect success of ANR projects.

research goals & methods

The ANR approached used includes fire prevention, ring-weeding, and flattening of grasses.

Open access copy available

Helping Forests to Help Themselves—Accelerating Natural Regeneration

background

This chapter walks through the basic techniques of accelerated (or assisted) natural regeneration (ANR), describing when it is appropriate, when it should be combined with other techniques, how to increase the seed rain, and areas of needed research.

Open access copy available

Cattle and Weedy Shrubs as Restoration Tools of Tropical Montane Rainforest

background

In abandoned Latin American pastures, grasses often inhibit the establishment of woody species. This study tests the effect of cattle grazing on woody and herbaceous vegetation establishment in pastures of P. clandestinum and M. minutiflora.

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The Role of Animal Seed Dispersal in Accelerating Native Forest Regeneration on Degraded Tropical Lands

background

This article reviews the role of seed-dispersal in forest regeneration. In natural forest, species with animal-dispersed species tend to predominated in both early and mid-stages of succession, while wind-dispersed species tend to be vines and canopy species. The implications of wind versus animal seed dispersal are briefly summarized.

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Tropical Forest Restoration within Galapagos National Park: Application of a State-transition Model

Background

Few restoration models address ecological and management issues across the vegetation mosaic of a landscape. Because of a lack of scientific knowledge and funds, restoration practitioners focus instead on site-specific prescriptions and reactive rather than proactive approaches to restoration; this approach often dooms restoration projects to failure. This synthesis article tests a state-transition model as a decision-making tool to identify and achieve short- and long-term restoration goals.

Open access copy available

The Structure and Composition of a Tropical Dry Forest Landscape After Land Clearance; Azuero Peninsula, Panama

background

This article describes natural regeneration that has occured in five different habitat types in the Azuero Peninsula of Panama. These habitat types include active pasture, 2-yr abandoned pasture, 5-yr abandoned pasture, forest riparian zones, and a secondary forest fragment. This region is characterized by agricultural and cattle ranching landcapes in areas that previously were tropical dry forest (1700 mm rainfall per year) until the mid-20th century and have recently been undergoing rapid turnover in land ownership.

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Rehabilitation and Restoration of Degraded Forests

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This book offers a comprehensive overview of rehabilitation and restoration at the landscape and local levels, providing information on the factors which are known to impact succession, as well as different approaches to reforestation. The authors discuss the importance of including human well-being along with ecological well-being into any plan for rehabilitation or restoration.

Open access copy available

Landscape Rehabilitation of Degraded Tropical Forest Ecosystems: Case Study of the CIFOR/Japan Project in Indonesia and Peru

background

The CIFOR/Japan project on tropical forest restoration involves three principal components: 1) evaluation of logging impacts on forest systems, 2) development of methods for the restoration of logged and degraded forests, and 3) development of silvicultural practices for degraded forests.

Open access copy available

Restoration of Degraded Tropical Forest Landscapes

Background

The rapid loss and degradation of tropical forests has been one of the defining features of the 20th century, with an estimated 350 million ha deforested and another 500 million ha (primary and secondary forest) in degraded status. There have been three major responses to this process: expanding protected areas; improving agricultural productivity on cultivated and abandoned lands; and plantation-style reforestation using a very limited number of species. These methods have proven unsuccessful in slowing the rate of deforestation or providing adequately for livelihoods.

Open access copy available

Fire in the Seasonal Semideciduous Forest: Impact and Regeneration at Forest Edges

background

This study looks at a fragment of semi-deciduous forest in Brazil to determine the effects of fire on vegetation at varying distances from the fragment’s edge, as well as the recovery of forest structure and species diversity after fire.

Open access copy available
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