Impacts of Disturbance
Drought reduces the growth and health of tropical rainforest understory plantsBackgroundPlant responses to drought are important to understand for agricultural practices and environmental stress. Susceptibility to drought varies among and between plant species. Most field studies on plant responses to drought in tropical rainforests ignore understory plant species such as saplings and shrubs. These species are important to understand because they are often more vulnerable to environmental stressors, and they contribute greatly to forest biodiversity. Open access copy available |
Linking disturbance history to current forest structure to assess the impact of disturbances in tropical dry forestsBackgroundTropical dry forests are given less attention in studies compared to tropical humid forests, but they still experience high levels of disturbance, both natural and human-made. These disturbances heavily alter the characteristics of valuable remaining forest structures. There are gaps in knowledge about how the timing and type of disturbance affects forest structure in seasonally dry tropical forests. Open access copy available |
Out of steady state: Tracking canopy gap dynamics across Brazilian AmazonBackgroundCanopy gaps are a regular characteristic of natural or anthropogenic disturbance in forested landscapes. Gap-creating disturbances often result in a forest mosaic with patches of varying successional stages. Many species in tropical forests depend on these canopy gaps for regeneration. Field monitoring of canopy gaps can be difficult due to time constraints and plot size, making tropical gap dynamics an understudied topic. Available with subscription or purchase |
Legacy effects of canopy gaps on liana abundance 25 years later in a seasonal tropical evergreen forest in northeastern ThailandBackgroundLianas or woody vine species are abundant in tropical forests. They depend on trees for stability to grow and climb to the canopy. While lianas depend on trees for growth, they also require canopy gaps at early growing stages to satisfy their high demand for sunlight. At times, lianas occupy new treefall gaps densely enough to prevent tree regeneration. Tree host ability may influence the abundance of lianas in Southeast Asian seasonally dry tropical forests. Open access copy available |
Carbon-focused conservation may fail to protect the most biodiverse tropical forestsIntroductionThe authors examine the relationship between carbon and biodiversity at the landscape-level across four gradients of disturbances and offer insight on optimizing carbon conservation projects with biodiversity conservation. Open access copy available |
Anthropogenic disturbance in tropical forests can double biodiversity loss from deforestationBackgroundThe authors examined the impacts of anthropogenic disturbances within a forest on the ability of the forest to conserve biodiversity and provide ecosytem services. The research used large data sets of plants, birds, and dung beetles and used them as indicators of biodiversity change in the forest. Open access copy available |
Floristic composition, structure and natural regeneration in a moist semideciduous forest following anthropogenic disturbances and plant invasionBackgroundThis research examined the floristic composition, struture and natural regeneration in three different forests: undisturbed (UF), disturbed-invaded (DIF) and disturbed (DF) within a forest reserve in Ghana. Open access copy available |
Mangrove recruitment after forest disturbance is facilitated by herbaceous species in the CaribbeanBackgroundAvailable with subscription or purchase |
Small-scale disturbance and regeneration dynamics in a neotropical mangrove forestBackgroundThis study focuses on regeneration dynamics of mangrove species in lightening-created gaps, in the Dominican Republic. Open access copy available |
Ouragans et diversite biologique dans les forets tropicales. L’exemple de la Guadeloupe (Hurricanes and diversity in tropical forests: the example of Guadeloupe).The authors examined the relationship between hurricane disturbances and biodiversity and found that diversity of forests increased their resistance to hurricane disturbances. They concluded that recurrence of strong hurricanes could lead to extirpation of rare or vulnerable non-pioneer species.
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