Secondary & Degraded Forest Restoration
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 |
Neotropical Secondary Forest Succession: Changes in Structural and Functional CharacteristicsBackgroundThis paper reiviews the main biotic and abiotic factors that influence patterns of secondary forest succession in the Neotropics after complete forest clearance due to human activities. Research Goals & MethodsThe authors look at patterns of species replacement and various processes that occur during succession and suggest that the sequence of processes may be predictable even if species composition is not. Open access copy available |
Restoration of degraded forest land in Thailand: the case of Khao KhoBackgroundIn the 1960s, the Khao Kho district in Thailand experienced extremely deforestation and destruction due to both armed conflict and an influx of migration to the area. In 1990, the UNDP began the project "Reforestation of Denuded Forest Lands in Khao Kho" in order to reverse these trends. Open access copy available |
Lowering Emissions in Asia's Forests (LEAF)BackgroundThe Lowering Emmissions in Asia's Forests (LEAF) program was USAID regiona initiative that ran for five years, from 2011 to 2016. This final report summarizes the challenges the LEAF program faced and the results it achieved. Open access copy available |
Nature Conservation Foundation, GEF: Southern Western Ghats, IndiaBackgroundThis project, funded by the GEF small grants program, utilized restoration and conservation efforts in order to improve the degraded rainforests of western Ghats, India. The project occurred over a four-year span from 2004 to 2008. Open access copy available |
Fallow to Forest: Applying Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge of Swidden Cultivation to Tropical Forest RestorationBackgroundThis study analyzed vegetation at two sites of shifting cultivation by Lawa and Karen indigenous people in the Mae Chaem watershed in 1-year, 3-year and 6-year fallow fields, with an area of natural forest as a control comparison. Available with subscription or purchase |
Tropical rainforest regeneration in an area degraded by mining in Mato Grosso State, BrazilBackgroundGold mining has been a major cause of environmental degradation in the rainforests in the north of Mato Grosso State, Brazil. Regulations on mining activity are beginning to be developed, including standards for forest recovery methodologies. This study characterizes natural tropical rainforest regeneration in Matupa County, Mato Grosso State, Brazil. Open access copy available |
Testing Applied Nucleation as a Strategy to Facilitate Tropical Forest RecoveryBackgroundThis study considers applied nucleation, or the intensive planting of small patches of a mixture of successional species, as a degraded tropical forest restoration strategy. This approach catalyzes the natural regeneration of the surrounding matrix and larger landscape and could provide a less expensive alternative to the more common, and expensive, plantation-style approach. This study claims to be the first to directly compare tree recruitment beneath these two restoration approaches. Open access copy available |
Early Effects of Four Fast-Growing Tree Species and Their Planting Density on Ground Vegetation in Imperata grasslandsbackgroundThis study aims to test the success of fast-growing exotics tree species and alternative planting densities on the development of ground vegetation. The study was conducted in Riam Kiwa, South Kalimantan, Indonesia in Imperata grasslands. The four fast-growing exotic tree species used in the study were Acacia mangium, Acacia crassicarpa, Gmelina arborea, and Paraserianthes falcataria. Available with subscription or purchase |
Drought, Fire, and Tree Survival in a Borneo Rainforest, East Kalimantan, IndonesiaBackgroundWhile draughts and fires are seen as important components of tropical forests, large-scale assessments of the effects of these events are scarce. This paper compares the forest stand level impact between severe drought and a subsequent extensive fires on forest stand in a lowland rainforest in East Kalimantan. Open access copy available |
