Secondary & Degraded Forest Restoration
Conserving Tropical Tree Diversity and Forest Structure: The Value of Small Rainforest Patches in Moderately-Managed LandscapesBackgroundDue to deforestation and degradation in rainforests, there has been an increase in small forest patches yet there is limited understanding of this structures contribution to biodiversity and ecosystem services. The authors of this study attempt to answer this question through studying a a moderately managed landscape in the tropics of Mexic Open access copy available |
300,000 Hectares Restored in Shinyanga, Tanzania — but what did it really take to achieve this restoration?BackgroundOpen access copy available |
Factors influencing community participation in mangroves restoration: A contingent valuation analysisBackgroundThis paper analyzes the willingness of a household to participate and pay for the benefits of a mangrove restoration program in the West Coast of India. In the second half of the twentieth century, this region has been threatened by shrimp cultivation, industrial development and hydroelectric projects, which overall made mangroves recede substantially. Available with subscription or purchase |
Burning biodiversity: Fuelwood harvesting causes forest degradation in human-dominated tropical landscapesBackgroundIn the Northeastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest (BAF), extremely dense populations of poor, rural villages create chronic disturbances within the already heavily fragment Atlantic forest in favor of gathering hardwood fuel supplies. This hardwood is self-gathered without management techniques and burned inefficiently, and is driven by poverty, proximity to forest fragments, human labour availability, and lack of alternative energy sources. One of the most biodiverse, endemic, and endangered regions on the planet, this research seeks to study the impact of rural fuelwood development in the northeastern BAF. Open access copy available |
Creating space for large‐scale restoration in tropical agricultural landscapesBackgroundThe large-scale degradation and land-use conversion of ecosystems around the world has led to a global push to restore critical environments in order to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem services. One of the biggest challenges to these efforts though, is ensuring that preexisting land-uses are not simply displaced elsewhere. This article explores this problem, turning to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest as a case-study. The authors examine if restoration will lead to a discplacement of cattle production due to land-shortage. Available with subscription or purchase |
Árboles y arbustos nativos potencialmente valiosos para la restauración ecológica y la reforestación (Trees and shrubs potentially valuable for ecological restoration and reforestation)EspañolantecedentesEl presente trabajo incluye información de especies leñosas con potencial para su uso en programas de desarrollo agroforestal, ecología de la restauración y reforestación. Open access copy available |
Comportamiento de las especies y preferencias de los productores. Plantaciones forestales en Costa Rica y Nicaragua (Species behavior and farmers' preferences. Forest plantations in Costa Rica and Nicaragua)EspañolantecedentesLos autores estudiaron plantaciones comerciales en 112 fincas de productores forestales, en el Cantón de Sarapiquí, Costa Rica y el Departamento de Carazo, Nicaragua. objetivos y metodologíaEl trabajo realiza un inventario de las plantaciones forestales en todas las fincas estudiadas. Las variables evaluadas incluyen: supervivencia, dap, altura total, forma y sanidad de los árboles. Open access copy available |
Ecological restoration success is higher for natural regeneration than for active restoration in tropical forestsbackgroundThis meta-analysis of 133 studies challenges the widely-held notion that active restoration methods are more effective at ecosystem restoration and hold higher conservation value than natural regeneration. Given the vast commitments for ecosystem restoration across the globe, and the high cost, effort, and resources needed for these commitments, this study proposes that increasing use of natural regeneration and assisted natural regeneration is necessary to achieve these commitments. Open access copy available |
Accelerating tropical forest restoration through the selective removal of pioneer speciesbackgroundThis study presents initial findings on the impact of thinning on recovery of a selectively logged secondary forest in Sumatra. The study tests the hypothesis that thinning of pioneer species will produce stands with greater proportional basal area of late-successional species, effectively accelerating succession of the stand. Available with subscription or purchase |
Restoration of Degraded Tropical Forest LandscapesBackgroundDeforestation and the declining extent of tropical forests has negatively impacted ecosystem functions, services, and goods and has disproportionately harmed the rural poor of tropical countries. In the wake of deforestation, agricultural development and traditional methods of reforestation (plantations) have largely failed to provide sustainable livelihoods. This review article assesses the strengths and weaknesses of different tropical restoration methods to combat forest degredation and address rural poverty. Open access copy available |
