Thermally buffered microhabitats recovery in tropical secondary forests following land abandonment

Hunting for sustainability in tropical secondary forests.

The interaction between land-use change and the sustainability of hunting is poorly understood but is critical for sustaining hunted vertebrate populations and a protein supply for the rural poor. We investigated sustainability of hunting in an Amazonian landscape mosaic, where a small human population had access to large areas of both primary and secondary forest. Harvestable production of mam...

Humus forms in two secondary semi-evergreen tropical forests

The mystery of nocturnal birds in tropical secondary forests

As tropical logging increases in scope, understanding the capacity of tropical secondary forests for sustaining oldgrowth (OG) forest biodiversity has become a critical question in tropical conservation. There is growing realization that tropical conservation cannot be limited to pristine habitats in protected areas (Sekercioglu et al., 2007; Chazdon et al., 2009). To better integrate secondary...

The potential for species conservation in tropical secondary forests.

In the wake of widespread loss of old-growth forests throughout the tropics, secondary forests will likely play a growing role in the conservation of forest biodiversity. We considered a complex hierarchy of factors that interact in space and time to determine the conservation potential of tropical secondary forests. Beyond the characteristics of local forest patches, spatial and temporal lands...

Recovery and resilience of tropical forests after disturbance

The time taken for forested tropical ecosystems to re-establish post-disturbance is of widespread interest. Yet to date there has been no comparative study across tropical biomes to determine rates of forest re-growth, and how they vary through space and time. Here we present results from a meta-analysis of palaeoecological records that use fossil pollen as a proxy for vegetation change over th...