Tropical regions are facing increasing atmospheric inputs of nutrients, which will have unknown consequences for the structure and functioning of these systems. Here, we show that Neotropical montane rainforests respond rapidly to moderate additions of N (50 kg ha(-1) yr(-1)) and P (10 kg ha(-1) yr(-1)). Monitoring of nutrient fluxes demonstrated that the majority of added nutrients remained in...

Ecological perturbations can either be necessary for maintaining tropical forest diversity or responsible for its decline, depending on the scale, nature, and frequency of the disturbance. Anthropogenic disturbances such as logging and subsistence agriculture may promote the establishment of nonnative, invasive plant species, potentially affecting forest structure and diversity even long after ...

The primary approach used to conserve tropical biodiversity is in the establishment of protected areas. However, many tropical nature reserves are performing poorly and interventions in the broader landscape may be essential for conserving biodiversity both within reserves and at large. Between October 2010 and 2012, we conducted bird surveys in and around a recently established nature reserve ...

Landscape approaches have been identified as a way to address conservation and development issues in biodiversityrich tropical areas. The author conducted a literature review of 51 case studies selected by an independent analyst to evaluate how these approaches have been applied. The case studies are categorized and assessed against their objectives, scales and methods. The review highlights im...

The quality of -water contained in the different tanks varie8 as the tank is more or less exposed to deteriorating influences ; some of them have a reputation, based for the most part on forgotten traditions, for yielding unusually good water, and the conservatism of the place is willing to uphold such reputation against adverse arguments or appearances ; for exammle?? it was stoutly denied a f...

The disintegration of the Classic Maya civilization in the Yucatán Peninsula and Central America was a complex process that occurred over an approximately 200-year interval and involved a catastrophic depopulation of the region. Although it is well established that the civilization collapse coincided with widespread episodes of drought, their nature and severity remain enigmatic. We present a q...

The distribution of plant species, the species compositions of different sites, and the factors that affect them in tropical rain forests are not well understood. The main hypotheses are that species composition is either (i) uniform over large areas, (ii) random but spatially autocorrelated because of dispersal limitation, or (iii) patchy and environmentally determined. Here we test these hypo...