Download or read book Restoring Tropical Forests written by Stephen D. Elliott and published by Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Restoring Tropical Forests is a user-friendly guide to restoring forests throughout the tropics. Based on the concepts, knowledge and innovative techniques developed at Chiang Mai University's Forest Restoration Research Unit, this book will enable improvements in existing forest restoration projects and provide a key resource for new ones. The book presents three aspects of the restoration of tropical forest ecosystems: the concepts of tropical forest dynamics and regeneration that are relevant to tropical forest restoration, proven restoration techniques and case studies of their successful application, and research methods to refine such techniques and adapt them to local ecological and socio-economic conditions.
Download or read book Green Phoenix written by William Allen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2003-01-09 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can we prevent the destruction of the world's tropical forests? In the fire-scarred hills of Costa Rica, award-winning science writer William Allen found a remarkable answer: we can not only prevent their destruction--we can bring them back to their former glory. In Green Phoenix, Allen tells the gripping story of a large group of Costa Rican and American scientists and volunteers who set out to save the tropical forests in the northwestern section of the country. It was an area badly damaged by the fires of ranchers and small farmers; in many places a few strands of forest strung across a charred landscape. Despite the widely held belief that tropical forests, once lost, are lost forever, the team led by the dynamic Daniel Janzen from the University of Pennsylvania moved relentlessly ahead, taking a broad array of political, ecological, and social steps necessary for restoration. They began with 39 square miles and, by 2000, they had stitched together and revived some 463 square miles of land and another 290 of marine area. Today this region is known as the Guanacaste Conservation Area, a fabulously rich landscape of dry forest, cloud forest, and rain forest that gives life to some 235,000 species of plants and animals. It may be the greatest environmental success of our time, a prime example of how extensive devastation can be halted and reversed. This is an inspiring story, and in recounting it, Allen writes with vivid power. He creates lasting images of pristine beaches and dense forest and captures the heroics and skill of the scientific teams, especially the larger-than-life personality of the maverick ecologist Daniel Janzen. It is a book everyone concerned about the environment will want to own.
Download or read book Handbook of Research on the Conservation and Restoration of Tropical Dry Forests written by Bhadouria, Rahul and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2019-09-27 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tropical dry forests are the most exploited and endangered ecosystems in the world. A combination of climatic and human factors often reduce these forests to patches of dry scrubs or savannas. Because these ecosystems experience a more arduous and less anticipated environment, they are more prone to environmental stress as plant communities are developed. Therefore, urgent research is necessary to understand both the detrimental issues and problem-solving approaches to conserving these important forests. The Handbook of Research on the Conservation and Restoration of Tropical Dry Forests is a pivotal reference source that combines theory and practice on the current trends and issues in this important ecological subject and discusses future challenges towards conservation strategies of these tropical dry forests. While highlighting topics such as forest management, natural regeneration, and silviculture, this publication examines the anthropogenic impacts on tropical dry forests and the necessity to rebuild their ecosystems. This book is ideally designed for state forest agency professionals, resource managers, non-governmental organization agents, ecologists, botanists, environmentalists, students, and researchers seeking current research on the threats to these forests.
Download or read book Regreening the Bare Hills written by David Lamb and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-10-14 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Regreening the Bare Hills: Tropical Forest Restoration in the Asia-Pacific Region, David Lamb explores how reforestation might be carried out both to conserve biological diversity and to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor. While both issues have attracted considerable attention in recent years, this book takes a significant step, by integrating ecological and silvicultural knowledge within the context of the social and economic issues that can determine the success or failure of tropical forest landscape restoration. Describing new approaches to the reforestation of degraded lands in the Asia-Pacific tropics, the book reviews current approaches to reforestation throughout the region, paying particular attention to those which incorporate native species – including in multi-species plantations. It presents case studies from across the Asia-Pacific region and discusses how the silvicultural methods needed to manage these ‘new’ plantations will differ from conventional methods. It also explores how reforestation might be made more attractive to smallholders and how trade-offs between production and conservation are most easily made at a landscape scale. The book concludes with a discussion of how future forest restoration may be affected by some current ecological and socio-economic trends now underway. The book represents a valuable resource for reforestation managers and policy makers wishing to promote these new silvicultural approaches, as well as for conservationists, development experts and researchers with an interest in forest restoration. Combining a theoretical-research perspective with practical aspects of restoration, the book will be equally valuable to practitioners and academics, while the lessons drawn from these discussions will have relevance elsewhere throughout the tropics.
Download or read book Second Growth written by Robin L. Chazdon and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-05-23 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For decades, conservation and research initiatives in tropical forests have focused almost exclusively on old-growth forests because scientists believed that these “pristine” ecosystems housed superior levels of biodiversity. With Second Growth, Robin L. Chazdon reveals those assumptions to be largely false, bringing to the fore the previously overlooked counterpart to old-growth forest: second growth. Even as human activities result in extensive fragmentation and deforestation, tropical forests demonstrate a great capacity for natural and human-aided regeneration. Although these damaged landscapes can take centuries to regain the characteristics of old growth, Chazdon shows here that regenerating—or second-growth—forests are vital, dynamic reservoirs of biodiversity and environmental services. What is more, they always have been. With chapters on the roles these forests play in carbon and nutrient cycling, sustaining biodiversity, providing timber and non-timber products, and integrated agriculture, Second Growth not only offers a thorough and wide-ranging overview of successional and restoration pathways, but also underscores the need to conserve, and further study, regenerating tropical forests in an attempt to inspire a new age of local and global stewardship.
Download or read book Forest Landscape Restoration written by John Stanturf and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-11-28 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Restoration ecology, as a scientific discipline, developed from practitioners’ efforts to restore degraded land, with interest also coming from applied ecologists attracted by the potential for restoration projects to apply and/or test developing theories on ecosystem development. Since then, forest landscape restoration (FLR) has emerged as a practical approach to forest restoration particularly in developing countries, where an approach which is both large-scale and focuses on meeting human needs is required. Yet despite increased investigation into both the biological and social aspects of FLR, there has so far been little success in systematically integrating these two complementary strands. Bringing experts in landscape studies, natural resource management and forest restoration, together with those experienced in conflict management, environmental economics and urban studies, this book bridges that gap to define the nature and potential of FLR as a truly multidisciplinary approach to a global environmental problem. The book will provide a valuable reference to graduate students and researchers interested in ecological restoration, forest ecology and management, as well as to professionals in environmental restoration, natural resource management, conservation, and environmental policy.
Download or read book Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests written by Rodolfo Dirzo and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-09-26 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though seasonally dry tropical forests are equally as important to global biodiversity as tropical rainforests, and are one of the most representative and highly endangered ecosystems in Latin America, knowledge about them remains limited because of the relative paucity of attention paid to them by scientists and researchers and a lack of published information on the subject. Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests seeks to address this shortcoming by bringing together a range of experts in diverse fields including biology, ecology, biogeography, and biogeochemistry, to review, synthesize, and explain the current state of our collective knowledge on the ecology and conservation of seasonally dry tropical forests. The book offers a synthetic and cross-disciplinary review of recent work with an expansive scope, including sections on distribution, diversity, ecosystem function, and human impacts. Throughout, contributors emphasize conservation issues, particularly emerging threats and promising solutions, with key chapters on climate change, fragmentation, restoration, ecosystem services, and sustainable use. Seasonally dry tropical forests are extremely rich in biodiversity, and are seriously threatened. They represent scientific terrain that is poorly explored, and there is an urgent need for increased understanding of the system's basic ecology. Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests represents an important step in bringing together the most current scientific information about this vital ecosystem and disseminating it to the scientific and conservation communities.
Download or read book Tropical Forest Ecology written by Florencia Montagnini and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2005-03-24 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Importance pf tropical forests; characteristics of tropical forests; classification of tropical forests; deforestation in the tropics; management of tropical forests; plantatios and agroforestry systems; approaches for implementing sustainable management techniques.
Download or read book Forest Restoration in Landscapes written by Stephanie Mansourian and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-02-23 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, published in cooperation with WWF International, integrates the restoration of forest functions into landscape conservation plans. The contents represent the collective body of knowledge and experience of WWF and its many partners - collected here for the first time. This guide will serve as a first stop for practitioners and researchers in many organizations and regions, and as a key reference on the subject.
Download or read book Primer of Ecological Restoration written by Karen Holl and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2020-03-03 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The pace, intensity, and scale at which humans have altered our planet in recent decades is unprecedented. We have dramatically transformed landscapes and waterways through agriculture, logging, mining, and fire suppression, with drastic impacts on public health and human well-being. What can we do to counteract and even reverse the worst of these effects? Restore damaged ecosystems. The Primer of Ecological Restoration is a succinct introduction to the theory and practice of ecological restoration as a strategy to conserve biodiversity and ecosystems. In twelve brief chapters, the book introduces readers to the basics of restoration project planning, monitoring, and adaptive management. It explains abiotic factors such as landforms, soil, and hydrology that are the building blocks to successfully recovering microorganism, plant, and animal communities. Additional chapters cover topics such as invasive species and legal and financial considerations. Each chapter concludes with recommended reading and reference lists, and the book can be paired with online resources for teaching. Perfect for introductory classes in ecological restoration or for practitioners seeking constructive guidance for real-world projects, Primer of Ecological Restoration offers accessible, practical information on recent trends in the field.
Download or read book Tropical Forest Remnants written by William F. Laurance and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1997-06-21 with total page 646 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in an increasingly fragmented world, with islands of natural habitat cast adrift in a sea of cleared, burned, logged, polluted, and otherwise altered lands. Nowhere are fragmentation and its devastating effects more evident than in the tropical forests. By the year 2000, more than half of these forests will have been cut, causing increased soil erosion, watershed destabilization, climate degradation, and extinction of as many as 600,000 species. Tropical Forest Remnants provides the best information available to help us understand, manage, and conserve the remaining fragments. Covering geographic areas from Southeast Asia and Australia to Madagascar and the New World, this volume summarizes what is known about the ecology, management, restoration, socioeconomics, and conservation of fragmented forests. Thirty-three papers present results of recent research as well as updates from decades-long projects in progress. Two final chapters synthesize the state of research on tropical forest fragmentation and identify key priorities for future work.
Download or read book Restoration of Tropical Forest Ecosystems written by Helmut Lieth and published by Springer. This book was released on 1914 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The destruction of the tropical forests continues rapidly. We all know that this has global, ecological and economic consequences. The problem is of such magnitude that it can only be compared to warfare. The destruction of tropical forests is both detrimental to the global ecology as well as posing a serious threat to the people living in these areas. Furthermore, the overutilization of such a valuable resource poses a serious threat to the next generations. Besides the problem generated for the people in these regions, and for the earth in general, there is a moral obligation to preserve the vast biological diversity in the tropical forests. We have a commitment to all species on earth as well as man and, therefore, need to preserve as many as possible, if not all. This book discusses the problem from different angles: from forestry, ecology and nature conservation. The two main problem areas are: first the wise utilization of that portion of the forest which will be used - especially the introduction of planned forestry in such areas and second the development of a good plan for nature conservation in the tropics.
Download or read book Large scale Forest Restoration written by David Lamb and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-19 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Landscapes are being degraded and simplified across the globe. This book explores how forest restoration might be carried out to increase landscape heterogeneity, improve ecological functioning and restore ecosystem services in such landscapes. It focuses on large, landscape-scale reforestation because that is the scale at which restoration is needed if many of the problems that have now developed are to be addressed. It also shows how large-scale forest restoration might improve human livelihoods as well as improve conservation outcomes. A number of governments have undertaken national reforestation programs in recent years; some have been more successful than others. The author reviews these to explore what type of reforestation should be used, where this should be carried out and how much should be done. For example, are the traditional industrial forms of reforestation necessarily the best to use in all situations? How can forest restoration be reconciled with the need for food security? And, are there spatial thresholds that must be exceeded to generate economic and environmental benefits? The book also examines the policy and institutional settings needed to encourage large-scale reforestation. This includes a discussion of the place for incentives to encourage landholders to undertake particular types of reforestation and to reforest particular locations. It also considers forms of governance that are likely to lead to an equitable sharing of the costs and benefits of forest restoration.
Download or read book Achieving Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests written by Jürgen Blase and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although global rates of deforestation have started to decrease, they remain alarmingly high in many tropical countries. In light of this challenge, the growing importance of sustainable forest management (SFM) has been highlighted as a means for improving sustainability across the sector. Achieving sustainable management of tropical forests summarises and reviews the rich body of research on tropical forests and how this research can be utilised to make sustainable management of tropical forests a standard implementable strategy for the future. The book features expert discussions on the economic, political and environmental contexts needed for SFM to operate successfully, including coverage of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With its distinguished editors and international array of expert authors, Achieving sustainable management of tropical forests will be a standard reference for researchers in tropical forest science, international and national organisations responsible for protection and responsible stewardship of tropical forests, as well as the commercial sector harvesting and using tropical forest products.
Download or read book Why Forests Why Now written by Frances Seymour and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2016-12-27 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tropical forests are an undervalued asset in meeting the greatest global challenges of our time—averting climate change and promoting development. Despite their importance, tropical forests and their ecosystems are being destroyed at a high and even increasing rate in most forest-rich countries. The good news is that the science, economics, and politics are aligned to support a major international effort over the next five years to reverse tropical deforestation. Why Forests? Why Now? synthesizes the latest evidence on the importance of tropical forests in a way that is accessible to anyone interested in climate change and development and to readers already familiar with the problem of deforestation. It makes the case to decisionmakers in rich countries that rewarding developing countries for protecting their forests is urgent, affordable, and achievable.
Download or read book The Amazon written by Mark J. Plotkin and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Rainforests occupy a special place in the imagination. Literary, historical and cinematic depictions range from a ghastly Green Hell to an idyllic Garden of Eden. In terms of fiction, they fired the already fervent imaginations of storytellers as diverse as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Rudyard Kipling and even George Lucas and Steven Spielberg in whose books and films they are inhabited by dinosaurs, trod by Indiana Jones, prowled by Mowgli the Jungle Boy and swung through by Tarzan of the Apes. But rainforest fact is no less fascinating than rainforest fiction. Brimming with mystery and intrigue, these forests still harbor lost cities, uncontacted tribes, ancient shamans, and powerful plants than can kill - and cure. The rainforest bestiary extends far beyond the requisite lions, tigers and bears. Flying foxes and winged lizards, arboreal anteaters, rainforest giraffes, cross-dressing spiders that disguise themselves as ants and bats the size of a bumblebees all flourish in these most fabulous of forests along with other zoological denizens that are equally bizarre and spectacular. And no scientist immersed in these ecosystems believes that all the wonders have been found or revealed. Tropical rainforests merit their moniker. They flourish in the tropics - the more than 3000 mile-wide equatorial band between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. And these forests are hot, humid and wet, receiving in the Amazon, on average from 60 to 120 inches of rain per year - as compared to a mere 25 inches in London or 45 inches in Manhattan. However, several sites in the rainforests of northeastern India, of west Africa and western Colombia are drenched by over 400 inches of precipitation per annum. To a large degree, rainfall in the tropics is determined by the so-called "Intertropical Convergence Zone" (ICZ), a band of clouds around the equator created by the meeting of the northeast and southeast trade winds. Also referred to as the "Monsoon Trough," and known to - and dreaded by - sailors over the centuries as the "Doldrums," since the extended periods of calm that sometimes manifested there could strand a sailing vessel for weeks. The constant cloud cover due to the ICZ, the ferocious heat, and the abundant rainfall combine to produce high humidity, sometimes close to 95 per cent in the Amazon, a challenge for visitors unused to such torpor. According to Rhett Butler of Mongabay: "Each canopy tree transpires 200 gallons of water annually, translating roughly into 20,000 gallons transpired into the atmosphere for every acre of canopy trees. Large rainforests (and their humidity) contribute to the formation of rain clouds, and generate as much as 75 per cent of their own rain and are therefore responsible for creating as much as 50 per cent of their own precipitation.""--
Download or read book Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World written by Dominick A. DellaSala and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Temperate rainforests are biogeographically unique. Compared to their tropical counterparts, temperate rainforests are rarer and are found disproportionately along coastlines. Because most temperate rainforests are marked by the intersection of marine, terrestrial, and freshwater systems, these rich ecotones are among the most productive regions on Earth. Globally, temperate rainforests store vast amounts of carbon, provide habitat for scores of rare and endemic species with ancient affinities, and sustain complex food-web dynamics. In spite of their global significance, however, protection levels for these ecosystems are far too low to sustain temperate rainforests under a rapidly changing global climate and ever expanding human footprint. Therefore, a global synthesis is needed to provide the latest ecological science and call attention to the conservation needs of temperate and boreal rainforests. A concerted effort to internationalize the plight of the world’s temperate and boreal rainforests is underway around the globe; this book offers an essential (and heretofore missing) tool for that effort. DellaSala and his contributors tell a compelling story of the importance of temperate and boreal rainforests that includes some surprises (e.g., South Africa, Iran, Turkey, Japan, Russia). This volume provides a comprehensive reference from which to build a collective vision of their future.
