Download or read book Tropical Forests Management and Ecology written by Ariel E. Lugo and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forestry professors used to remind students that, whereas physicians bury their mistakes, foresters die before theirs are noticed. But good institutions live longer than the scientists who contribute to building them, and the half-century of work of the USDA Forest Service's Institute of Tropical Forestry (ITF) is in plain view: an unprecedented corpus of accomplishments that would instill pride in any organization. There is scarcely anyone interested in current issues of tropical forestry who would not benefit from a refresher course in ITF's findings: its early collaboration with farmers to establish plantations, its successes in what we now call social forestry, its continuous improvement of nursery practices, its screening trials of native species, its development of wood-processing technologies appropriate for developing countries, its thorough analysis of tropical forest function, and its holistic approach toward conservation of endangered species. Fortunately, ITF has a long history of information exchange through teaching; like many others, I got my own start in tropical forest ecology fromjust such a course in Puerto Rico. And long before politicians recognized the global importance of tropical forestry, the ITF staff served actively as ambassadors of the discipline, visiting tropical coun tries everywhere to learn and, when invited to do so, to help solve local problems. It is a general principle of biogeography that species' turnover rates on islands are higher than those on continents. Inevitably, the same is true of scientists assigned to work on islands.
Download or read book Structure and Dynamics in the Colorado Forest of the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico written by Peter L. Weaver and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 660 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of the first part was to determine temporal changes in forest structure and species compositions wrought by hurricane San Cipriano of 1932. The second part of the study concerned the current condition of closed canopy forest, including regeneration, and elucidated spatial patterns in species composition relative to enviromental gradients. The third part of the study was to determine forest productivity and to asses the influence of elevation on forest structure and dynamics by comparing the results of the colorado forest study with those available for the forest types above and below it.
Download or read book A Caribbean Forest Tapestry written by Nicholas Brokaw and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-21 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global change threatens ecosystems worldwide, and tropical systems with their high diversity and rapid development are of special concern. We can mitigate the impacts of change if we understand how tropical ecosystems respond to disturbance. For tropical forests and streams in Puerto Rico this book describes the impacts of, and recovery from, hurricanes, landslides, floods, droughts, and human disturbances in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. These ecosystems recover quickly after natural disturbances, having been shaped over thousands of years by such events. Human disturbance, however, has longer-lasting impacts. Chapters are by authors with many years of experience in Puerto Rico and other tropical areas and cover the history of research in these mountains, a framework for understanding disturbance and response, the environmental setting, the disturbance regime, response to disturbance, biotic mechanisms of response, management implications, and future directions. The text provides a strong perspective on tropical ecosystem dynamics over multiple scales of time and space.
Download or read book Tropical Forests in Transition written by J. Goldammer and published by Birkhäuser. This book was released on 2013-03-08 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In evolutionary time scales natural disturbances have affected the vegetation on Earth. During the Quaternary the forest biomes of the tropics were subjected to manifold disturbances. Climate changes and climate oscillations were associated with changing precipitation and drought regimes, flooding, siltation, landslides, etc. The prehistorical forest was also influenced by the effects of large wildlife populations. Large-scale catastrophies in the forest biomes were mainly caused by abiotic environmental alterations, the small-scale disturbances were and still are related to both biotic and abiotic processes. Both the large-and the small-scale disturbances have played a significant role in shaping distribution, dynamics, structure and composition of the paleoforest. After the expansion of hominids and early humans, and later, by modern humans, the anthropogenic influences on the tropical forest began to overlap natural disturbances. Today's anthropogenic impacts on the tropical forests differ qualitatively and quanitatively from the natural disturbances. The speed of tropical deforestation and savannization is dramatically increasing. The physical and chemical impacts of forest conversion and biomass burning add to other anthropogenic influences on the atmosphere and climate. The expected anthropogenic climate change will also have considerable impacts on the tropical flora and fauna. The book on "Tropical Forests in Transition" synthesizes information on changing environmental conditions and human impacts on the tropical forest by looking back to the paleoecology, analyzing the impact of modern human populations and modeling the future of the tropical forest in a changing environment. The aim of the book is to strengthen multidisciplinary thinking in disturbance ecology.
Download or read book Resilience and the Behavior of Large Scale Systems written by Lance H. Gunderson and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-06-22 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientists and researchers concerned with the behavior of large ecosystems have focused in recent years on the concept of "resilience." Traditional perspectives held that ecological systems exist close to a steady state and resilience is the ability of the system to return rapidly to that state following perturbation. However beginning with the work of C. S. Holling in the early 1970s, researchers began to look at conditions far from the steady state where instabilities can cause a system to shift into an entirely different regime of behavior, and where resilience is measured by the magnitude of disturbance that can be absorbed before the system is restructured. Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems examines theories of resilience and change, offering readers a thorough understanding of how the properties of ecological resilience and human adaptability interact in complex, regional-scale systems. The book addresses the theoretical concepts of resilience and stability in large-scale ecosystems as well as the empirical application of those concepts in a diverse set of cases. In addition, it discusses the practical implications of the new theoretical approaches and their role in the sustainability of human-modified ecosystems. The book begins with a review of key properties of complex adaptive systems that contribute to overall resilience, including multiple equlibria, complexity, self-organization at multiple scales, and order; it also presents a set of mathematical metaphors to describe and deepen the reader's understanding of the ideas being discussed. Following the introduction are case studies that explore the biophysical dimensions of resilience in both terrestrial and aquatic systems and evaluate the propositions presented in the introductory chapters. The book concludes with a synthesis section that revisits propositions in light of the case studies, while an appendix presents a detailed account of the relationship between return times for a disturbed system and its resilienc. In addition to the editors, contributors include Stephen R. Carpenter, Carl Folke, C. S. Holling, Bengt-Owe Jansson, Donald Ludwig, Ariel Lugo, Tim R. McClanahan, Garry D. Peterson, and Brian H. Walker.
Download or read book North American Terrestrial Vegetation written by Michael G. Barbour and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 622 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This second edition provides extensively expanded coverage of North American vegetation from arctic tundra to tropical forests.
Download or read book Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1993-02-01 with total page 721 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rainforests are rapidly being cleared in the humid tropics to keep pace with food demands, economic needs, and population growth. Without proper management, these forests and other natural resources will be seriously depleted within the next 50 years. Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics provides critically needed direction for developing strategies that both mitigate land degradation, deforestation, and biological resource losses and help the economic status of tropical countries through promotion of sustainable agricultural practices. The book includes: A practical discussion of 12 major land use options for boosting food production and enhancing local economies while protecting the natural resource base. Recommendations for developing technologies needed for sustainable agriculture. A strategy for changing policies that discourage conserving and managing natural resources and biodiversity. Detailed reports on agriculture and deforestation in seven tropical countries.
Download or read book Management of the Forests of Tropical America written by and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wood Densities of Tropical Tree Species written by and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book General Technical Report SO written by and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 554 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Natural Sinks of CO2 written by Joe Wisniewski and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most of the attention with respect to the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations centers around three issues: human-generated sources of carbon, mostly from burning fossil fuels; tropical deforestation, which accelerates the production of atmospheric carbon while causting havoc with biodiversity and the economic development of tropical countries; and the temperature increase that may accompany increased atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. This is the first book to focus extensively on the reverse to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), i.e. the sequestering of atmospheric carbon by aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Natural ecosystems are currently sequestering carbon and it is economically feasible to manage existing and additional terrestrial (forest, soil, saline land) and aquatic (coastal, wetland and ocean) ecosystems to substantially increase the level of carbon storage. The prospect of managing natural systems to absorb additional carbon should begin to change the mindset under which scientists, policy makers and society deal with the issue of further greenhouse gas increases.
Download or read book Ba o de Oro Natural Area Luquillo Mountains Puerto Rico written by Peter L. Weaver and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book General Technical Report SRS written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 648 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Proceedings of the Ninth Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference written by Thomas A. Waldrop and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Scientific Survey of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands written by Julio C. Figueroa and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume updates the original scientific survey of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, which was begun by the New York Academy of Sciences in 1913. Many aspects of natural history - geology, paleobotany, plant ecology, herpetology, ornithology, insect taxonomy, archaeology - are covered. Each paper provides a brief historical survey and a mention of future research opportunities in the field.
Download or read book Tropical Forests written by Ariel E. Lugo and published by Springer. This book was released on 1995 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Its seventeen chapters were prepared by leading tropical ecologists and are divided into four sections: The Problem and Background; Long-term Ecological Research in Puerto Rico; Research Areas that Require Increased Focus in the Tropics; and Direction for Future Research in Tropical Forests. Tropical Forests: Management and Ecology will be a lasting resource for ecologists, tropical biologists, foresters, natural resource specialists, and policymakers with an interest in the tropics.
Download or read book Foundation Papers in Landscape Ecology written by John A. Wiens and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The editors begin with articles that illuminate the discipline's diverse scientific foundations, such as L.
