114 Results Found

Currently, there are several studies related to climate change, carbon sequestration, and floristic composition in different scenarios and land uses. In this context, the objective of this research is: (a) to characterize biodiversity based on ecolog...

Forests in the dry tropics differ significantly from forests in the humid tropics in their biomass and in their socio-ecological contexts, so it might be reasonable to assume that the dynamics that drive deforestation in these two settings would also...

Anthropogenic disturbance of tropical humid forests leads to habitat loss, biodiversity decline, landscape fragmentation, altered nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration, soil erosion, pest/pathogen outbreaks, among others. Nevertheless, the impact...

Spatial variation of tropical forest tree height is a key indicator of ecological processes associated with forest growth and carbon dynamics. Here we examine the macroscale variations of tree height of humid tropical forests across three continents...

In the humid tropics, forest conversion and climate change threaten the hydrological function and stationarity of watersheds, particularly in steep terrain. As climate change intensifies, shifting precipitation patterns and expanding agricultural and...

This study analyzed the CO₂ capture potential for the Parque Natural Regional Serrania de las Quinchas buffer area in Colombia. For this purpose, multitemporal analysis for land covering for the years 1989, 2000, 2006, 2011, 2017 and 2021 was perform...

Soil phosphorus (P) availability is of special interest in many humid tropical forests, especially those on highly weathered, iron (Fe)- and aluminum (Al)-rich soils where P often limits net primary productivity. Phosphorus cycling is partly dependen...

Fine-resolution satellite imagery is needed for characterizing dry-season phenology in tropical forests since many tropical forests are very spatially heterogeneous due to their diverse species and environmental background. However, fine-resolution s...

Airborne lidar is a technology well-suited for mapping many forest attributes, including aboveground biomass (AGB) stocks and changes in selective logging in tropical forests. However, trade-offs still exist between lidar pulse density and accuracy o...

Management of natural forests in Costa Rica allows timber extraction in so far as it is guaranteed that the logging activities comply with diverse Sustainability Principles, Criteria and Indicators (PCIs). These are hierarchical and complex systems u...

Tropical forests are disappearing at unprecedented rates, but the drivers behind this transformation are not always clear. This limits the decision-making processes and the effectiveness of forest management policies. In this paper, we address the ex...

The Miocene epoch witnessed the emergence of modern biomes and biodiversity hotspots. Understanding its history in South China is crucial for informing conservation under modern climate change, yet quantitative constraints on the evolution of climate...

The direct effects of relative humidity and soil on aboveground biomass (AGB) versus the indirect effects mediated by stand structural diversity remain unclear in forest ecosystems across large-scale elevation gradients. Forest inventory data contain...

We present multiproxy records from a 2.25-m-long lake sediment profile from central India, which suggested that between ~22,200 and 18,658 cal yr BP, the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) was weak, supporting open vegetation in a cool and dry climate, whic...

Land use change from forests to grazing lands is one of the important sources of greenhouse gas emissions in many parts of the tropics. The objective of this study was to analyze the extent of soil organic carbon (SOC) loss from the conversion of nat...

Spatial information on forest functional composition is needed to inform management and conservation efforts, yet this information is lacking, particularly in tropical regions. Canopy foliar traits underpin the functional biodiversity of forests, and...

Remotely-sensed estimates of forest biomass are usually based on various measurements of canopy height, area, volume or texture, as derived from LiDAR, radar or fine spatial resolution imagery. These measurements are then calibrated to estimates of s...

In 2018, the area of plantation forests in Indonesia reached 8,668,670 ha. Pests and diseases have been considered as critical factors in sustainable production of plantation forests in the humid tropic areas. With the introduction of new plant speci...

Humid tropical forests are commonly characterized as N-rich but P-deficient. Increased N deposition may drive N saturation and aggravate P limitation in tropical forests. Thus, P addition is proposed to mitigate the negative effects of N deposition b...

Globalization and commodity exports have a long history in affecting land use changes and land rights on the tropical forest frontier. This paper reviews a century of social and environmental discourse around land issues for four commodities grown in...

The use of nitrogen fertilization in tropical grasslands is a strategy that may reduce the pressure of livestock production on biome areas with humid forests. The objective of this study was to assess the use of different doses of nitrogen in Guinea...

Airborne high fidelity imaging spectroscopy (HiFIS) holds great promise for bridging the gap between field studies of functional diversity, which are spatially limited, and satellite detection of ecosystem properties, which lacks resolution to unders...

Bromeliads are a Neotropical family of monocots, colonized by several families of ciliates, with some species that inhabit only this type of microecosystems. Ecological factors such as the presence of water, plant volume, seasonality and predators, h...

Identifying protected areas most susceptible to climate change and deforestation represents critical information for determining conservation investments. Development of effective landscape interventions is required to ensure the preservation and pro...

Forest types correspond to differences in structural characteristics and species composition that influence biomass and biodiversity values, which are essential measurements for ecological monitoring and management. However, differentiating forest ty...

Archaea and bacteria communities play pivotal roles in tropical forest ecosystems’ functioning, especially nutrient cycling, plant phenology, and health. The objective of this study was to explore the diversity of archaeal and bacterial communi...

Climatic variations influence the adaptive capacity of trees within tropical montane cloud forests species. Phenology studies have dominated current studies on tree species. Leaf vein morphology has been related to specific climatic oscillations and...

Reliable rainfall prediction is essential for effective climate adaptation yet remains challenging due to complex atmospheric interactions that vary across regions. This study investigates next-day rainfall predictability in tropical and temperate cl...

Global tree cover products are widely used in analyses of deforestation, fragmentation, and connectivity, but are rarely critically assessed. Inaccuracies in these products could have consequences for future decision making, especially in data-poor r...

Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) is the most effective and well-acknowledged drought severity index that particularly determines the long-term drought conditions over the forest and other terrestrial ecosystems. However, the sensitivity of PDSI h...

Understanding global patterns of tree canopy height and density is essential for effective forest management and conservation planning. This study examines how these attributes vary along latitudinal gradients and identifies key climatic drivers infl...

Mangrove forests are among the most productive vascular plants on Earth. The gross (GPP) and aboveground forest net primary production (ANPP) correlate positively with precipitation. ANPP also correlates inversely with porewater salinity. The main dr...

Non-rainfall water input to surface soil moisture is essential to ecosystems, especially in dry climates, where a water deficit may persist for several months. Quantifying the impact of water gains by soil moisture at night will help to understand ve...

Small-scale treefall gaps are among the most important forms of forest disturbance in tropical forests. These gaps expose surrounding trees to more light, promoting rapid growth of understory plants. However, the effects of such small-scale disturban...

This work is a phytosociological approach to the montane rainforests of Peru with the aim of advancing on the diversity of plant communities, which we had already begun in previous research. From 364 phytosociological plots and 3389 species of the So...

Litterfall production plays a fundamental role in the dynamics and function of tropical forest ecosystems, as it supplies 70–80% of nutrients entering the soil. This process varies annually and seasonally, depending on multiple environmental fa...

Insular Southeast Asia is a hotspot of humid tropical forest cover loss. A sample-based monitoring approach quantifying forest cover loss from Landsat imagery was implemented to estimate gross forest cover loss for two eras, 1990–2000 and 2000–2005....

There is evidence to suggest that vascular epiphytes experience low competition for resources (light, water, and nutrients) compared to terrestrial plants. We tested the hypothesis that low resource competition may lead to higher nestedness among vas...

Ongoing destruction of tropical forests makes isolated pasture trees potentially important for the persistence of original forest dwellers such as many vascular epiphytes. We studied epiphyte assemblages on 100 isolated trees at ten pasture sites in...

Mosses are critical components of tropical forest ecosystems and have multiple essential ecological functions. The drying and rehydrating and often hot environments in tropical regions present some of the greatest challenges for their photosynthetic...

Arboreal epiphytes (plants residing in forest canopies) are present across all major climate zones and play important roles in forest biogeochemistry. The substantial water storage capacity per unit area of the epiphyte “bucket” is a key...

Monitoring of abnormal changes on the earth’s surface (e.g., forest disturbance) has improved greatly in recent years because of satellite remote sensing. However, high computational costs inherently associated with processing and analysis of s...

In the tropics, the domestic water supply depends principally on ecosystem services, including the regulation and purification of water by humid, dense tropical forests. The Yangambi Biosphere Reserve (YBR) landscape is situated within such forests i...

Human-caused habitat conversion, degradation, and climate change threaten global biodiversity, particularly in tropical forests where vascular epiphytes—non-parasitic plants growing on other plants—may be especially vulnerable. Epiphytes...

Climate change may lead to alterations in tree growth and carbon cycling. Interpreting the response of forest growth to climate change requires an understanding of the temporal and spatial patterns of seasonal climatic influences on the growth of tre...

The rapid expansion of oil palm is a major driver of deforestation and other associated damage to the climate and ecosystem in tropical regions, especially Southeast Asia. It is therefore necessary to precisely detect and monitor oil palm plantations...

The dynamic change and spatial–temporal distribution of vegetation coverage are of great significance for regional ecological evolution, especially in the subtropics and tropics. Identifying the heterogeneity in vegetation activities and its response...

In mountain tropical forests, understory herbs have received little attention compared to trees, and their commonness and rarity are virtually unknown. We studied ground herbs to explore how they are assembled in a full one-hectare plot and to test t...

Soils from humid forests undergo spatial and temporal variations in moisture and oxygen (O₂) in response to rainfall, and induce changes in iron (Fe) and carbon (C) biogeochemistry. We hypothesized that high rainfall periods stimulate Fe and C cyclin...

Remotely sensed maps of forest carbon stocks have enormous potential for supporting greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory and monitoring in tropical countries. However, most countries have not used maps as the reference data for GHG inventory due to the lac...