Urgency
Stranglers of the tropics -- and beyond
But kudzu may be no match for the lianas of the tropics, scientists have found. Data from sites in eight studies show that lianas are overgrowing trees in every instance.
If the trend continues, these "stranglers-of-the-tropics" may suffocate equatorial forest ecosystems.
Tropical forests contain more than half of Earth's terrestrial species, and contribute more than a third of global terrestrial carbon and a third of terrestrial net primary productivity, says ecologist Stefan Schnitzer of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Schnitzer is co-author with Frans Bongers of Wageningen University in the Netherlands of a paper on lianas in the current issue of the journal Ecology Letters.
"Any alteration of tropical forests has important ramifications for species diversity, productivity--and ultimately the global carbon cycle," says Schnitzer.
Tropical forests are indeed experiencing large-scale structural changes, the most obvious of which may be the increase in lianas, according to Robert Sanford, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division ofEnvironmental Biology, which funded the research.
Lianas are found in most tropical lowland forests. The woody vines are "non-self-supporting structural parasites that use the architecture of trees to ascend to the forest canopy," says Schnitzer.
Fruit-eating fish does far-flung forestry
Species’ seed-dispersal skills go the distance
by Susan Milius March 2011
In the Amazon, Johnny Appleseed may be a fish.
When rivers in the Amazon Basin flood into surrounding forests and savannas, a fruit-eating fish called a tambaqui proves itself a champion at excreting seeds in distant new homes, says Jill T. Anderson of Duke University in Durham, N.C. In extreme cases, seeds hitchhiking with the fish can land almost 5.5 kilometers from the mother tree..
Tree Planting TambaquiThose distances put the tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) into the ranks of elephants and big birds for long-distance planting, Anderson and her colleagues report in an upcomingProceedings of the Royal Society B.
In tree reproduction, distance matters, especially as loggers, farmers and builders clear more and more patches of forest. Fruit-eaters are “the mobile links that keep forest fragments connected,” says ecologist Pedro Jordano of the Doñana Biological Station in Seville, Spain. Otherwise patches could become so isolated they lose healthful genetic diversity.
Biologists have begun to gather evidence on how much impact a seed-courier fish might have on a terrestrial forest. The tambaqui, also called a gamitana, is one of roughly 200 known fruit-eating fish species worldwide and gets its chance to forage in the floodplains where rivers swell over their banks and cover some 250,000 square kilometers for months each year. “In some places, you can canoe in the tree canopy,” Anderson says.
Reforestation projects capture more carbon than industrial plantations
Australian scientists researching environmental restoration projects have found that the reforestation of damaged rainforests is more efficient at capturing carbon than controversial softwood monoculture plantations. The research, published in Ecological Management and Restoration, challenges traditional views on the efficiency of industrial monoculture plantations.
Reforestation Projects Carbon markets have become a potential source of funding for restoration projects as countries and corporations seek the cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions,' said Dr John Kanowski from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. 'However, there is a concern that this funding will encourage single species monoculture plantations instead of diverse reforestation projects, due to the widely held belief that monocultures capture more carbon.'
Bottomland Forest restoration brings back rare species
By The Nature Conservancy
Rare animal species are returning to West Tennessee’s restored bottomland forests, according to recent research sponsored by The Nature Conservancy.
Swainson’s warbler, the barking treefrog and the prairie warbler are examples of rare or declining species that have been recently found at sites along rivers where hardwood trees are being replanted and restored in the marshy bottomlands where they used to grow. Additional species found during the study include green heron, southern cricket frog and crawfish frog.
Historically, the rare animals had inhabited many of West Tennessee’s river bottomlands, but widespread removal of trees in decades past had pushed them out of these areas. The recent rare animal discoveries occurred during a two-year research project conducted by Associate Professor Matthew Gray and graduate student Beth Summers from the University of Tennessee’s Wetlands Program in the Department of Forestry, Wildlife & Fisheries. The research project was funded by The Nature Conservancy and the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Natural reforestation in southern Pyrenees favors orchid
