Urgency
How hornbills keep Asian rainforests healthy and diverse, an interview with Shumpei Kitamura
Hornbills are one of Asia's most attractive birds. Large, colorful, and easier to spot than most other birds, hornbills have become iconic animals in the tropical forests of Asia. Yet, most people probably don't realize just how important hornbills are to the tropical forests they inhabit: as fruit-eaters, hornbills play a key role in dispersing the seeds of tropical trees, thereby keeping forests healthy and diverse. Yet, according to tropical ecologist and hornbill-expert Shumpei Kitamura, these beautiful forest engineers are threatened by everything from forest loss to hunting to the pet trade.
"Seed dispersal consists of the removal and deposition of seeds away from parent plants. Because seeds are not mobile, their movements must be facilitated by dispersal agents such as gravity, wind, water or animals. […] Even in central Southeast Asia where the wind- and gravity-dispersed family Dipterocarpaceae dominates the plant community, animal-dispersed plant species diversity is still high and most forest birds and mammals eat at least some fruits," Kitamura explained to mongabay.com in an interview leading up to the 5th Frugivore and Seed Dispersal International Symposium where ecologists from around the globe will meet to discuss the importance of seed dispersers in the world's embattled forests.
All the tees in China: Golf boom threatens rainforest
On one side lies a pristine tropical rainforest with 1,000-year-old trees; on the other, a thick tangle of bamboo, cedar and palm has reclaimed an abandoned betel nut plantation.
Until now, this national park has been a rare conservation success story in China. Clouded leopards and black gibbons are among the 300 endangered species listed in this sanctuary.
Rainforests could be traded on world market
American Electric Power and BP invested in the pilot project alongside environmental groups such as the Nature Conservancy to find out if protecting forests compensates for their own pollution.
The burning of tropical forests emits more carbon dioxide every year than all the cars, planes, and boats on the planet - between 15 and 20% of global emissions.
A deal at Copenhagen could mean both governments and businesses paying billions to keep the forests standing.
With agreement looking unlikely on many other areas, some negotiators feel a deal aimed at preventing deforestation may be the most concrete outcome from the talks.
Logged forests support biodiversity after 15 years of rehabilitation, but not if turned into plantations
With the world facing global warming and a biodiversity crisis, a new study in Conservation Biology shows that within 15 years logged forests—considered by many to be 'degraded'—can be managed in order to successfully fight both climate change and extinction.
Studying regenerating forests in northeast Borneo, Dr. David Edwards from the University of Leeds, surveyed bird species in three different forests: a protected forest that had never been logged; a forest that had been logged and then actively rehabilitated over the last 15 years; and finally a forest undergoing natural regeneration after logging. Both forests were logged 20 years ago.
A Plan to Save Rainforests Gains International Momentum
Today, some analysts believe that a plan to save the world's rainforests, championed then by Conrad in Bali, could again carry the day -- this time at international climate talks in Copenhagen in December aimed at drafting a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol.
