A social and ecological assessment of tropical land uses at multiple scales: the Sustainable Amazon Network

Abstract

Science has a critical role to play in guiding more sustainable development trajectories. Here, we present the Sustainable Amazon Network ( Rede Amazônia Sustentável , RAS): a multidisciplinary research initiative involving more than 30 partner organizations working to assess both social and ecological dimensions of land-use sustainability in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. The research approach adopted by RAS offers three advantages for addressing land-use sustainability problems: (i) the collection of synchronized and co-located ecological and socioeconomic data across broad gradients of past and present human use; (ii) a nested sampling design to aid comparison of ecological and socioeconomic conditions associated with different land uses across local, landscape and regional scales; and (iii) a strong engagement with a wide variety of actors and non-research institutions. Here, we elaborate on these key features, and identify the ways in which RAS can help in highlighting those problems in most urgent need of attention, and in guiding improvements in land-use sustainability in Amazonia and elsewhere in the tropics. We also discuss some of the practical lessons, limitations and realities faced during the development of the RAS initiative so far.

How Should Beta-Diversity Inform Biodiversity Conservation?

“…Detailed gamma-diversity data will likely never exist for most of the globe, especially at regional scales and in understudied remote tropical regions. Therefore, we need to better understand processes and patterns in the maintenance 355 and loss of beta-diversity in order effectively conserve gamma-diversity [12]. We need to examine how beta-diversity responds during land-use change to understand when and how alpha-scale research can be scaled up to gamma-scale problems and how management interventions can improve gamma-diversity conservation.…”

Soil Organic Matter Responses to Anthropogenic Forest Disturbance and Land Use Change in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon

“…Soils were sampled from seven different land uses, namely undisturbed forest (UF), logged forest (LF), burnt forest (BF), logged and burned forest (LBF), secondary forest (SF), pasture (PA), and cropland (CP). We classified areas of Primary forest (i.e., forest that has never been cleared) into Undisturbed, Logged, Burnt, or Logged and Burnt, based on evidence from either field observations (fire and logging scars) or the manual interpretation of satellite images, as described by [21,22].…”

Ecology, economy and management of an agroindustrial frontier landscape in the southeast Amazon

“…Durigan et al [23] Macedo et al [24] Neill et al [27] Gardner et al [42] Le Tourneau et al [41] VanWey et al [29] Schwartzman et al [34] Riskin et al [28] Stickler et al [18] Nepstad et al [47] Galford et al [30] Schiesari et al [31] Morton et al [32] Silvério et al [36] Stickler et al [18] DeFries et al [49] Schwartzman et al [34] infrastructure Nepstad et al [47] Macedo et al [24] Neill et al [27] [35] Figure 1. Schematic diagram showing the interconnections among the processes that affect land cover and land-use change (LCLUC) and the social and biophysical outcomes of LCLUC in the Brazilian Amazon.…”