Tropical Forests in the Anthropocene

Malhi, Yadvinder; Gardner, Toby; Goldsmith, Gregory R.; Silman, Miles R.; Zelazowski, Przemyslaw

doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-030713-155141

Cited by 400 publications

(318 citation statements)

References 188 publications

(215 reference statements)

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“…While discussions of megafaunal extinctions in tropical forests have been relatively limited, these environments possessed diverse megafauna, which persist in parts of Africa and Asia 51 . In the New Guinea Highlands there is evidence for megafauna, including extinct marsupials (such as Maokopia ronaldii and Thylogale hopeii), at West Balim River c. 30 ka and at Nombe c. 25 ka, with their gradual demise following human arrival and subsequent biomass burning 49,52 .…”

Section: Early Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The deep human prehistory of global tropical forests and its relevance for modern conservation

et al. 2017

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Abstract/first paragraphSignificant human impacts on tropical forests have been considered the preserve of recent societies, linked to large-scale deforestation, extensive and intensive agriculture, resource mining, livestock grazing, and urban settlement. Cumulative archaeological evidence now demonstrates, however, that Homo sapiens has actively manipulated tropical forest ecologies for at least 45,000 years. It is clear that these millennia of impacts need to be taken into account when studying and conserving tropical forest ecosystems today. Nevertheless, archaeology has so far provided only limited practical insight into contemporary human-tropical forest interactions. Here, we review significant archaeological evidence for the impacts of past hunter-gatherers, agriculturalists, and urban settlements on global tropical forests. We compare the challenges faced, as well as the solutions adopted, by these groups with those confronting present-day societies, which also rely on tropical forests for a variety of ecosystem services. We emphasise archaeology's importance not only in promoting natural and cultural heritage in tropical forests, but also in taking an active role to inform modern conservation and policy-making.

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Section: Early Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The deep human prehistory of global tropical forests and its relevance for modern conservation

et al. 2017

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“…The impacts of LUC are of great concern in the tropics, where the expansion of agricultural and infrastructure development usually occur at the expense of species rich natural habitats (Davidson et al 2012;Ferreira et al 2014). While our understanding of the impacts of LUC on terrestrial tropical systems has improved significantly in recent decades (Malhi et al 2014), tropical aquatic systems have received far less research attention, with the majority of existing work concentrated in a small number of well-studied regions, such as Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong and Australia (Dudgeon 2008). Recent studies in tropical environments provide mounting evidence that LUC impacts on stream hydrobiogeochemistry can extend far beyond the adjacent forest.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-scale assessment of human-induced changes to Amazonian instream habitats

et al. 2016

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Context Land use change and forest degradation have myriad effects on tropical ecosystems. Yet their consequences for low-order streams remain very poorly understood, including in the worlds largest freshwater basin, the Amazon. Objectives Determine the degree to which physical and chemical characteristics of the instream habitat of low-order Amazonian streams change in response to past local-and catchment-level anthropogenic disturbances.Methods To do so, we collected field instream habitat (i.e., physical habitat and water quality) and landscape data from 99 stream sites in two eastern Brazilian Amazon regions. We used random forest regression trees to assess the relative importance of different predictor variables in determining changes in instream habitat response variables. Results Multiple drivers, operating at multiple spatial scales, were important in determining changes in the physical habitat and water quality of the sites. Although we found few similarities in modelled relationships between the two regions, we observed non-linear responses of specific instream Ecol (2016) 31:1725-1745 DOI 10.1007 characteristics to landscape change; for example 20 % of catchment deforestation resulted in consistently warmer streams.Conclusions Our results highlight the importance of local riparian and catchment-scale forest cover in shaping instream physical environments, but also underscore the importance of other land use changes and activities, such as road crossings and upstream agriculture intensification. In contrast to the propertyscale focus of the Brazilian Forest code, which governs environmental regulations on private land, our results reinforce the importance of catchment-wide management strategies to protect stream ecosystem integrity.

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“…While deforestation and conversion to agricultural land are the most visible threats to tropical forests worldwide, these systems are also increasingly exposed to atmospheric nutrient deposition and climate change (Lewis et al, 2009(Lewis et al, , 2015Malhi et al, 2014;Newbold et al, 2014). Even the most remote tropical forest areas are expected to receive rising amounts of air-borne nutrients, which will have unknown consequences for the biogeochemical cycles, structure and functioning of these systems, no matter if they are within protected areas or not (e.g., Wilcke et al, 2013;Fernández-Martínez et al, 2014).…”

Section: Editorial On the Research Topic Tropical Forest Ecosystem Rementioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial: Tropical Forest Ecosystem Responses to Increasing Nutrient Availability

et al. 2017

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Tropical Forests in the Anthropocene

Cited by 400 publications

References 188 publications

The deep human prehistory of global tropical forests and its relevance for modern conservation

The deep human prehistory of global tropical forests and its relevance for modern conservation

Multi-scale assessment of human-induced changes to Amazonian instream habitats

Editorial: Tropical Forest Ecosystem Responses to Increasing Nutrient Availability

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