1. Tropical Ecosystems into the 21st Century.
- Author
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Bawa, Kamaljit S., Kress, W. John, Nadkarni, Nalini M., Lele, Sharachchandra, Raven, Peter H., Janzen, Daniel H., Luco, Ariel E., Ashton, Peter S., and Lovejoy, Thomas E.
- Subjects
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JUNGLES , *BIOTIC communities , *FOREST conservation , *CONSERVATION of natural resources , *ASSOCIATIONS, institutions, etc. , *BIODIVERSITY , *NATURE & civilization - Abstract
This article presents similarities and differences of Ecological Society of America (ESA) and Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) on issues related to tropical ecosystems into 21st century. The ATBC report, like that of ESA, recognizes the increasing impact of humans on tropical ecosystems. Tropical forest conversion, the effects of climate change, nutrient deposition, spread of alien species, and extraction of ecosystem products on the structure and functioning of undisturbed and managed ecosystems must be understood. The second component pertains to social drivers of change and social responses to conservation. The third component, understanding the structure and function of tropical ecosystems, including cataloging tropical diversity, is fundamental to comprehend and mitigate consequences of the biodiversity loss in human-impacted ecosystems.
- Published
- 2004
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