By Joy Schochet, Ph.D
Note: The following units are used in this document:1 hectare (ha) = 10,000 m2 = 2.47 acres
1 km2 = 100 hectares (ha)
1 metric ton = 2000 kilograms
1 gigaton = 109 metric tons
1 petagram (pg) = 1015 grams (gm) Unless otherwise stated, all units used in this document are metric.
- 1. CHARACTERISTICS OF TROPICAL RAINFORESTS
- A. What is a tropical rainforest?
- B. Extent of tropical rainforests
- C. Age of tropical Rainforests
- D. History of human interactions with tropical rainforests
- E. Composition of tropical rainforests
- F. Forest maintenance and succession
- G. Rainforest ecology
- 1) Introduction
- 2) Rainforest structure
- 3) Forest niches
- 4) Productivity
- 5) Nutrient cycling
- 6) Species richness
- 7) Age of vegetation
- 8) Forest microclimates
- 9) Symbiotic interactions
- 10) Roles of fungi and other microbes
- 11) Reproduction in rainforest flora
- 12) Plant-soil interactions
- 13) Rainforest stability and disturbance
- 14) Roles of pathogens
- H. Rainforest role in the carbon cycle
- I. Rainforest role in the nitrogen cycle
- J. Rainforest role in the water cycle
- K. Rainforest role in climate
- L. Tropical Soils
- 2. BIODIVERSITY
- A. What do we mean by biodiversity?
- B. How much biodiversity is found in tropical rainforests?
- C. Biogeography of tropical regions
- D. Why is there so much biodiversity in tropical rainforests?
- E. Plants
- F. Animals
- G. Recent losses in biodiversity
- 1) Extent of losses
- 2) Biodiversity “hot spots”
- 3) Estimation of species extinctions
- 4) Consequences of biodiversity loss
- 5) Causes of recent declines in biodiversity
- 6) Endangered areas
- 7) Endangered organisms
- 8) Value of biological diversity
- 9) Conservation of biodiversity
- 10) How can the loss of biodiversity be halted?
- 12) Disturbance of adjacent unlogged areas
- 3. RAINFORESTS IN PERIL: DEFORESTATION
- A. Current State of tropical rainforests
- B. Synergism
- C. Human use of biological productivity: the diversion of net primary productivity
- D. Causes of tropical rainforest destruction
- 1) Human population growth
- 2) Land ownership patterns
- 3) Conversion for agriculture
- 4) Housing and urbanization
- 5) Commercial logging and the demand for wood
- 6) Use as a fuel source
- 7) Government policies
- 8) Subsidies from governments and international lending agencies
- 9) Inadequate valuation of tropical rainforests as resources
- 10) Inadequate protection of tropical rainforests
- 11) Establishment of transportation networks
- 12) Mining and other extractive activities
- 13) Inappropriate interventions
- 14) Dam construction/use of rainforests as hydropower sources
- 15) Poverty and wealth
- 16) Excessive extraction of forest resources
- 17) Philosophical and ethical attitudes
- 18) Economic attitudes
- 19) A tolerance for greed and corruption
- 20) Social structures
- 21) Wars and disruptive social change
- 22) Ecotourism
- 23) Distrust of government
- E. Why preserve the tropical rainforests of the world?
- F. Consequences of deforestation
- 1) Damage to remaining trees and other vegetation and increased fire susceptibility
- 2) Impoverishment of soils and erosion
- 3) Loss of biodiversity (including genetic diversity)
- 4) Loss of genetic resources and evolutionary potential
- 5) Changes in the water cycle
- 6) Changes in water levels and erosion
- 7) Changes in vegetation
- 8) Climate change and increase in greenhouse gases
- 9) Difficulty of reforestation
- 10) Increase in physical disturbances
- 11) Loss of “ecosystem services” which rainforests provide
- 13) Unintended consequences
- 14) Disruption of culture and livelihood of indigenous peoples
- 15) Exacerbation of social imbalances
- 16) Economic losses
- 17) Increase in pathogens
- 18) Loss of productivity
- 19) Loss of evolutionary potential
- 20) The creation of “environmental refugees”
- 4. CASE STUDIES IN TROPICAL DEFORESTATION
- 5. WHO GAINS FROM DEFORESTATION?
- 6. CONSERVATION OF TROPICAL RAINFORESTS
- A. Means of conserving tropical rainforests
- 1) Drastic reduction of human population growth
- 2) Improvement of land use
- 3) Improvement of forest management
- 4) Institution of changes in public policies toward forests
- 5) Protection of forest land
- 6) Improvement of agricultural methods and productivity
- 7) Modification of economic and legal systems
- 8) Reduction of social and economic imbalances
- 9) Reduction of anthropogenic effects on forests
- 10) Utilization of indigenous species for resources
- 11) Establishment of national centers for the conservation of threatened and endangered species
- 12) Increase in basic research on tropical rainforests
- 13) Regarding tropical rainforest preservation as an asset in economic calculations
- 14) Institution of economic measures favorable to rainforest preservation
- 15) Reformation of trade policies
- 16) Reduction of poverty, both urban and rural
- 17) “Community-based” conservation
- 18) Promotion of the rights of indigenous peoples
- 19) Increasing international pressures
- 20) Improving environmental education
- 21) Reduction of waste
- 22) Reduction of demand
- 23) Market reform
- 24) Care of secondary forests
- 25) Thinking on a large scale
- A. Means of conserving tropical rainforests
- 7. SPECIAL TOPICS
- 8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
