Rainforest Primer

By Joy Schochet, Ph.D

• 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
    • 1) Prehistoric humans and extinctions
    • 2) Prehistoric human alterations of rainforests
    • 3) Examples of rainforests seriously altered by human activities
    • 4) European discovery of tropical rainforests
  • E. Composition of tropical rainforests
    • 1) Size and age of the vegetation
    • 2) Distribution of trees in the forest
    • 3) General features of tropical plants
    • 4) Analogous nature of tropical species
    • 5) The three major 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
    • 1) Roles of animals in tropical rainforests
    • 2) Distribution (population size in different areas)
    • 3) Kinds of animals – a tiny sample of the astounding biodiversity in tropical rainforests
  • 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
  • A. The Neotropics
    • 1) Puerto Rico
    • 2) Brazil
    • 3) Ecuador
    • 4) Costa Rica
    • 5) Peru
  • B. Africa
    • 1) Madagascar
    • 2) Central Africa
  • C. South and Southeast Asia
    • 1) India
    • 2) Thailand
    • 3) Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo (Sabah and Sarawak)
    • 4) Indonesia
• 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
• 7. SPECIAL TOPICS
  • A. The Global Timber Trade – a brief discussion
    • 1) Sources of timber
    • 2) Timber concessions
    • 3) Road construction and its relationship to deforestation
    • 4) How it’s done
    • 5) Wastage
    • 6) Wood-processing
    • 7) Demand
    • 8) Regulation
    • 9) Profitability
    • 10) Case Study – Brazil
  • B. Agriculture
    • 1) The scope of agricultural expansion
    • 3) Ranching
    • 4) Differences between agricultural and forest land
    • 5) Globalization
    • 7) Mitigation
    • 2) Slash-and-burn agriculture
    • 6) Crops
  • C. Some observations on the economics of tropical rainforest conservation
  • D. Conclusions
• 8. BIBLIOGRAPHY