Explore the vast range of titles available.

There is a growing need to assess and monitor forest cover and its conservation status over global scales to determine human impact on ecosystems and to develop sustainability plans. Recent approaches to measure regional and global forest status and dynamics are based on remotely sensed estimates of tree cover. We argue that tree cover should not be used to assess the area of forest ecosystems because tree cover is an undefined subset of forest cover. For example, tree cover can indicate a positive trend even in the presence of deforestation, as in the case of plantations. We believe a global map of forest naturalness that accounts for the bio-ecological integrity of forest ecosystems, for example, intact forests, old-growth forest patches, rewilding forests (exploited forest landscapes undergoing long-term natural succession), and managed forests is needed for global forest assessment. Existe una creciente necesidad de evaluar y monitorear la cobertura forestal y su estado de conservación a escala global para determinar el impacto humano sobre los ecosistemas y así desarrollar planes de sustentabilidad. Las estrategias recientes para medir el estado regional y global de los bosques, así como sus dinámicas, están basadas en estimaciones de la cobertura de árboles detectados remotamente. Discutimos que la cobertura de árboles no debería usarse para evaluar el área de los ecosistemas boscosos porque ésta es un subconjunto indefinido de la cobertura forestal. Por ejemplo, la cobertura de árboles puede indicar una tendencia positiva incluso con la presencia de la deforestación, como sucede en el caso de las plantaciones. Creemos que se necesita un mapa global de la naturalidad de los bosques que considere la integridad bio-ecológica de los ecosistemas boscosos, por ejemplo, los bosques intactos, los fragmentos de bosques primarios, los bosques de resilvestración (paisajes de bosques explotados que están pasando por una sucesión natural a largo plazo) y los bosques manejados, para la evaluación mundial de los bosques.

Hitherto fungi have rarely been considered in conservation biology, but this is changing as the field moves from addressing single species issues to an integrative ecosystem‐based approach. The current emphasis on biodiversity as a provider of ecosystem services throws the spotlight on the vast diversity of fungi, their crucial roles in terrestrial ecosystems, and the benefits of considering fungi in concert with animals and plants. We reviewed the role of fungi in ecosystems and composed an overview of the current state of conservation of fungi. There are 5 areas in which fungi can be readily integrated into conservation: as providers of habitats and processes important for other organisms; as indicators of desired or undesired trends in ecosystem functioning; as indicators of habitats of conservation value; as providers of powerful links between human societies and the natural world because of their value as food, medicine, and biotechnological tools; and as sources of novel tools and approaches for conservation of megadiverse organism groups. We hope conservation professionals will value the potential of fungi, engage mycologists in their work, and appreciate the crucial role of fungi in nature.

Loss of natural forests by forest clearcutting has been identified as a critical conservation challenge worldwide. This study addressed forest fragmentation and loss in the context of the establishment of a functional green infrastructure as a spatiotemporally connected landscape-scale network of habitats enhancing biodiversity, favorable conservation status, and ecosystem services. Through retrospective analysis of satellite images, we assessed a 50- to 60-year spatiotemporal clearcutting impact trajectory on natural and near-natural boreal forests across a sizable and representative region from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Scandinavian Mountain Range in northern Fennoscandia. This period broadly covers the whole forest clearcutting period; thus, our approach and results can be applied to comprehensive impact assessment of industrial forest management. The entire study region covers close to 46,000 km² of forest-dominated landscape in a late phase of transition from a natural or near-natural to a land-use modified state. We found a substantial loss of intact forest, in particular of large, contiguous areas, a spatial polarization of remaining forest on regional scale where the inland has been more severely affected than the mountain and coastal zones, and a pronounced impact on interior forest core areas. Salient results were a decrease in area of the largest intact forest patch from 225,853 to 68,714 ha in the mountain zone and from 257,715 to 38,668 ha in the foothills zone, a decrease from 75% to 38% intact forest in the inland zones, a decrease in largest patch core area (assessed by considering 100-m patch edge disturbance) from 6114 to 351 ha in the coastal zone, and a geographic imbalance in protected forest with an evident predominance in the mountain zone. These results demonstrate profound disturbance of configuration of the natural forest landscape and disrupted connectivity, which challenges the establishment of functional green infrastructure. Our approach supports the identification of forests for expanded protection and conservation-oriented forest landscape restoration. La pérdida de bosques naturales por causa de la tala uniforme de árboles en los mismos ha sido identificada como unreto muyimportantepara la conservación global. Esteestudioabordó la fragmentación y pérdida de bosques en el contexto del establecimiento de una infraestructura verde funcional como una red de hábitats a escala de paisaje conectados espacio-temporalmente que mejoren la biodiversidad, los estados favorables de conservación y los servicios ambientales. Por medio de un análisis retrospectivo de imágenes satelitales evaluamos una trayectoria de impacto espacio-temporal de 50 a 60 años de tala uniforme sobre bosques boreales naturales y casi naturales en una región considerable y representativa desde el Golfo de Botnia hasta la Cordillera Escandinava en el norte de Fenoescandia. Este rango cubre todo el periodo de tala uniforme en el bosque en términos generales; por lo tanto, nuestra metodología y resultados pueden aplicarse a la evaluación completa del impacto del manejo industrial de bosques. Toda la región de estudio cubría hasta 46,000 km² de paisaje dominado por bosque en una etapa tardía de la transición entre el estado natural o casi natural y el estado de uso de suelo modificado. Encontramos una pérdida sustancial de bosque intacto, particularmente para áreas grandes y contiguas, una polarización espacial del bosque restantea una escala regional en la que tierra adentro hay mayores afectaciones que en las zonas montañosas y costeras, y un impacto pronunciado sobre las áreas nucleares de los bosques interiores. Los resultados salientes fueron una disminución en el área del fragmento más grande de bosque intacto de 225, 853 a 68, 714 ha en la zona montañosa y de 257, 715 a 38, 668 ha en la zona de pie de monte, una disminución del 75% al 38% de bosque intacto en las zonas tierra adentro, una disminución en el área nuclear del fragmento más grande (valorada al considerar 100-m de perturbación al borde del fragmento) de 6, 114 a 351 ha en la zona costera, y un desbalance geográfico en los bosques protegidos con una evidente mayoría en la zona montañosa. Estos resultados demuestran una perturbación profunda de la configuración del paisaje de bosque natural y una conectividad interrumpida, lo que presenta un reto para el establecimiento de una infraestructura verde funcional. Nuestro enfoque sustenta la identificación de bosques para su protección expandida y la restauración del paisaje de bosque orientada hacia la conservación. 森林皆伐造成的自然森林丧失被认为是全世界面胳的重要保护挑战。功能性绿色基础设施是提高生物多 样性、保护状况和生态系统服务的时空上连接的景观尺度生境网络 本研究关注其建设中的森林破碎化和森林 丧失同题。通过分析卫星图像, 我们评估7\"芬诺斯坎通亚 (Fennoscancdia) 北部波的尼亚湾 (Gulf of Bothnia) 到 斯堪的纳维亚山脉(Scandinavian Mountain Range)大面积有代表性的自然和接近自然的北方森林受到 50-60 年森林皆伐的影响轨迹。这一时间段大致包括了整个森林皆伐期，因此我们的方法和结果可以应用于工业森林 管理的综合影响评估。整个研究区域覆盖了近紙000平方公里以森林为主的景風处于自然或接近自然的景 观向人为改造的土地利用类型过渡的后期。我们发现原始森林严重丧失，特别是大面积的连续区域，_ 余的森林 在区域尺度上发生空间的两极分化，其中内陆比山区和沿海地区受到更为严重的影响，内部森林核心区也受到明 显影响。突出的结果包括:山区最大的原始森林斑块面积从225,853公顷减少到 68,714 公埂而在山麓地区 从 257,715 公現滅少到38,668 公埂, 内陆地区从 75% 减少到 38%, 最大的斑块核心区域面积减少(根据 6,114 公顷到 351 公顷的沿海地区 100 米斑块边缘干扰的评估结果X 以及受保护森林的地理分布不平衡(主要在山 区) 。这些结果表明，自然森林景观配置受到严重干抵连接度受到破坏，这对建设功能性绿色基础设施提出了 挑战。我们的方法有助于确定扩大保护及进行保护导向的森林景观恢复的森林范围。

In recent decades the rate and geographic extent of land-use and land-cover change has increased throughout the world's humid tropical forests. The pan-tropical geography of forest change is a challenge to assess, and improved estimates of the human footprint in the tropics are critical to understanding potential changes in biodiversity. We combined recently published and new satellite observations, along with images from Google Earth and a literature review, to estimate the contemporary global extent of deforestation, selective logging, and secondary regrowth in humid tropical forests. Roughly 1.4% of the biome was deforested between 2000 and 2005. As of 2005, about half of the humid tropical forest biome contained 50% or less tree cover. Although not directly comparable to deforestation, geographic estimates of selective logging indicate that at least 20% of the humid tropical forest biome was undergoing some level of timber harvesting between 2000 and 2005. Forest recovery estimates are even less certain, but a compilation of available reports suggests that at least 1.2% of the humid tropical forest biome was in some stage of long-term secondary regrowth in 2000. Nearly 70% of the regrowth reports indicate forest regeneration in hilly, upland, and mountainous environments considered marginal for large-scale agriculture and ranching. Our estimates of the human footprint are conservative because they do not resolve very small-scale deforestation, low-intensity logging, and unreported secondary regrowth, nor do they incorporate other impacts on tropical forest ecosystems, such as fire and hunting. Our results highlight the enormous geographic extent of forest change throughout the humid tropics and the considerable limitations of the science and technology available for such a synthesis.

The municipality of San Antonio del Tequendama, Cundinamarca, Colombia, harbours remnants of cloud forests that support a rich diversity of orchids, primarily threatened by habitat loss. This study aims to guide conservation efforts through fieldwork and herbarium records, focused on orchid spatial distribution. The study area covers 82 km², situated at elevations between 1090 and 2700 meters. We conducted 31 field trips between 2017 and 2019. A total of 151 species from 54 genera were documented, offering the most comprehensive list of orchid species recorded in the region, accounting for 3.51% of Colombia’s orchid species. The most diverse genera were Epidendrum (23 spp.), Maxillaria (13 spp.), Stelis (10 spp.), and Cyrtochilum (10 spp.). Thirty genera (19.86%) were represented by only one species. Six threatened species were identified: Cattleya trianae and Masdevallia caudata (Endangered), Pleurothallis mundula, Cyrtochilum ioplocon, Dracula psittacina, and Oncidium gloriosum (Vulnerable). Although the conservation status of some endemic species (26 spp., 17.21%) remains unknown or unassessed, many observed during field trips are rare and vulnerable to illegal collection for commercial purposes. The remaining forests of San Antonio del Tequendama, especially those within protected natural reserves, are crucial for in situ conservation actions at the local level. Our findings on species distribution provide a baseline for assessing the conservation status of orchid populations in cloud forests.  El municipio de San Antonio del Tequendama, Cundinamarca, Colombia, alberga relictos de bosque de niebla, ecosistemas clave para una gran diversidad de orquídeas, cuya principal amenaza es la pérdida de hábitat. Este estudio presenta la diversidad de orquídeas de San Antonio del Tequendama, su estado de conservación y algunas proyecciones para su manejo, con el fin de promover su gestión y uso sostenible. El área de estudio abarcó 82 km², en elevaciones entre los 1090 y 2700 metros. Entre 2017 y 2019, se realizaron 31 salidas de campo en distintas localidades, empleando transectos lineales. En total, se registraron 151 especies distribuidas en 54 géneros, lo que constituye el listado más completo de la región, representando el 3.51% de las orquídeas del país. Los géneros más diversos fueron Epidendrum (23 spp.), Maxillaria (13 spp.), Stelis (10 spp.) y Cyrtochilum (10 spp.). Sin embargo, un 19.86% de los géneros (30 spp.) estuvieron representados por una sola especie. Se identificaron cinco especies amenazadas a nivel nacional: Cattleya trianae y Masdevallia caudata están catalogadas como especies En Peligro, mientras que Cyrtochilum ioplocon, Dracula psittacina y Oncidium gloriosum se clasifican como Vulnerables. Aunque la mayoría de las especies endémicas nacionales (26 spp., 17.21%) no han sido evaluadas, se consideran raras en la zona y enfrentan la amenaza de extracción ilegal con fines comerciales. Los bosques remanentes de San Antonio del Tequendama, especialmente en áreas protegidas, son fundamentales para la conservación in situ de estas orquídeas a nivel local. Estudiar la demografía de estas especies podría proporcionar las bases necesarias para evaluar su estado de conservación en los bosques de niebla.

There is global concern about tropical forest degradation, in part, because of the associated loss of biodiversity. Communities and indigenous people play a fundamental role in tropical forest management and are often efficient at preventing forest degradation. However, monitoring changes in biodiversity due to degradation, especially at a scale appropriate to local tropical forest management, is plagued by difficulties, including the need for expert training, inconsistencies across observers, and lack of baseline or reference data. We used a new biodiversity remote-sensing technology, the recording of soundscapes, to test whether the acoustic saturation of a tropical forest in Papua New Guinea decreases as land-use intensity by the communities that manage the forest increases. We sampled soundscapes continuously for 24 hours at 34 sites in different land-use zones of 3 communities. Land-use zones where forest cover was fully retained had significantly higher soundscape saturation during peak acoustic activity times (i.e., dawn and dusk chorus) compared with land-use types with fragmented forest cover. We conclude that, in Papua New Guinea, the relatively simple measure of soundscape saturation may provide a cheap, objective, reproducible, and effective tool for monitoring tropical forest deviation from an intact state, particularly if it is used to detect the presence of intact dawn and dusk choruses. Existe una preocupación global por la degradación del bosque tropical, en parte, por la pérdida asociada de la biodiversidad. Las comunidades y personas indígenas juegan un papel fundamental en el manejo del bosque tropical y son continuamente eficientes en la prevención de la degradación del bosque. Sin embargo, el monitoreo de cambios en la biodiversidad por causa de la degradación, especialmente a una escala apropiada para el manejo del bosque tropical local, está plagado de dificultades, incluyendo la necesidad de entrenamiento por expertos, inconsistencias entre los observadores, y la falta de una línea base de datos de referencia. Utilizamos una tecnología nueva de detección remota de la biodiversidad, la grabación del paisaje sonoro, para probar si la saturación acústica de un bosque tropical en Papua Nueva Guinea disminuye conforme incrementa la intensidad del uso de suelo por las comunidades que manejan el bosque. Muestreamos el paisaje sonoro continuamente durante 24 horas en 34 sitios en diferentes zonas de uso de suelo de tres comunidades. Las zonas de uso de suelo en donde la cobertura forestal se retuvo completamente tuvieron una saturación de paisaje sonoro significativamente más alta durante los momentos cumbre de actividad acústica (es decir, el coro al amanecer y al atardecer) en comparación con los tipos de uso de suelo con cobertura forestal fragmentada. Concluimos que, en Papua Nueva Guinea, la medida relativamente simple de la saturación del paisaje sonoro puede proporcionar una herramienta barata, objetiva, reproducible y efectiva para el monitoreo de la desviación del bosque tropical a partir de un estado intacto, particularmente si se utiliza para detectar la presencia de coros intactos al amanecer y al atardecer.

The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve has captured the worldwide attention of biologists, conservationists, and ecologists and has been the setting for extensive investigation over the past 30 years. Roughly 40,000 ecotourists visit the Cloud Forest each year, and it is often considered the archetypal high-altitude rain forest. This volume brings together some of the most prominent researchers of the region to provide a broad introduction to the biology of the Monteverde and cloud forests in general. Collecting and synthesizing vital information about the ecosystem and its biota, the book also examines the positive and negative effects of human activity on both the forest and the surrounding communities. Ecologists, tropical biologists, and natural historians will find this volume an indispensable resource as will all those who are fascinated by the magnificent wonders of the tropical forests.

Background Increases in fire activity and changes in fire regimes have been documented in recent decades across the western United States. Climate change is expected to continue to exacerbate impacts to forested ecosystems by increasing the frequency, size, and severity of wildfires across the western United States (US). Warming temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns are altering western landscapes and making them more susceptible to high-severity fire. Increases in large patches of high-severity fire can result in significant impacts to landscape processes and ecosystem function and changes to vegetation structure and composition. In this synthesis, we examine the predicted climatic influence on fire regimes and discuss the impacts on fire severity, vegetation dynamics, and the interactions between fire, vegetation, and climate. We describe predicted changes, impacts, and risks related to fire with climate change and discuss how management options may mitigate some impacts of predicted fire severity, and moderate some impacts to forests, carbon, and vegetation changes post fire. Results Climate change is increasing fire size, fire severity, and driving larger patches of high-severity fire. Many regions are predicted to experience an increase in fire severity where conditions are hotter and drier and changes in fire regimes are evident. Increased temperatures, drought conditions, fuels, and weather are important drivers of fire severity. Recent increases in fire severity are attributed to changes in climatic water deficit (CMD), vapor pressure deficit (VPD), evapotranspiration (ET), and fuels. Fire weather and vegetation species composition also influence fire severity. Future increases in fire severity are likely to impact forest resilience and increase the probability of forest type conversions in many ecosystems. Conclusions Increasing warming and drying trends are likely to cause more frequent and severe disturbances in many forested ecosystems in the near future. Large patches of high-severity fire have lasting legacies on vegetation composition and structure, and impacts on tree regeneration. In some ecosystems and under certain fire-weather conditions, restoration and fuel treatments may reduce the area burned at high severity and reduce conversions from forest to non-forest conditions, increasing forest resistance and resilience to wildland fire. Thinning and prescribed fire treatments can be effective at reducing the potential for crown fire, reducing fuels, and promoting forest resilience.

In the wake of widespread loss of old-growth forests throughout the tropics, secondary forests will likely play a growing role in the conservation of forest biodiversity. We considered a complex hierarchy of factors that interact in space and time to determine the conservation potential of tropical secondary forests. Beyond the characteristics of local forest patches, spatial and temporal landscape dynamics influence the establishment, species composition, and persistence of secondary forests. Prospects for conservation of old-growth species in secondary forests are maximized in regions where the ratio of secondary to old-growth forest area is relatively low, older secondary forests have persisted, anthropogenic disturbance after abandonment is relatively low, seed-dispersing fauna are present, and old-growth forests are close to abandoned sites. The conservation value of a secondary forest is expected to increase over time, as species arriving from remaining old-growth forest patches accumulate. Many studies are poorly replicated, which limits robust assessments of the number and abundance of old-growth species present in secondary forests. Older secondary forests are not often studied and few long-term studies are conducted in secondary forests. Available data indicate that both old-growth and second-growth forests are important to the persistence of forest species in tropical, human-modified landscapes.

Conflicts between local people's livelihoods and conservation have led to many unsuccessful conservation efforts and have stimulated debates on policies that might simultaneously promote sustainable management of protected areas and improve the living conditions of local people. Many government-sponsored payments-for-ecosystem-services (PES) schemes have been implemented around the world. However, few empirical assessments of their effectiveness have been conducted, and even fewer assessments have directly measured their effects on ecosystem services. We conducted an empirical and spatially explicit assessment of the conservation effectiveness of one of the world's largest PES programs through the use of a long-term empirical data set, a satellite-based habitat model, and spatial autoregressive analyses on direct measures of change in an ecosystem service (i.e., the provision of wildlife species habitat). Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) habitat improved in Wolong Nature Reserve of China after the implementation of the Natural Forest Conservation Program. The improvement was more pronounced in areas monitored by local residents than those monitored by the local government, but only when a higher payment was provided. Our results suggest that the effectiveness of a PES program depends on who receives the payment and on whether the payment provides sufficient incentives. As engagement of local residents has not been incorporated in many conservation strategies elsewhere in China or around the world, our results also suggest that using an incentive-based strategy as a complement to command-and-control, community- and norm-based strategies may help achieve greater conservation effectiveness and provide a potential solution for the park versus people conflict. Los conflictos entre el bienestar de los habitantes locales y la conservación han derivado en numerosos esfuerzos de conservación sin éxito y han estimulado los debates sobre las políticas que pueden simultáneamente promover el manejo sustentable de las áreas protegidas y mejorar las condiciones de vida de los locales. En todo el mundo se han implementado muchas estrategias de pagos por servicios ambientales (PSA) patrocinados por el gobierno. Sin embargo, se han realizado pocas evaluaciones de su efectividad, y muchas menos se han realizado para medir directamente sus efectos sobre los servicios ambientales. Realizamos una evaluación empírica y espacialmente explícita de la efectividad de conservación de uno de los programas de PSA más grandes del mundo por medio del uso de un conjunto de datos empíricos a largo plazo, un modelo de hábitat con base satelital y análisis espaciales auto-regresivos sobre las medidas directas del cambio en un servicio ambiental (es decir, el suministro de hábitat para especies de fauna). El hábitat del panda gigante (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) mejoró en la Reserva Natural Wolong en China después de la implementación del Programa de Conservación de Bosques Naturales. La mejoría fue más pronunciada en las áreas monitoreadas por los residentes locales que en aquellas monitoreadas por el gobierno local, pero solamente cuando se proporcionó un pago mayor. Nuestros resultados sugieren que la efectividad del programa de PSA depende de quién recibe el pago y si el pago proporciona incentivos suficientes. Mientras el compromiso de los residentes locales no se ha incorporado a muchas estrategias de conservación en otras partes de China o del mundo, nuestros resultados también sugieren que el uso de una estrategia basada en incentivos como complemento a estrategias basadas en comando-y-control, comunidad y normas puede ayudar a alcanzar una mayor efectividad de conservación y a proporcionar una solución potencial para el conflicto de parque versus personas.