Tropical conservation biology pdf

Skip to content mytopbookspace. Tropical environments cover the most part of still preserved natural areas of the Earth.

The greatest biodiversity, as in terms of animals and plants, as microorganisms, is placed in these hot and rainy ecosystems spread up and below the Equator line. Additionally, the most part of food products, with vegetal or animal origin, that sustain nowadays human beings is direct or undirected dependent of tropical productivity.

Biodiversity should be looked at and evaluated not only in terms of numbers of species, but also in terms of the diversity of interactions among distinct organisms that it maintains. In this sense, the complexity of web structure in tropical systems is a promise of future to nature preservation on Earth.

In the chemicals of tropical plant and animals, could be the cure to infinite number of diseases, new food sources, and who knows what more. Despite these facts tropical areas have been exploited in an irresponsible way for more than years due the lack of an ecological conscience of men. Exactly in the same way we did with temperate areas and also tropical areas in the north of Equator line. The extension of damage in the tropical areas of oceans is unknown.

Thus so, all knowledge we could accumulate about tropical systems will help us, as in the preservations of these important and threatened ecosystems as in a future recuperation, when it was possible. Only knowing the past and developing culture, mainly that directed to peace, to a better relationship among nations and responsible use and preservation of natural resources, human beings will have a long future on Earth.

The two most-mentioned topics were being united by the Spanish language. In fact, it spans illegal trafficking in wildlife, and lack of political will countries speaking Portuguese, English, French, and hun- and corruption.

The lack of capacity for conservation, dreds of indigenous languages Gordon The perceived challenges to loss e. The socioeconomic scenario is equally dis- in conservation, lack of environmental education, little similar between emerging economies, such as Brazil and access to information, lack of capacity to publish and Mexico, and underdeveloped economies, such as Haiti.

Environmental challenges in Latin America are further Table 1. Average ranking of conservation challenges as perceived by complicated by limited opportunities for conservation ca- members of the ANA Regional Section of the Society for Conservation pacity building that encompass many levels, audiences, Biology. There- fore, we conducted a survey of the ANA section mem- Deforestation and fragmentation 3.

Here we and ranching Climate change 3. Energy production hydrocarbons 2. In the short question- Mining nonhydrocarbon 2. Conservation Biology Volume 23, No. Introduction of domestic livestock into a new grassland ecosystem immediately Deforestation and Fragmentation generates hunting and displacement of wild ungulates from their habitat.

Usually, predator control follows be- The most extensive tropical forest in the world is in the cause of lack of natural prey, and the abundance of poorly Neotropics.

Brazil and Peru are among the top 10 coun- managed domestic livestock creates the scenario for pre- tries with the largest forest area 4,, and , dation on domestic animals. In the early s, the share km2 , respectively. Puerto Rico Grau et al. These studies show that particular processes are contributing to this forest recovery: past patterns of land use, economic globalization, urbanization, population Climate Change change, government economic and environmental poli- The world community of climate scientists agrees that cies, diversification of wage labor, and agricultural trans- global warming is largely the result of human activities formation.

The importance of this forest-restoration pro- IPCC For the wide range of Intergovernmen- cess deserves careful attention because for the most part tal Panel on Climate Change IPCC emission scenarios, the causes are associated with changes in socioeconomic global average surface warming is predicted to increase and political drivers. New opportunities for conservation 1. Aus- tral and Neotropical America will experience substantial Industrial Agriculture and Extensive Ranching climate change, which will affect ecosystems and the ser- vices they provide IPCC The first recorded case Agricultural practices determine level of food produc- of an extinction associated with climate change is of an tion and, to a greater extent, the state of the global en- amphibian endemic to Costa Rica Pounds et al.

In vironment. About half of global usable land is already in Caribbean coral reefs underwent a major disruption pastoral or intensive agriculture. Less-well-known changes tries such as Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and include rapid tropical glacier retreats e.

The predicted tle. Sheep, goats, equines, buffaloes, and camelids are also socioeconomic impacts are also worrisome: increased in- present. There is clear need for better predictions of impacts of The nature and extent of the impact is hugely vari- climate change and identification of suitable adaptation able and most extreme when natural ecosystems are con- strategies. Many good suggestions have been proposed verted to fertilized, exotic pastures to support livestock.

The Conservation Biology Volume 23, No. Initiatives have ity, and are strategically positioned to provide training also arisen at the local level, as exemplified by the Rio de for future and in-service conservation professionals due Janeiro project on vulnerability to climate change SEA to the high proportion of professionals that already go Nevertheless, and adaptation strategies. The region is an active player the per capita availability of academic programs in con- in climate change, with a relatively modest contribution servation is six times lower in Latin America than in the to greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning, but United States Mendez et al.

Across the region, a very significant one from deforestation. An countries in the Kyoto Protocol Santilli et al. De- additional 54 programs have some conservation content. But countries under- have over half the programs.

In several countries going or at risk of large-scale deforestation, such as Brazil, in the Latin America and Caribbean region did not have a Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia, have no incentive to re- single course with identifiable conservation biology con- duce or avoid emissions from deforestation Santilli et al.

In the United Nations Framework Conven- Many universities in ANA suffer from an acute lack of tion on Climate Change launched an initiative to assess infrastructure, educational resources, and professional- prospects for reducing emissions from deforestation in development opportunities for educators.

In most uni- developing countries UN Avoided deforestation versities in the region, there is also limited knowledge as a means to reduce the substantial emissions from de- of learner-centered and collaborative teaching methods, forestation could stimulate participation of developing which promote the skills needed by well-equipped pro- countries in the Kyoto Protocol and, as a bonus, reduce fessionals in biodiversity conservation and other integra- deforestation Santilli et al.

Expanding the peda- gogical toolbox and developing and disseminating open source and locally relevant curricular materials are partic- ularly important to institutions of higher education ANA Lack of Capacity for Conservation and are efforts that can be supported by the ANA Section and the Education Committee of SCB. Developing the human capacity to carry out effective conservation entails both formal and informal training for a variety of audiences, including conservation profes- sionals, undergraduate and graduate students, and deci- Improving Research Quality and Applicability sion makers at all levels.

Recent studies show that in a number of countries in ANA there are significant gaps In the last 2 decades, ecological research has boomed in training for those who manage landscapes, work in throughout Latin America.

In an attempt to mitigate this problem, some coun- world and decision makers e. The first problem is a historical one, derived from panding and improving the conservation workforce, but the strong division between scientists working on basic these initiatives are not currently funded and have yet and applied sciences in the United States and Europe in to be implemented fully.

Compounding the problem in the early and midth century. In many cases the new some areas is political instability, which can translate into academic institutions in the ANA region were established uncertain legal management jurisdictions among compet- using this system as a model. In the last decade, however, ing government agencies and results in the constant re- this has been changing rapidly.

Countries such as Mexico, structuring of protected areas and their personnel. Therefore, the ANA Section is developing its There is a strong need, however, to improve measures Web page as a resource for students and professionals in of success for the scientific community in ANA by mov- the region, regardless of whether they are members of ing away from simply judging achievement on publica- the SCB or not.

Such efforts are already underway with projects ; Ceballos It is clear that novel ways to evaluate and reward academic excel- lence have to be developed and take into account the Reduction of the Bureaucracy Associated increasing value of activities that bridge the gap between the scientific communities and the public.

A first step with Scientific Research towards this goal is for SCB to take the lead in suggesting mechanisms for evaluating conservation scientists in col- Governmental agencies in ANA countries hold a sub- laboration with national science foundations in ANA and stantial amount of data of great value to conservation other parts of the world. These include but are not limited to popula- tion censuses, water-quality assessments, land prices and tenure, planned and implemented development projects, and specimens in herbariums and zoological collections.

These data are often extremely hard to get: there is a Access to Conservation Biology Information lack of information about their existence, the data are not organized or available in digital format, or there is no Several authors have discussed the difficulties involved assigned staff or protocol for their distribution.

A ques- in getting accurate and up-to-date conservation and man- tion that can be answered in a matter of hours in the agement information into the hands of politicians and United States or Europe, with data readily available on decision makers e. A re- the Internet, can take months in an ANA country. Permits often take so long to be issued that when tend to rely almost completely on literature published they arrive research funds may have already run out Rull in Spanish J.

Local scientists are the most have no direct evidence indicating whether this applies affected by this bureaucracy, often dedicating an unrea- to other countries throughout the region, we suspect sonable amount of time and energy to the process. Al- it does. Therefore, academic institutions should develop though ANA cannot directly interfere with governmental ways to encourage their best scientists to produce litera- procedures and protocols, it can call attention to the sig- ture that is accessible at least in Spanish and Portuguese nificant deterrent that excessive bureaucracy represents for the decision-making community.

Reduction of bureaucracy in acquiring amples of national institutions promoting updated scien- data and permits has the potential to greatly expedite tific literature accessible to the nonscientific sectors of scientific research and promote better-informed decision society e.

Within Latin America, a small proportion of profes- sionals and students speak English, and the number of people bilingual in Spanish and Portuguese is also small. Available books and periodicals in Spanish or Portuguese Conclusion that feature conservation biology articles or themes are small and generally not up to date. As a regional sec- Conservation action, when confronted with global and tion, we should make the information produced within regional environmental problems, will be required to Conservation Biology Volume 23, No.

But a major challenge is to make conservation and evolving roles of federal and state natural resources agencies.

Renewable Resources Journal — Luna-Morales, J. M Russell, and M. SCB can help improve the situation and further the con- Colquhoun, D.

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