749 research outputs found
Rainforest roads and the future of forest-dependent wildlife: a case study of understory birds
No full text[Extract] In frontier tropical regions, road construction is widespread and escalating, and is among the most important causes of rainforest destruction. Roads are the first step leading to many of the existing and emerging threats to tropical forests, such as deforestation, habitat fragmentation, edge effects, selective logging, surface fires, illegal mining, and overhunting (Fearnside 1990a; Chomitz and Gray 1996; W. F. Laurance 1998; Cochrane et al. 1999; Nepstad et al. 1999b, 2001). Today, large intact areas of tropical rainforest occur only in areas where there is little or no present-day human access. Once physical access is provided, rapid ecosystem change can occur at both a local and landscape level.
Most economists see road building on the frontier as crucial for social and economic development (Chomitz and Gray 1996). Roads provide the means for humans to access natural resources such as timber, land, and minerals, and for the movement of these resources to markets. The end result may be income-earning industries such as logging, farming, and mining, yet for the ecosystem there is widespread habitat disturbance and fragmentation (W. F. Laurance et al. 200lb, 2006a; Peres 2001a)
Laurance, W. F. & Peres, C. A. (eds). — Emerging threats to tropical forests. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London. 2006
No full textErard Christian. Laurance, W. F. & Peres, C. A. (eds). — Emerging threats to tropical forests. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London. 2006. In: Revue d'Écologie (La Terre et La Vie), tome 62, n°2-3, 2007. pp. 269-270
Twenty Landmark Papers in Biodiversity Conservation
No full textCorey J.A. Bradshaw, Navjot S. Sodhi, William F. Laurance and Barry W. Broo
Book Reviews
No full textBook Reviews by Brendan F. Brown, Laurance M. Hyde, Francis W. Johnston, W. T. Lovins, and Robert B. Vining
Book Reviews
No full textBook Reviews by Brendan F. Brown, Laurance M. Hyde, Francis W. Johnston, W. T. Lovins, and Robert B. Vining
Better SAFE than sorry
No full textCorey J.A. Bradshaw, Gopalasamy Reuben Clements, William F. Laurance and Barry W. Broo
Book Reviews
No full textBook Reviews by Brendan F. Brown, Laurance M. Hyde, Francis W. Johnston, W. T. Lovins, and Robert B. Vining
Climate change as a threat to the biodiversity of tropical rainforests in Australia
No full text[Extract] Forest destruction is thought to be the greatest threat to biodiversity in the tropics, particularly in the Amazon and tropical Asia (W. F. Laurance 1999). Climate change is sometimes discounted as a threat to tropical biotas and has been less studied in the tropics than in temperate, boreal,
and arctic ecosystems. However, climate change has already produced significant and measurable impacts on almost all ecosystems around the globe and has altered species distributions, the timing of biological behaviors, assemblage composition, ecological interactions, and community dynamics (L. Hughes 2000; Walther et al. 2002; Parmesan and Yohe 2003; Root et al. 2003, 2005; Pounds et al. 2006). Recent analyses based on bioclimatic-distribution modeling suggested that climate change is potentially a greater threat to global biodiversity, including that in many tropical ecosystems, than is habitat destruction (Thomas et al. 2004)
Predicting publication success for biologists
No full textCan one foresee whether young scientists will publish successfully during their careers? For academic biologists on four continents, we evaluated the effects of gender, native language, prestige of the institution at which they received their PhD, the date of their first publication (relative to the year of PhD completion), and their pre-PhD publication record as potential indicators of long-term publication success (10 years post-PhD). Pre-PhD publication success was the strongest correlate of long-term success. Gender, language, and the date of first publication had ancillary roles, with native English speakers, males, and those who published earlier in their career having minor advantages. Once these aspects were accounted for, university prestige had almost no discernable effect. We suggest that early publication success is vital for aspiring young scientists and that one of the easiest ways to identify rising stars is simply to find those who have published early and often.William F. Laurance, D. Carolina Useche, Susan G. Laurance, and Corey J. A. Bradsha
Improving the performance of the roundtable on sustainable palm oil for nature conservation
No full textWilliam F. Laurance, Lian P. Koh, Rhett Butler, Navjot S. Sodhi, Corey J. A. Bradshaw, J. David Neidel, Hazel Consunji and Javier Mateo Veg
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