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Funding: Floristic identification in plots in the RAINFOR forest monitoring network have been supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (grants NE/B503384/1, NE/ D01025X/1, NE/I02982X/1, NE/F005806/1, NE/D005590/1 and NE/I028122/1) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. In a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a framework for the understanding of such complex systems dynamics by a quantitative analysis of important constraints via predictions using least biased probability distributions. We apply it to over two thousand hectares of Amazonian tree inventories across seven forest types and thirteen functional traits, representing major global axes of plant strategies. Results show that constraints formed by regional relative abundances of genera explain eight times more of local relative abundances than constraints based on directional selection for specific functional traits, although the latter does show clear signals of environmental dependency. These results provide a quantitative insight by inference from large-scale data using cross-disciplinary methods, furthering our understanding of ecological dynamics. Publisher PDF

Unprecedented forest fires are affecting large swathes of what were once fire‐free Amazonian forests, including extensive areas of community‐managed reserves. This shared overview of experiences of practitioners and researchers examines ways in which these reserves can be supported to reduce the risk of forest fires. We highlight six considerations that are key to fire reduction: inclusive management and community leadership, adapting to demographic and cultural changes, identifying examples of good practice, socially just alternative livelihoods, forecasting and planning and bridging scientific research and innovation. Policy implications. The escalating fire problem in Amazonia and elsewhere means we urgently need to learn from past experiences. Co‐developed ecological and social research can support novel approaches to reserve management, but achieving this will require sustained investment and ongoing dialogue between communities, managers, researchers and the government. Made available in DSpace on 2020-09-19T04:38:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1365-2664.13690.pdf: 903603 bytes, checksum: b54cf92b4eb68e7ef7776408adfe8887 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2020

Studies on the effects of human‐driven forest disturbance usually focus on either biodiversity or carbon dynamics but much less is known about ecosystem processes that span different trophic levels. Herbivory is a fundamental ecological process for ecosystem functioning, but it remains poorly quantified in human‐modified tropical rainforests.Here, we present the results of the largest study to date on the impacts of human disturbances on herbivory. We quantified the incidence (percentage of leaves affected) and severity (the percentage of leaf area lost) of canopy insect herbivory caused by chewers, miners, and gall makers in leaves from 1,076 trees distributed across 20 undisturbed and human‐modified forest plots in the Amazon.We found that chewers dominated herbivory incidence, yet were not a good predictor of the other forms of herbivory at either the stem or plot level. Chewing severity was higher in both logged and logged‐and‐burned primary forests when compared to undisturbed forests. We found no difference in herbivory severity between undisturbed primary forests and secondary forests. Despite evidence at the stem level, neither plot‐level incidence nor severity of the three forms of herbivory responded to disturbance. Synthesis. Our large‐scale study of canopy herbivory confirms that chewers dominate the herbivory signal in tropical forests, but that their influence on leaf area lost cannot predict the incidence or severity of other forms. We found only limited evidence suggesting that human disturbance affects the severity of leaf herbivory, with higher values in logged and logged‐and‐burned forests than undisturbed and secondary forests. Additionally, we found no effect of human disturbance on the incidence of leaf herbivory., Our large‐scale study of canopy herbivory in Amazonian forests found only limited evidence suggesting that human disturbance affects leaf herbivory.

Extensive and dense macroalgal fields can compromise the ecosystem function of habitat mosaics on reefs owing to their limiting effect on patch connectivity. Macroalgae can maintain and increase their dominance with effective self-reinforcing feedback mechanisms. For example, macroalgae can form dense beds, supressing coral settlement and grazing by herbivores. This compromised ecosystem function can lead to major socioeconomic and ecological changes. Dense macroalgal beds were shaded with submerged shade sails of two sizes and changes to the underlying benthos and feeding rates of herbivorous fishes were recorded. The shade sails reduced the algae's ability to photosynthesize by 29%. After 6 weeks, macroalgal cover was reduced by 24% under small sails and by 51% under large sails. Small shade sails reduced turf algal growth by 23%, while large sails reduced growth by 82%. Three months after removal of the shade sails, algal beds had almost completely regrown. During this regrowth period, herbivore bites taken from the experiment's substrates were recorded, with grazing impact reducing significantly with time. This study is the first to achieve macroalgal reduction via the alteration of the light regime. While macroalgae regrew in this relatively short-term experiment, shading may be a viable reef management approach that aims to maximize habitat mosaics on coral reefs, particularly if used in combination with other intervention methods.

Efforts by conservation scientists to draw public attention to the biodiversity crisis are increasingly met with denialist rhetoric. We summarize some of the methods used by denialists to undermine scientific evidence on biodiversity loss, and outline pathways forward for the scientific community to counter misinformation.

Billions of people rely on harvesting wildlife for food, and must contend with catch rates that vary in space (e.g. overharvesting near communities) and time (e.g. seasonal migrations). Yet, research has overlooked potential linkages between reduced wildlife catch rates (catch‐per‐unit‐effort) and food security. Moreover, assumptions that people living in biologically rich environments are food secure lack empirical testing. This is problematic given that food security rests on having stable access to sufficient food, rather than there being sufficient food. We examine spatiotemporal variation in fish catch rates and perceived food security among rural communities in Amazonian flooded forests. We also assess social inequities in food insecurity. We used structured interviews to collect data on fishing, hunting, chicken and beef consumption, and perceptions of food security. We did so during 556 household visits along a spatial gradient (1,267 km) of commercial fishing pressure, during high‐ and low‐water seasons. We provide the first empirical evidence of simultaneous seasonal crashes in wildlife catch rates and food insecurity. During the high‐water season, fish catch rates were 73% lower, and the probability of not eating for a whole day was four times higher. With a third of households skipping meals and a sixth not eating for a whole day during this season, food security can be classed as severe. However, less‐deprived households tended to avoid severe food insecurity. Fish catch rates and perceived food security did not vary along a spatial gradient of commercial overfishing. River‐dwelling Amazonians increased fishing and hunting efforts during the high‐water season, without eating more chicken and beef, emphasizing the importance of stable access to wild fish and bushmeat. This study shows how wildlife catch rates and food security can crash seasonally and simultaneously, demonstrating the fallacies of environmental and social policies which assume stability of food availability in resource‐rich areas. Our results have implications for degraded habitats where falls in catch rates also occur. This suggests that overharvesting, as with other causes of reduced catch rates, could cause food insecurity in wildlife‐reliant populations. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

1. Quantifying the impact of habitat disturbance on ecosystem function is critical to understanding and predicting the future of tropical forests. Many studies have examined post-disturbance changes in animal traits related to mutualistic interactions with plants, but the effect of disturbance on plant traits in diverse forests has received much less attention. 2. Focusing on two study regions in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, we used a trait-based approach to examine how seed dispersal functionality within tropical plant communities changes across a landscape-scale gradient of human modification, including both regenerating secondary forests and primary forests disturbed by burning and selective logging. 3. Surveys of 230 forest plots recorded 26,533 live stems from 846 tree species. Using herbarium material and literature, we compiled trait information for each tree species, focusing on dispersal mode and seed size. 4. Disturbance reduced tree diversity and increased the proportion of lower wood density and small-seeded tree species in study plots. Disturbance also increased the proportion of stems with seeds that are ingested by animals and reduced those dispersed by other mechanisms (e.g. wind). Older secondary forests had function-ally similar plant communities to the most heavily disturbed primary forests. Mean seed size and wood density per plot were positively correlated for plant species with seeds ingested by animals. 5. Synthesis. Anthropogenic disturbance has major effects on the seed traits of tree communities, with implications for mutualistic interactions with animals. The important role of animal-mediated seed dispersal in disturbed and recovering forests highlights the need to avoid defaunation or promote faunal recovery. The changes in mean seed width suggest larger vertebrates hold especially important functional roles in these human-modified forests. Monitoring fruit and seed traits can provide a valuable indicator of ecosystem condition, emphasizing the importance of developing a comprehensive plant traits database for the Amazon and other biomes.

Made available in DSpace on 2022-04-28T19:44:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-09-02 The amount of carbon stored in deadwood is equivalent to about 8 per cent of the global forest carbon stocks1. The decomposition of deadwood is largely governed by climate2–5 with decomposer groups—such as microorganisms and insects—contributing to variations in the decomposition rates2,6,7. At the global scale, the contribution of insects to the decomposition of deadwood and carbon release remains poorly understood7. Here we present a field experiment of wood decomposition across 55 forest sites and 6 continents. We find that the deadwood decomposition rates increase with temperature, and the strongest temperature effect is found at high precipitation levels. Precipitation affects the decomposition rates negatively at low temperatures and positively at high temperatures. As a net effect—including the direct consumption by insects and indirect effects through interactions with microorganisms—insects accelerate the decomposition in tropical forests (3.9% median mass loss per year). In temperate and boreal forests, we find weak positive and negative effects with a median mass loss of 0.9 per cent and −0.1 per cent per year, respectively. Furthermore, we apply the experimentally derived decomposition function to a global map of deadwood carbon synthesized from empirical and remote-sensing data, obtaining an estimate of 10.9 ± 3.2 petagram of carbon per year released from deadwood globally, with 93 per cent originating from tropical forests. Globally, the net effect of insects may account for 29 per cent of the carbon flux from deadwood, which suggests a functional importance of insects in the decomposition of deadwood and the carbon cycle. Ecosystem Dynamics and Forest Management Group School of Life Sciences Technical University of Munich Berchtesgaden National Park Epidemiology Biostatistics and Prevention Institute University of Zurich Southern Research Station USDA Forest Service Field Station Fabrikschleichach University of Würzburg Biological Sciences University of Toronto Scarborough Fenner School of Environment and Society The Australian National University Department of Biogeography University of Bayreuth Department of Disturbance Ecology University of Bayreuth Instituto de Ecología Regional CONICET-Universidad Nacional de Tucumán Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology University of Würzburg Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology Institute of Microbiology The Czech Academy of Sciences Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Centre of Mazandaran Lancaster Environment Centre Lancaster University Universidade Federal de Lavras Department of Biodiversity Conservation Goethe-University Frankfurt Bavarian Forest National Park CIRAD UMR Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane (EcoFoG) AgroParisTech CNRS INRA Universite des Antilles Universite de Guyane Environmental Change Institute University of Oxford Grassland Vegetation Lab Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management Norwegian University of Life Sciences Institute of Ecology and Botany Centre for Ecological Research Institute for Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences Animal Ecology University of Marburg École d’Ingénieurs de Purpan Université de Toulouse UMR 1201 Dynafor Ecosystem Science and Management Program University of Northern British Columbia Laboratory of Applied Ecology University of Abomey-Calavi Department of Ecology University of Granada Réserves Naturelles de France Royal Alberta Museum Conservation Ecology University of Marburg Science and Engineering Faculty Queensland University of Technology Centre for the Environment Institute for Future Environments Forest Research Institute Malaysia International Institute of Tropical Forestry USDA Forest Service Forest Entomology Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL Evolutionary Zoology University of Salzburg Natural Resources Canada Canadian Forest Service Eurofins Ahma Oy Department of Plant Systematics University of Bayreuth Department of Wildlife Fish and Environmental Studies Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Applied Landscape Ecology Chuo University School of Forest Sciences University of Eastern Finland School of Agricultural Forest and Food Sciences Bern University of Applied Sciences CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia Kunming Institute of Botany Chinese Academy of Sciences ECNU-Alberta Joint Lab for Biodiversity Study Tiantong National Station for Forest Ecosystem Research East China Normal University Institute of Biological Sciences University of the Philippines Los Banos Department of Thermodynamics Universidad Nacional del Nordeste Tropical Forests and People Research Centre University of the Sunshine Coast Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Laboratory National University of Mongolia School of Environment and Science Griffith University School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences University College Cork Edge Hill University Institute of Forestry Tribhuvan University Institute of Evolution University of Haifa Scion (New Zealand Forest Research Institute) School of Forestry University of Canterbury Institute of Zoology University of Hamburg Faculté des Sciences Université d’Antananarivo Tropical Biodiversity and Social Enterprise Departamento de Ecologia Universidade Estadual Paulista Ecology Group University Erlangen-Nuremberg H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest Environmental and Conservation Sciences Murdoch University Environmental Futures Research Institute Griffith University Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment ARC Centre for Forest Value University of Tasmania Terrestrial Ecology Research Group School of Life Sciences Technical University of Munich EcoBank Team National Institute of Ecology College of Forestry Beijing Forestry University Departamento de Ecologia Universidade Estadual Paulista

Aim Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree palm relative abundance to help improve understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about these ecosystems under climate change. Location Tropical and subtropical moist forests. Time period Current. Major taxa studied Palms (Arecaceae). Methods We assembled a pantropical dataset of 2,548 forest plots (covering 1,191ha) and quantified tree palm (i.e., ≥10cm diameter at breast height) abundance relative to co‐occurring non‐palm trees. We compared the relative abundance of tree palms across biogeographical realms and tested for associations with palaeoclimate stability, current climate, edaphic conditions and metrics of forest structure. Results On average, the relative abundance of tree palms was more than five times larger between Neotropical locations and other biogeographical realms. Tree palms were absent in most locations outside the Neotropics but present in >80% of Neotropical locations. The relative abundance of tree palms was more strongly associated with local conditions (e.g., higher mean annual precipitation, lower soil fertility, shallower water table and lower plot mean wood density) than metrics of long‐term climate stability. Life‐form diversity also influenced the patterns; palm assemblages outside the Neotropics comprise many non‐tree (e.g., climbing) palms. Finally, we show that tree palms can influence estimates of above‐ground biomass, but the magnitude and direction of the effect require additional work. Conclusions Tree palms are not only quintessentially tropical, but they are also overwhelmingly Neotropical. Future work to understand the contributions of tree palms to biomass estimates and carbon cycling will be particularly crucial in Neotropical forests.

Human-modified forests, including plantations and managed forest, will be a major component of tropical landscapes in the near future. To conserve biodiversity across modified tropical landscapes we must first understand what influences diversity in planted areas. We studied dung beetle communities in Eucalyptus plantations to assess the influence of local (canopy openness and soil texture)and landscape factors (surrounding native forest cover)on taxonomic and functional diversity, and to determine whether biodiversity in plantations is affected by timber production. Dung beetle community composition in Eucalyptus plantations was largely explained by the surrounding native forest cover, as Simpson's diversity and functional diversity (Rao's quadratic entropy)increased with the extent of native forest in buffer areas. However, the abundance of dung beetle species associated with native forest was not explained by any of the explanatory variables. The coarse sand content of the soil explained much of the functional similarity between plantations and native forests, as well as variation in dung beetle community structure. The total abundance of dung beetles in plantations increased with coarse sand content, whereas body mass declined, and dung beetle abundance and functional originality decreased with canopy openness. Timber production intensity did not explain the variation in any of the measured diversity parameters. If enhancing biodiversity in plantations is a management goal, then these results highlight the importance of restoring or retaining native forest areas in modified landscapes. They also suggest that integrated management could improve biodiversity in Eucalyptus plantations without reducing timber production. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.

Functional diversity is commonly used to assess the conservation value of ecosystems, but we have not yet established whether functional and taxonomic approaches are interchangeable or complementary to evaluate community dynamics over time and in response to disturbances. We used a five-year dataset of dung beetles from undisturbed forest, primary forest corridors, and Eucalyptus plantations to compare the sensitivity of conceptually equivalent metrics to temporal variation in different anthropogenic disturbances. We compared species richness with functional richness, Pielou’s evenness with functional evenness, and Simpson’s diversity with Rao’s quadratic entropy. We assessed the sensitivity of the metrics to anthropogenic changes. The indices showed complex patterns among habitat types, with with similar responses in some cases and not in other, and little incongruence between the pairs within the same year. The influence of disturbance on longer-term temporal variation over the five-year period revealed lower temporal variation in functional than taxonomic metrics. Both approaches showed greater variation in plantations compared to native forests. We evaluated the variation in taxonomic and functional metrics between consecutive years and among habitats. Most metrics showed similar shifts between years in all habitats, except for species and functional richness. We demonstrate that even conceptually similar indices may not provide similar information on dung beetles responses to disturbance. However, the differences between the indices can yield key insights about the drivers of change, especially over the long-term. It is important to use taxonomic and functional diversity in tandem to better understand community responses to environmental and anthropogenic changes.

There is a growing interest in Amazonian fires, accompanied by a substantial increase in research in the subject. Here, we list five common misunderstandings about Amazonian climate, vegetation, fires and the deforestation process to help to support future research.

Context Integrated landscape approaches (ILAs) that aim to balance conservation and development targets are increasingly promoted through science, policy, and the donor community. Advocates suggest that ILAs are viable implementing pathways for addressing global challenges such as biodiversity loss, poverty alleviation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, we argue that recent advances in ILA research and discourse have tended to emphasize the social and governance dimensions, while overlooking ecological factors and inadequately considering potential trade-offs between the two fields. Objectives By raising the issue of inadequate integration of ecology in ILAs and providing some general design suggestions, we aim to support and incentivise better design and practice of ILAs, supplementing existing design principles. Methods In this perspective we draw on the recent literature and our collective experience to highlight the need, and the means, to re-integrate ecology into landscape approaches. Results We suggest that better incorporation of the ecological dimension requires the integration of two approaches: one focusing on conventional scientific studies of biodiversity and biophysical parameters; and the other focusing on the engagement of relevant stakeholders using various participatory methods. We provide some general guidelines for how these approaches can be incorporated within ILA design and implementation. Conclusion Re-integrating ecology into ILAs will not only improve ecological understanding (and related objectives, plans and monitoring), but will also generate insights into local and traditional knowledge, encourage transdisciplinary enquiry and reveal important conservation-development trade-offs and synergies.

Natural regeneration of forests has significantly led to increased native forest cover in some regions. Several studies have explored the spatial drivers of forest cover increase, yet little is known about their effects on forest structure and species richness and diversity. We quantified the effects of local (forest age, remnant Eucalyptus basal area, slope, soil fertility, and clay content) and landscape drivers (surrounding land use, distance from streams, and surrounding forest cover and its change over time) on the aboveground biomass, species density, and phylogenetic diversity of native trees in second-growth forests. We sampled 44 naturally regenerating forests established on former pastures and abandoned Eucalyptus plantations for 11–46 years in agricultural landscapes of the southeastern Atlantic Forest, Brazil. We used generalized linear mixed effect models to quantify the effect drivers on forest attributes. While only Eucalyptus basal area and proximity to sugarcane plantations had a consistent negative effect on forest biomass, other drivers were among the best models to explain forest attributes, but their effect was variable. Age increased tree biomass but the effect was not consistent. Similarly, species richness and phylogenetic diversity were mainly affected by landscape drivers such as surrounding forest cover. In tropical agricultural landscapes, effective forest recovery requires more than just time, as forest age can be less important in determining forest attributes than human land uses and surrounding native forest cover. Crucially, forest recovery can be improved through interventions and policies that promote less impactful human activities and enhance existing forest cover. Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material.

Acoustic indices are increasingly employed in the analysis of soundscapes to ascertain biodiversity value. However, conflicting results and lack of consensus on best practices for their usage has hindered their application in conservation and land-use management contexts. Here we propose that the sensitivity of acoustic indices to ecological change and fidelity of acoustic indices to ecological communities are negatively impacted by signal masking. Signal masking can occur when acoustic responses of taxa sensitive to the effect of interest are masked by less-sensitive acoustic groups, or target taxa sonification is masked by non-target noise. We argue that by calculating acoustic indices at ecologically appropriate time and frequency bins, masking effects can be reduced and the efficacy of indices increased. We test this on a large acoustic dataset collected in Eastern Amazonia spanning a disturbance gradient of undisturbed, logged, burned, logged-and-burned and secondary forests. We calculated values for two acoustic indices: the Acoustic Complexity Index and the Bioacoustic Index, across the entire frequency spectrum (0–22.1 kHz), and four narrower subsets of the frequency spectrum; at dawn, day, dusk and night. We show that signal masking has a large impact on the sensitivity of acoustic indices to forest disturbance classes. Calculating acoustic indices at a range of narrower time–frequency bins substantially increases the classification accuracy of forest classes by random forest models. Furthermore, signal masking led to misleading correlations, including spurious inverse correlations, between biodiversity indicator metrics and acoustic index values compared to correlations derived from manual sampling of the audio data. Consequently, we recommend that acoustic indices are calculated either at a range of time and frequency bins, or at a single narrow bin, predetermined by a priori ecological understanding of the soundscape. © 2020 British Ecological Society

1. Agricultural expansion and intensification are major threats to tropical biodiversity. In addition to the direct removal of native vegetation, agricultural expansion often elicits other human-induced disturbances, many of which are poorly addressed by existing environmental legislation and conservation programmes. This is particularly true for tropical freshwater systems, where there is considerable uncertainty about whether a legislative focus on protecting riparian vegetation is sufficient to conserve stream fauna. 2. To assess the extent to which stream fish are being effectively conserved in agricultural landscapes, we examined the spatial distribution of assemblages in river basins to identify the relative importance of human impacts at instream, riparian and catchment scales, in shaping observed patterns. We used an extensive dataset on the ecological condition of 83 low-order streams distributed in three river basins in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. 3. We collected and identified 24,420 individual fish from 134 species. Multiplicative diversity partitioning revealed high levels of compositional dissimilarity (DS) among stream sites (DS = 0.74 to 0.83) and river basins (DS = 0.82), due mainly to turnover (77.8% to 81.8%) rather than nestedness. The highly heterogeneous fish faunas in small Amazonian streams underscore the vital importance of enacting measures to protect forests on private lands outside of public protected areas. 4. Instream habitat features explained more variability in fish assemblages (15%–19%) than riparian (2%–12%), catchment (4%–13%) or natural covariates (4%–11%). Although grouping species into functional guilds allowed us to explain up to 31% of their abundance (i.e. for nektonic herbivores), individual riparian - and catchment - scale predictor variables that are commonly a focus of environmental legislation explained very little of the observed variation (partial R2 values mostly

Tropical forests and coral reefs host a disproportionately large share of global biodiversity and provide ecosystem functions and services used by millions of people. Yet, ongoing climate change is leading to an increase in frequency and magnitude of extreme climatic events in the tropics, which, in combination with other local human disturbances, is leading to unprecedented negative ecological consequences for tropical forests and coral reefs. Here, we provide an overview of how and where climate extremes are affecting the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth and summarize how interactions between global, regional and local stressors are affecting tropical forest and coral reef systems through impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. We also discuss some key challenges and opportunities to promote mitigation and adaptation to a changing climate at local and global scales. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions'.

Tropical forests hold 30% of Earth's terrestrial carbon and at least 60% of its terrestrial biodiversity, but forest loss and degradation are jeopardizing these ecosystems. Although the regrowth of secondary forests has the potential to offset some of the losses of carbon and biodiversity, it remains unclear if secondary regeneration will be affected by climate changes such as higher temperatures and more frequent extreme droughts. We used a data set of 10 repeated forest inventories spanning two decades (1999-2017) to investigate carbon and tree species recovery and how climate and landscape context influence carbon dynamics in an older secondary forest located in one of the oldest post-Columbian agricultural frontiers in the Brazilian Amazon. Carbon accumulation averaged 1.08 Mg·ha-1 ·yr-1 , and species richness was effectively constant over the studied period. Moreover, we provide evidence that secondary forests are vulnerable to drought stress: Carbon balance and growth rates were lower in drier periods. This contrasts with drought responses in primary forests, where changes in carbon dynamics are driven by increased stem mortality. These results highlight an important climate change-vegetation feedback, whereby the increasing dry-season lengths being observed across parts of Amazonia may reduce the effectiveness of secondary forests in sequestering carbon and mitigating climate change. In addition, the current rate of forest regrowth in this region was low compared with previous pan-tropical and Amazonian assessments-our secondary forests reached just 41.1% of the average carbon and 56% of the tree diversity in the nearest primary forests-suggesting that these areas are unlikely to return to their original levels on politically meaningful time scales.

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Sutherland, W.J., Alvarez‐Castaneda, S.T., Amano, T., Ambrosini, R., Atkinson, P., Baxter, J.M., Bond, A.L., Boon, P.J., Buchanan, K.L., Barlow, J., Bogliani, G., Bragg, O.M., Burgman, M., Cadotte, M.W., Calver, M., Cooke, S.J., Corlett, R.T., Devictor, V., Ewen, J.G., Fisher, M., Freeman, G., Game, E., Godley, B.J., Gortazar, C., Hartley, I.R., Hawksworth, D.L., Hobson, K.A., Lu, M.‐L., Martin‐Lopez, B., Ma, K., Machado, A., Maes, D., Mangiacotti, M., McCafferty, D.J., Melfi, V., Molur, S., Moore, A.J., Murphy, S.D., Norris, D., van Oudenhoven, A.P., Powers, J., Rees, E.C., Schwartz, M.W., Storch, I. and Wordley, C. (2020), Ensuring tests of conservation interventions build on existing literature. Conservation Biology, 34: 781-783, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13555. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. The attached file is the final approved author manuscript version, you are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it.

The sensitivity of tropical forest carbon to climate is a key uncertainty in predicting global climate change. Although short-term drying and warming are known to affect forests, it is unknown if such effects translate into long-term responses. Here, we analyze 590 permanent plots measured across the tropics to derive the equilibrium climate controls on forest carbon. Maximum temperature is the most important predictor of aboveground biomass (-9.1 megagrams of carbon per hectare per degree Celsius), primarily by reducing woody productivity, and has a greater impact per °C in the hottest forests (>32.2°C). Our results nevertheless reveal greater thermal resilience than observations of short-term variation imply. To realize the long-term climate adaptation potential of tropical forests requires both protecting them and stabilizing Earth's climate., Our plot monitoring networks havebeen supported by multiple grants from a large number of funding bodies: European Research Council; Natural Environment Research Council; European Union’s Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Framework Programme; Royal Society, Leverhulme Trust; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; David and Lucile Packard Foundation; State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP); National Council for Science and Technology Development of Brazil (CNPq); Agence Nationale de la Recherche; Conservation International; Missouri Botanical Garden; Smithsonian Institution; Wildlife Conservation Society; National Geographic Society; Centre for International Forestry; and Gabon’s National Park Agency.

Habitat loss is a primary threat to biodiversity across the planet, yet contentious debate has ensued on the importance of habitat fragmentation ‘per se’ (i.e., altered spatial configuration of habitat for a given amount of habitat loss). Based on a review of landscape-scale investigations, Fahrig (2017; Ecological responses to habitat fragmentation per se. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 48:1-23) reports that biodiversity responses to habitat fragmentation ‘per se’ are more often positive rather than negative and concludes that the widespread belief in negative fragmentation effects is a ‘zombie idea’. We show that Fahrig's conclusions are drawn from a narrow and potentially biased subset of available evidence, which ignore much of the observational, experimental and theoretical evidence for negative effects of altered habitat configuration. We therefore argue that Fahrig's conclusions should be interpreted cautiously as they could be misconstrued by policy makers and managers, and we provide six arguments why they should not be applied in conservation decision-making. Reconciling the scientific disagreement, and informing conservation more effectively, will require research that goes beyond statistical and correlative approaches. This includes a more prudent use of data and conceptual models that appropriately partition direct vs indirect influences of habitat loss and altered spatial configuration, and more clearly discriminate the mechanisms underpinning any changes. Incorporating these issues will deliver greater mechanistic understanding and more predictive power to address the conservation issues arising from habitat loss and fragmentation.

Vulnerability to habitat fragmentation Habitat fragmentation caused by human activities has consequences for the distribution and movement of organisms. Betts et al. present a global analysis of how exposure to habitat fragmentation affects the composition of ecological communities (see the Perspective by Hargreaves). In a dataset consisting of 4489 animal species, regions that historically experienced little disturbance tended to harbor a higher proportion of species vulnerable to fragmentation. Species in more frequently disturbed regions were more resilient. High-latitude areas historically experienced more disturbance and harbor more resilient species, which suggests that extinction has removed fragmentation-sensitive species. Thus, conservation efforts to limit fragmentation are particularly important in the tropics. Science , this issue p. 1236 ; see also p. 1196

Most of the world's remaining tropical forests have been affected by either selective logging, understorey fires, fragmentation or are regrowing in areas that were previously deforested. Despite the ubiquity of these human‐modified forests, we have a limited knowledge of their potential to recover key traits linked to ecosystem processes and consequent services. Here we present data from 31,095 trees and saplings distributed across 121 plots of undisturbed and disturbed primary forests as well as secondary forests in the eastern Amazon. We examined the post‐disturbance recovery trajectory of an important plant functional trait, wood density. We tested whether human‐modified Amazonian forests are experiencing a rapid or a slow, or even impeded, recovery of this trait, which is associated with the provision of a fundamental ecosystem service—carbon storage. As expected, we found that the plot‐level wood density of trees and saplings in disturbed primary and secondary forests was significantly lower than in undisturbed forests. However, there was no significant difference in the average wood density of saplings between disturbed primary and secondary forests, possibly indicating a process of secondarization. We also found evidence that the recovery of wood density in human‐modified forests is being severely disrupted due to edge effects (in the case of disturbed primary forests) and high liana densities (in the case of both disturbed primary and secondary forests). Surprisingly, these two factors were more important predictors of wood density recovery than the time elapsed since the disturbance event. Synthesis. Plant communities in human‐modified Amazonian forests appear to not be recovering a key functional property—wood density, which in turn may affect their ability to store carbon in the future. If the aim of conservation programs in tropical forests is to maintain existing rates of ecosystem functions, processes and services, then they must concentrate efforts on avoiding anthropogenic disturbance in areas of currently undisturbed forests. It is also vital to prevent further disturbance in human‐modified forests to avoid disrupting even more their recovery.

Current debates in the conservation sciences argue for better integration between research and practice, often citing the importance of the diffusion, dissemination and implementation of scientific knowledge for environmental management and policy. This paper focuses on a relatively well-researched protected area (Madidi National Park) in Bolivia in order to present different interpretations and understandings of the implications and availability of research findings. We draw on findings from quantitative and qualitative methods to determine the extent to which research carried out in the region was disseminated and/or implemented for management actions, and to understand subsequent implications for how local actors perceive the value of research and its role in management and conservation. We discuss the critical consequences of these findings for the future of conservation science and practice in biologically and culturally diverse landscapes, with an explicit call to action for academic institutions to support researchers in developing appropriate dissemination strategies. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-018-1056-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

While a significant effort has been made to understand how human activities influence biodiversity, less attention has been given to the consequences of tropical forest disturbance on belowground functional processes and its linkages with environmental drivers. Here, we demonstrate how selective logging influenced dung beetle communities and two associated ecological processes – namely, dung consumption and incidental soil bioturbation – in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, using a robust before-and-after control-impact design. We tested hypotheses about logging-induced changes on environmental condition (canopy cover, leaf litter and soil texture), community metrics (e.g. dung beetle species richness and biomass) and beetle-mediated faecal-detritus processing; and on the importance of the environment for beetle communities and functional processes. We show that post-logging changes in canopy openness do not necessarily mediate logging impacts on dung beetle diversity and biomass, which were directly influenced by reduced impact logging (RIL) operations. Although neither environmental condition (leaf litter or soil sand content) nor faecal consumption and incidental soil bioturbation were directly affected by RIL, the relationships between environmental condition and biological components were. By showing that selective logging alters the linkages among belowground ecological processes and environmental drivers, we provide support that logged forests can retain some important functioning processes, in particular faecal consumption, even when the dung beetle diversity and biomass are impoverished. These results provide support for the resistance of functional processes to logging-induced changes in biodiversity.

1. Rewilding, here defined as the restoration or reorganization of the biota and ecosystem processes to achieve a preferred outcome for an identified social-ecological system, is increasingly considered as an environmental management option with potential for enhancing both biodiversity and ecosystem services. \ud \ud 2. Despite the burgeoning interest in the concept, there are uncertainties and difficulties associated with the practical implementation of rewilding projects, while the evidence available for facilitating sound decision-making for rewilding initiatives remains limited.\ud \ud 3. We identify five key research areas to inform the implementation of future rewilding initiatives: increased understanding of the links between actions and impacts; improved risk assessment processes, through e.g. better definition and quantification of ecological risks; improved predictions of spatio-temporal variation in potential economic costs and associated benefits; better identification and characterisation of the likely social impacts of a given rewilding project; and facilitated emergence of a comprehensive and practical framework for the monitoring and evaluation of rewilding projects. \ud \ud 4. Policy implications. Environmental legislation is commonly based on a ‘compositionalist’ paradigm itself predicated on the preservation of historical conditions characterised by the presence of particular species assemblages and habitat types. However, global environmental change is driving some ecosystems beyond their limits so that restoration to historical benchmarks or modern likely equivalents may no longer be an option. This means that the current environmental policy context could present barriers to conducting the large-scale, long-term ecological experiments required to gather the evidence needed for rewilding to be considered as an evidence-based policy option. Opportunities such as the UK’s decision to leave the European Union could be used to develop novel land management approaches focused on payments for the delivery of desired ecosystem services, which could accommodate the piloting of well monitored and evaluated rewilding initiatives, altogether supporting the development of the required evidence base.

In 1963, Price analysed authorship patterns in chemical science and identified that “…the proportion of multi‐author papers has accelerated steadily and powerfully, and it is now so large that if it continues at the present rate, by 1980 the single‐author paper will be extinct” (Price, 1963). An analysis of all research papers published in Journal of Applied Ecology since 1966 shows that the trends identified by Price also apply to our field: an exponential increase in the mean number of authors per published article has been mirrored by a sharp decline in the proportion of single‐authored papers (Figure 1). From over 60% of all publications in the 1960s, single‐author papers now make up less than 4% (averaged over the past 10 years). Although the single‐author paper has hung on well beyond 1980 in Journal of Applied Ecology, their extinction now appears imminent. Fil: Barlow, Jos. Lancaster University; Reino Unido Fil: Stephens, Philip A.. University of Durham; Reino Unido Fil: Bode, Michael. James Cook University; Australia Fil: Cadotte, Marc W.. University of Toronto; Canadá Fil: Lucas, Kirsty. British Ecological Society; Reino Unido Fil: Newton, Erika. British Ecological Society; Reino Unido Fil: Nuñez, Martin Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina Fil: Pettorelli, Nathalie. The Zoological Society of London; Reino Unido

Selective logging is the most widespread driver of tropical forest disturbance. As such, it is critically important to identify at which spatial scale logging intensity should be measured and whether there are clear thresholds in the relationship between logging intensity and its impacts on biodiversity or ecological processes. We address this using a robust before-and–after logging experimental design in the Brazilian Amazon, using a gradient of logging intensity measured at two different spatial scales. We assessed the impacts of selective logging using dung beetle communities and their ecological functions of dung removal and soil bioturbation. Our findings provide novel empirical evidence that biological consequences from Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) depend strongly on the scale at which logging intensity is measured: dung beetle local species richness and composition were strongly associated with logging intensity measured at a 10 ha scale, while dung beetle-mediated soil bioturbation was more strongly associated with logging intensity measured across 90 ha. Contrary to expectations, we found concave-shaped relationships between logging intensity and biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, demonstrating that sensitive dung beetle species and important processes may be lost following even low intensity anthropogenic forest disturbances. Taken together, these results suggest that production forests in the tropics need to reconsider the scale at which logging intensity is regulated, and put in place measures that further incentivise land sparing to enhance biodiversity conservation.

Forest edges influence more than half of the world’s forests and contribute to worldwide declines in biodiversity and ecosystem functions. However, predicting these declines is challenging in heterogeneous fragmented landscapes. Here we assembled a global dataset on species responses to fragmentation and developed a statistical approach for quantifying edge impacts in heterogeneous landscapes to quantify edge-determined changes in abundance of 1,673 vertebrate species. We show that the abundances of 85% of species are affected, either positively or negatively, by forest edges. Species that live in the centre of the forest (forest core), that were more likely to be listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), reached peak abundances only at sites farther than 200–400 m from sharp high-contrast forest edges. Smaller-bodied amphibians, larger reptiles and medium-sized non-volant mammals experienced a larger reduction in suitable habitat than other forest-core species. Our results highlight the pervasive ability of forest edges to restructure ecological communities on a global scale.

Landscape approaches to integrated land management have recently gained considerable attention in the scientific literature and international fora. The approach is gaining increasing support at governmental and intergovernmental levels, as well as being embraced by a host of international research and development agencies. In an attempt to determine whether, and how, these approaches compare with previous conservation and development paradigms, we reviewed the implementation of integrated landscape approaches across the tropics. Within the scientific literature we fail to find a single applied example of the landscape approach in the tropics that adequately—that is with reliable, in depth collection and reporting of data—demonstrated the effective balancing of social and environmental trade-offs through multi-scale processes of negotiation for enhanced outcomes. However, we provide an assessment of 150 case studies from unpublished grey literature and 24 peer-reviewed studies that exhibit basic characteristics of landscape approaches. Our findings indicate that landscape approaches show potential as a framework to reconcile conservation and development and improve social capital, enhance community income and employment opportunities as well as reduce land degradation and conserve natural resources. However, comprehensive data on the social and environmental effects of these benefits remain elusive. We identify key contributing factors towards implementation, and progress, of landscape approaches and our findings suggest that multi-level, or polycentric, governance structures relate well with intervention success. We conclude that landscape approaches are a welcome departure from previous unsuccessful attempts at reconciling conservation and development in the tropics but, despite claims to the contrary, remain nascent in both their conceptualization and implementation.

SummaryNatural habitats are being rapidly lost due to human activities. It is therefore vital to understand how these activities influence biodiversity so that suitable guidelines can be established for conservation. This is particularly important in understudied, high biodiversity, areas such as the Angolan Escarpment. Here we examine which habitat characteristics drive bird diversity and endemic species presence at Kumbira Forest, a key site in the Central Escarpment Forest. Bird diversity was sampled by 10 min bird point counts, whereas habitat characteristics were measured by a combination of ground-based vegetation surveys and remotely sensed data modelling of Landsat images. GLM, multi-model inference and model averaging were used to determine the most important variables driving species richness and the presence of endemics. The remote sensing variables performed poorly in predicting presence of Red-crested Turaco Tauraco erythrolophus and Gabela Bushshrike Laniarius amboimensis but they contributed significantly to explain species richness and Gabela Akalat Sheppardia gabela presence, both of which were associated with greater canopy cover. Liana density and elevation were also important explanatory variables in certain cases. Conservation actions at Kumbira should focus on increasing canopy cover and maintaining forest integrity (as measured by liana density), as these actions are likely to have the most positive outcomes for the avifauna.

Understory fires represent an accelerating threat to Amazonian tropical forests and can, during drought, affect larger areas than deforestation itself. These fires kill trees at rates varying from 10 to c. 90% depending on fire intensity, forest disturbance history and tree functional traits. Here, we examine variation in bark thickness across the Amazon. Bark can protect trees from fires, but it is often assumed to be consistently thin across tropical forests. Here, we show that investment in bark varies, with thicker bark in dry forests and thinner in wetter forests. We also show that thinner bark translated into higher fire-driven tree mortality in wetter forests, with between 0.67 and 5.86 gigatonnes COEn los bosques tropicales de la Amazonia, los incendios de sotobosque representan una amenaza que se está acelerando. Durante la sequía, pueden afectar un área mayor que la deforestación misma. Estos incendios pueden matan árboles a tasas que varían desde10 hasta cerca de 90% dependiendo de la intensidad del fuego, la historia de perturbaciones forestales y los rasgos funcionales de los árboles. En este estudio, examinamos la variación en el grosor de la corteza en la Amazonía. La corteza puede proteger los árboles de los incendios, pero normalmente se supone que es uniformemente delgada en los bosques tropicales. Aquí, mostramos que el grosor de la corteza varía bastante, con una corteza más gruesa en los bosques secos y más delgada en los bosques húmedos. También, mostramos que cortezas más delgadas resultan en tasas de mortalidad más altas en bosques más húmedos. En total, estimamos que los incendios en el sotobosque de la Amazonía han añadido entre 0,67 y 5,86 gigatoneladas de COOs incêndios rasteiros de sub-bosque representam uma ameaça cada vez maior às florestas tropicais da Amazônia. Durante secas, eles podem afetar áreas maiores do que àquelas desmatadas. Esses incêndios matam árvores a taxas que variam de10 a c. 90%, dependendo da intensidade do fogo, da história de distúrbios florestais e das características funcionais das árvores. Neste estudo, examinamos a variação na espessura da casca na Amazônia. A casca pode proteger árvores do fogo, mas geralmente é considerada uniformemente fina para diversas florestas tropicais. Aqui, mostramos que a espessura da casca varia, com cascas mais espessas ocorrendo em florestas secas e mais finas ocorrendo em florestas mais úmidas. Mostramos também que a casca mais fina resulta em taxas de mortalidade mais altas em florestas úmidas. No total, estimamos que os incêndios de sub-bosque adicionaram entre 0,67 e 5,86 gigatoneladas de CO

Achieving equitable and sustainable development that supports climate change mitigation targets and avoids biodiversity loss remains a leading, and intractable challenge in many tropical countries. Sectorial thinking - focusing on just one aspect of the problem or system - is increasingly understood to be inadequate to address linked social-ecological challenges. Holistic approaches that incorporate diverse stakeholders across scales, sectors, and knowledge systems are gaining prominence for addressing complex problems. Such ‘integrated landscape approaches’ have received renewed momentum and interest from the research, donor and practitioner communities, and have been subsumed in international conventions related to climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development. However, implementation efforts and tangible evaluation of progress continues to lag behind conceptual development. Failure of landscape approaches to adequately engage diverse stakeholders--in design, implementation and evaluation--is a contributing factor to their poor performance. Here we draw on consultation workshops, advances in the literature, and our collective experience to identify key constraints and opportunities to better engage stakeholders in tropical landscape decision-making processes. Specifically, we ask: (1) what are the key challenges related to effectively engaging multiple stakeholders in integrated landscape approaches and (2) what lessons can be learned from practitioners, and how can these lessons serve as opportunities to avoid duplicating future research efforts or repeating past perceptions of underperformance. We present our findings within three broad categories: (i) navigating complexity, (ii) overcoming siloed thinking, and (iii) incentivizing behavioral change; thus providing a useful starting point for overcoming inherent challenges associated with engaging stakeholders in landscape approaches.

What do Colombia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea have in common? Not only are they among the most biodiverse countries in the world, they also face a suite of environmental problems relating to land‐use intensification, climate change, and wildlife management. Yet, at the same time, their capacity to respond to these issues remains weak; a weakness that is exacerbated by a deficit of the scientific research needed to guide policy and application (Barlow et al., 2018). Fil: Nuñez, Martin Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina Fil: Barlow, Jos. Lancaster University; Estados Unidos Fil: Cadotte, Marc. University of Toronto; Canadá Fil: Lucas, Kirsty. British Ecological Society; Reino Unido Fil: Newton, Erika. British Ecological Society; Reino Unido Fil: Pettorelli, Nathalie. The Zoological Society of London; Reino Unido Fil: Stephens, Philip. University of Durham; Reino Unido

A range of factors may determine the structure of ecological communities in time and space, in particular niches, dispersal limits, and the evolutionary history of the species. In the last decades, the traditional focus of community ecology on species diversity and composition have been supplemented by approaches incorporating functional traits and phylogeny. Following this perspective, we evaluated the response pattern of adult damselflies and dragonflies (Odonata) along a gradient of environmental disturbance in Brazilian Amazonia, with the objective of identifying subgroups of species that respond in a similar manner to environmental filters. The study tested the hypothesis that the subgroups of species with similar responses to the environmental gradient are structured phylogenetically and will be morphologically more similar to one another than they are to the other species. Adult odonates were sampled in 98 Amazonian streams, 48 in the region of Santarem and Belterra and 50 in the municipality of Paragominas, both located in the Brazilian state of Para. The study was based on an ecological niche modeling approach and statistical significance testing methods to identify groups of species. These species groups (latent classes) were then associated with their morphological characteristics (Abdomen Length and Thorax Length) and phylogenetic relationships. Four latent classes, containing 34 species, were generated for each region. The latent classes of the Odonata formed along the gradient of anthropogenic impact had effects of phylogenetic proximity and the species' morphological similarity. Therefore, species belonging to the same latent class are more morphologically similar and have greater similarities in evolutionary history. It seems likely, however, that other processes may be important for the understanding of the structuring of the latent classes, such as intra- and interspecific relationships, environmental plasticity, and the history of land use. Both morphology and phylogeny are important for understanding species' responses to environmental gradients.

Recent scholarship in conservation biology has pointed to the existence of a “research-implementation” gap and has proposed various solutions for overcoming it. Some of these solutions, such as evidence-based conservation, are based on the assumption that the gap exists primarily because of a communication problem in getting reliable and needed technical information to decision makers. First, we identify conceptual weaknesses with this framing, supporting our arguments with decades of research in other fields of study. We then reconceptualize the gap as a series of crucial, productive spaces in which shared interests, value conflicts, and complex relations between scientists and publics can interact. Whereas synonyms for “gap” include words such as “chasm,” “rift,” or “breach,” the word “space” is connected with words such as “arena,” “capacity,” and “place” and points to who and what already exists in a specific context. Finally, we offer ways forward for applying this new understanding in practice.

The increased global demand for tropical timber has driven vast expanses of tropical forests to be selectively logged worldwide. While logging impacts on wildlife are predicted to change species distribution and abundance, the underlying physiological responses are poorly understood. Although there is a growing consensus that selective logging impacts on natural populations start with individual stress‐induced sublethal responses, this literature is dominated by investigations conducted with vertebrates from temperate zones. Moreover, the sublethal effects of human‐induced forest disturbance on tropical invertebrates have never been examined. To help address this knowledge gap, we examined the body fat content and relative abundance of three dung beetle species (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) with minimum abundance of 40 individuals within each examined treatment level. These were sampled across 34 plots in a before‐after control‐impact design (BACI) in a timber concession area of the Brazilian Amazon. For the first time, we present evidence of logging‐induced physiological stress responses in tropical invertebrates. Selective logging increased the individual levels of fat storage and reduced the relative abundance of two dung beetle species. Given this qualitative similarity, we support the measurement of body fat content as reliable biomarker to assess stress‐induced sublethal effects on dung beetles. Understanding how environmental modification impacts the wildlife has never been more important. Our novel approach provides new insights into the mechanisms through which forest disturbances impose population‐level impacts on tropical invertebrates.

Up to 80% of each private rural property in the Brazilian Amazon is protected by law through the Legal Reserve (LR) mechanism of the federal Forest Code, underlining the conservation importance of forests on private lands in one of the world́s most important biomes. However, our understanding of the discrepancies in levels of forest protection on private lands as obligated by the law versus what occurs in practice remains very poor. We assessed patterns of forest cover and legal compliance with the Forest Code in the 1.25 Mkm2 Brazilian state of Pará, which has the highest deforestation rate in the Amazon. We evaluate the LR deficit and surplus patterns for different sized properties and across 144 municipalities, and found that the total LR surplus (12.6 Mha) was more than five times the total area of deficit (2.3 Mha). Yet, from the total surplus, only 11% can be legally deforested while the remaining 89% is already protected by law but can be used (sold or rented) to compensate for areas that are under deficit. Medium and large-scale properties make up most of the total LR deficit area, while agrarian reform settlements had comparatively large amounts of both compensation-only surplus and deforestable surplus. Most of the municipalities (77%) in the state could compensate their total deficit with surplus areas of LR in the same municipality, while the remainder can be compensate their deficit in one or more neighbouring municipalities, indicating compensation can always take place close to the source of the deficit. Maximising the environmental benefits of achieving Forest Code compliance requires measures that go beyond the existing legal framework, including interventions to avoid further deforestation in places where it is still legal, compensate in close proximity to areas with legal reserve deficit and promote local restoration on degraded lands.

Land use change and forest degradation have myriad effects on tropical ecosystems. Yet their consequences for low-order streams remain very poorly understood, including in the world´s largest freshwater basin, the Amazon. Determine the degree to which physical and chemical characteristics of the instream habitat of low-order Amazonian streams change in response to past local- and catchment-level anthropogenic disturbances. To do so, we collected field instream habitat (i.e., physical habitat and water quality) and landscape data from 99 stream sites in two eastern Brazilian Amazon regions. We used random forest regression trees to assess the relative importance of different predictor variables in determining changes in instream habitat response variables. Multiple drivers, operating at multiple spatial scales, were important in determining changes in the physical habitat and water quality of the sites. Although we found few similarities in modelled relationships between the two regions, we observed non-linear responses of specific instream characteristics to landscape change; for example 20 % of catchment deforestation resulted in consistently warmer streams. Our results highlight the importance of local riparian and catchment-scale forest cover in shaping instream physical environments, but also underscore the importance of other land use changes and activities, such as road crossings and upstream agriculture intensification. In contrast to the property-scale focus of the Brazilian Forest code, which governs environmental regulations on private land, our results reinforce the importance of catchment-wide management strategies to protect stream ecosystem integrity.

New evidence of commercialization and consumption of wild meat in Amazonian cities has exposed an alarming yet poorly understood threat to Neotropical biodiversity. In response to the limitations of field sampling for large-scale surveys, we sought to develop a method of rapidly assessing wildlife harvest and trade in multiple areas using expert knowledge. Using caiman as a model taxon, we surveyed experts across the Brazilian Amazon. Expert responses to a Likert-style questionnaire suggest that caiman hunting, generally considered a localized rural activity, is in fact common and geographically widespread. Contrary to previous assumptions we found evidence that urban demand is partly driving the harvest, including via interstate trafficking. We highlight the need for further field validation of wild-meat trade and urban consumption patterns in Amazonia. We conclude that expert elicitation is a simple, cost-effective technique that can be a valuable precursor to inform and direct applied conservation research, especially where there are significant knowledge gaps and at large spatial scales.

Land-use change is considered the greatest threat to biodiversity worldwide. As such, identifying the drivers that shape biological communities is crucial for enhancing conservation strategies in human-modified tropical landscapes. We used a hybrid patch-landscape design and a multi model inference approach to assess the relative impacts of forest loss, increased edge density and increased pasture cover on dung beetle functional groups in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest – a biodiversity hotspot. Our findings provide novel empirical evidence showing that edge density can be a major driver for dung beetles when compared to forest and pasture cover at the landscape scale. However, forest and pasture cover also influenced some dung beetle responses, supporting the idea that biological communities are negatively affected by habitat loss and changes in land cover. We found that dung beetle body size, protibia area and metatibia length were all larger in landscapes with increased edge density, reinforcing the need for further studies exploring which mechanisms could favour the presence of larger dung beetles in fragmented tropical landscapes. Taken together, these results suggest the need of conservation and management strategies focused on the protection of the remaining Atlantic Forest fragments, and the promotion of forest recovery and reduction in the pasture cover and edge density at the landscape-level.

The increasing demand for cost-efficient biodiversity data at large spatiotemporal scales has led to an increase in the collection of large ecoacoustic datasets. Whilst the ease of collection and storage of audio data has rapidly increased and costs fallen, methods for robust analysis of the data have not developed so quickly. Identification and classification of audio signals to species level is extremely desirable, but reliability can be highly affected by non-target noise, especially rainfall. Despite this demand, there are few easily applicable pre-processing methods available for rainfall detection for conservation practitioners and ecologists. Here, we use threshold values of two simple measures, Power Spectrum Density (amplitude) and Signal-to-Noise Ratio at two frequency bands, to differentiate between the presence and absence of heavy rainfall. We assess the effect of using different threshold values on Accuracy and Specificity. We apply the method to four datasets from both tropical and temperate regions, and find that it has up to 99% accuracy on tropical datasets (e.g. from the Brazilian Amazon), but performs less well in temperate environments. This is likely due to the intensity of rainfall in tropical forests and its falling on dense, broadleaf vegetation amplifying the sound. We show that by choosing between different threshold values, informed trade-offs can be made between Accuracy and Specificity, thus allowing the exclusion of large amounts of audio data containing rainfall in all locations without the loss of data not containing rain. We assess the impact of using different sample sizes of audio data to set threshold values, and find that 200 15 s audio files represents an optimal trade-off between effort, accuracy and specificity in most scenarios. This methodology and accompanying R package ‘hardRain’ is the first automated rainfall detection tool for pre-processing large acoustic datasets without the need for any additional rain gauge data.

Made available in DSpace on 2019-10-04T12:31:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-11-19 UK Natural Environment Research Council European Research Council Advanced Investigator Award (GEM-TRAIT) Nature Conservancy-Oxford Martin School Climate Partnership NERC Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Sime Darby Foundation Project USA-NAS/PEER Project ReFlor FAPEMAT Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria - Embrapa European Research Council (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015) UK government Darwin Initiative Nature Conservancy UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Jackson Foundation Meteorological extreme events such as El Nino events are expected to affect tropical forest net primary production (NPP) and woody growth, but there has been no large-scale empirical validation of this expectation. We collected a large high-temporal resolution dataset (for 1-13 years depending upon location) of more than 172 000 stem growth measurements using dendrometer bands from across 14 regions spanning Amazonia, Africa and Borneo in order to test how much month-to-month variation in stand-level woody growth of adult tree stems (NPPstem) can be explained by seasonal variation and interannual meteorological anomalies. A key finding is that woody growth responds differently to meteorological variation between tropical forests with a dry season (where monthly rainfall is less than 100 mm), and aseasonal wet forests lacking a consistent dry season. In seasonal tropical forests, a high degree of variation in woody growth can be predicted from seasonal variation in temperature, vapour pressure deficit, in addition to anomalies of soil water deficit and shortwave radiation. The variation of aseasonal wet forest woody growth is best predicted by the anomalies of vapour pressure deficit, water deficit and shortwave radiation. In total, we predict the total live woody production of the global tropical forest biome to be 2.16 Pg C yr(-1), with an interannual range 1.96-2.26 Pg C yr(-1) between 1996-2016, and with the sharpest declines during the strong El Nino events of 1997/8 and 2015/6. There is high geographical variation in hotspots of El Nino-associated impacts, with weak impacts in Africa, and strongly negative impacts in parts of Southeast Asia and extensive regions across central and eastern Amazonia. Overall, there is high correlation (r = -0.75) between the annual anomaly of tropical forest woody growth and the annual mean of the El Nino 3.4 index, driven mainly by strong correlations with anomalies of soil water deficit, vapour pressure deficit and shortwave radiation. This article is part of the discussion meeting issue 'The impact of the 2015/2016 El Nino on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications'. Univ Oxford, Sch Geog & Environm, Environm Change Inst, South Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3QY, England IIAP, Iquitos, Peru No Arizona Univ, Sch Informat Comp & Cyber Syst, Flagstaff, AZ 86011 USA Univ Stirling, Fac Nat Sci, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland CENAREST, Inst Rech Ecol Trop, BP 842, Libreville, Gabon ANPN, BP 20379, Libreville, Gabon Univ Exeter, Coll Life & Environm Sci, Geog, Amory Bldg, Exeter EX4 4RJ, Devon, England Univ Autonoma Gabriel Rene Moreno, Museo Hist Nat Noel Kempff Mercado, Ave Irala 565,Casilla Postal 2489, Santa Cruz, CA, Bolivia Forestry Res Inst Ghana, Kumasi, Ghana Woods Hole Res Ctr, Falmouth, MA USA Univ Nacl San Antonio Abad Cusco, Cuzco, Peru Univ Estado Mato Grosso, Programa Posgrad Ecol & Convervacao, BR-78690000 Nova Xavantina, MT, Brazil Ctr Euromediterraneo Cambiamente Climat, Lecce, Italy Minist Foret & Environm, BP199, Libreville, Gabon Amazon Environm Res Inst IPAM, Canarana, MG, Brazil Univ Estadual Paulista, Dept Ecol, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP, Brazil Embrapa Amazonia Oriental, Trav Dr Eneas Pinheiro S-N,CP 48, BR-66095100 Belem, PA, Brazil Univ La Serena, Dept Biol, La Serena, Chile Univ Lancaster, Lancaster Environm Ctr, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, England Univ Fed Para, Inst Geosciencias, Belem, Para, Brazil Australian Natl Univ, Res Sch Biol, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia Univ Edinburgh, Sch Geosci, Edinburgh EH93FF, Midlothian, Scotland Lund Univ, Phys Geog & Ecosyst Sci, Lund, Sweden Univ Leeds, Sch Geog, Leeds, W Yorkshire, England Univ Estadual Paulista, Dept Ecol, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP, Brazil UK Natural Environment Research Council: NE/P001092/1 European Research Council Advanced Investigator Award (GEM-TRAIT): 321131 NERC: NE/I014705/1 NERC: NE/K016369/1 NERC: NE/F005776/1 NERC: NE/K016385/1 NERC: NE/J011002/1 CNPq: 457914/2013-0/MCTI/ CNPq/FNDCT/LBA/ESECAFLOR CNPq: 403725/ 2012-7 CNPq: 441244/2016-5 CNPq: 457602/2012-0 Project USA-NAS/PEER: PGA-2000005316 Project ReFlor FAPEMAT: 0589267/2016 CNPq: 574008/2008-0 Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria - Embrapa: SEG: 02.08.06.005.00 European Research Council (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015): 691053-ODYSSEA UK government Darwin Initiative: 17-023 UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): NE/F01614X/1 UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): NE/G000816/1 UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): NE/K016431/1 UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): NE/P004512/1 : PQ-2

Made available in DSpace on 2019-10-04T12:31:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-11-19 Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria - Embrapa UK government Darwin Initiative Nature Conservancy UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) H2020-MSCA-RISE Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa Human-modified forests are an ever-increasing feature across the Amazon Basin, but little is known about how stem growth is influenced by extreme climatic events and the resulting wildfires. Here we assess for the first time the impacts of human-driven disturbance in combination with El Nino-mediated droughts and fires on tree growth and carbon accumulation. We found that after 2.5 years of continuous measurements, there was no difference in stem carbon accumulation between undisturbed and human-modified forests. Furthermore, the extreme drought caused by the El Nino did not affect carbon accumulation rates in surviving trees. In recently burned forests, trees grew significantly more than in unburned ones, regardless of their history of previous human disturbance. Wood density was the only significant factor that helped explain the difference in growth between trees in burned and unburned forests, with low wood-density trees growing significantly more in burned sites. Our results suggest stem carbon accumulation is resistant to human disturbance and one-off extreme drought events, and it is stimulated immediately after wildfires. However, these results should be seen with caution-without accounting for carbon losses, recruitment and longer-term changes in species composition, we cannot fully understand the impacts of drought and fire in the carbon balance of human-modified forests. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The impact of the 2015/2016 El Nino on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications'. Univ Oxford, Environm Change Inst, South Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3QY, England Univ Lancaster, Lancaster Environm Ctr, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, England Woods Hole Res Ctr, 149 Woods Hole Rd, Falmouth, MA 02540 USA Inst Pesquisa Ambiental Amazonia, Brasilia, DF, Brazil Univ Fed Para, Inst Geociencias, Programa Posgrad Ciencias Ambientais, BR-66075110 Belem, Para, Brazil Embrapa Amazonia Oriental, Trav Dr Eneas Pinheiro S-N,CP 48, BR-66095100 Belem, Para, Brazil Inst Fed Minas Gerais, Rodovia Bambui Medeiros,Km 05, BR-38900000 Bambui, MG, Brazil Univ Estadual Paulista, Dept Ecol, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP, Brazil MCT Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Av Magalhaes Barata 376, BR-66040170 Belem, Para, Brazil Univ Estadual Paulista, Dept Ecol, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP, Brazil CNPq: 574008/2008-0 Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria - Embrapa: SEG: 02.08.06.005.00 UK government Darwin Initiative: 17-023 UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): NE/ F01614X/1 UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): NE/G000816/1 UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): NE/K016431/1 UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): NE/P004512/1 H2020-MSCA-RISE: 691053-ODYS-SEA Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa: PELD-RAS 441659/2016-0

As one of Earth’s most carbon-dense regions, tropical forests are central to climate change mitigation efforts. Their unparalleled species richness also makes them vital for safeguarding biodiversity. However, because research has not been conducted at management-relevant scales and has often not accounted for forest disturbance, the biodiversity implications of carbon conservation strategies remain poorly understood. We investigated tropical carbon–biodiversity relationships and trade-offs along a forest-disturbance gradient, using detailed and extensive carbon and biodiversity datasets. Biodiversity was positively associated with carbon in secondary and highly disturbed primary forests. Positive carbon–biodiversity relationships dissipated at around 100 MgC ha–1, meaning that in less disturbed forests more carbon did not equal more biodiversity. Simulated carbon conservation schemes therefore failed to protect many species in the most species-rich forests. These biodiversity shortfalls were sensitive to opportunity costs and could be decreased for small carbon penalties. To ensure that the most ecologically valuable forests are protected, biodiversity needs to be incorporated into carbon conservation planning.

© 2018 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Secondary forests (SFs) regenerating on previously deforested land account for large, expanding areas of tropical forest cover. Given that tropical forests rank among Earth’s most important reservoirs of carbon and biodiversity, SFs play an increasingly pivotal role in the carbon cycle and as potential habitat for forest biota. Nevertheless, their capacity to regain the biotic attributes of undisturbed primary forests (UPFs) remains poorly understood. Here, we provide a comprehensive assessment of SF recovery, using extensive tropical biodiversity, biomass, and environmental datasets. These data, collected in 59 naturally regenerating SFs and 30 co-located UPFs in the eastern Amazon, cover >1,600 large- and small-stemmed plant, bird, and dung beetles species and a suite of forest structure, landscape context, and topoedaphic predictors. After up to 40 years of regeneration, the SFs we surveyed showed a high degree of biodiversity resilience, recovering, on average among taxa, 88% and 85% mean UPF species richness and composition, respectively. Across the first 20 years of succession, the period for which we have accurate SF age data, biomass recovered at 1.2% per year, equivalent to a carbon uptake rate of 2.25 Mg/ha per year, while, on average, species richness and composition recovered at 2.6% and 2.3% per year, respectively. For all taxonomic groups, biomass was strongly associated with SF species distributions. However, other variables describing habitat complexity—canopy cover and understory stem density—were equally important occurrence predictors for most taxa. Species responses to biomass revealed a successional transition at approximately 75 Mg/ha, marking the influx of high-conservation-value forest species. Overall, our results show that naturally regenerating SFs can accumulate substantial amounts of carbon and support many forest species. However, given that the surveyed SFs failed to return to a typical UPF state, SFs are not substitutes for UPFs.

The tropics contain the overwhelming majority of Earth's biodiversity: their terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems hold more than three-quarters of all species, including almost all shallow-water corals and over 90% of terrestrial birds. However, tropical ecosystems are also subject to pervasive and interacting stressors, such as deforestation, overfishing and climate change, and they are set within a socio-economic context that includes growing pressure from an increasingly globalized world, larger and more affluent tropical populations, and weak governance and response capacities. Concerted local, national and international actions are urgently required to prevent a collapse of tropical biodiversity.

Funding Information: Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Grant/Award Number: NE/ N004655/1; NERC Consortium Grants “AMAZONICA”; BIO‐RED; European Research Council (ERC); The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; European Union's Seventh Framework Programme, Grant/ Award Number: 282664; Royal Society, Grant/Award Number: CH160091; Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. Most of the planet's diversity is concentrated in the tropics, which includes many regions undergoing rapid climate change. Yet, while climate-induced biodiversity changes are widely documented elsewhere, few studies have addressed this issue for lowland tropical ecosystems. Here we investigate whether the floristic and functional composition of intact lowland Amazonian forests have been changing by evaluating records from 106 long-term inventory plots spanning 30 years. We analyse three traits that have been hypothesized to respond to different environmental drivers (increase in moisture stress and atmospheric CO2 concentrations): maximum tree size, biogeographic water-deficit affiliation and wood density. Tree communities have become increasingly dominated by large-statured taxa, but to date there has been no detectable change in mean wood density or water deficit affiliation at the community level, despite most forest plots having experienced an intensification of the dry season. However, among newly recruited trees, dry-affiliated genera have become more abundant, while the mortality of wet-affiliated genera has increased in those plots where the dry season has intensified most. Thus, a slow shift to a more dry-affiliated Amazonia is underway, with changes in compositional dynamics (recruits and mortality) consistent with climate-change drivers, but yet to significantly impact whole-community composition. The Amazon observational record suggests that the increase in atmospheric CO2 is driving a shift within tree communities to large-statured species and that climate changes to date will impact forest composition, but long generation times of tropical trees mean that biodiversity change is lagging behind climate change. Publisher PDF

As humans continue to alter tropical landscapes across the world, it is important to understand what environmental factors help determine the persistence of biodiversity in modified ecosystems. Studies on well-known taxonomic groups can offer critical insights as to the fate of biodiversity in these modified systems. Here we investigated species-specific responses of 44 forest-associated bird species with different behavioural traits to forest disturbance in 171 transects distributed across 31 landscapes in two regions of the eastern Brazilian Amazon. We investigated patterns of species occurrence in primary forests varyingly disturbed by selective-logging and fire and examined the relative importance of local, landscape and historical environmental variables in determining species occurrences. Within undisturbed and disturbed primary forest transects, we found that distance to forest edge and the biomass of large trees were the most important predictors driving the occurrence of individual species. However, we also found considerable variation in species responses to different environmental variables as well as inter-regional variation in the responses of the same species to the same environmental variables. We advocate the utility of using species-level analyses to complement community-wide responses in order to uncover highly variable and species-specific responses to environmental change that remain so poorly understood.

In the last decades, due to human land management that uses fire as a tool, and due to abnormal droughts, many tropical forests have become more susceptible to recurrent wildfires with negative consequences for biodiversity. Yet, studies are usually focused on few taxa and rarely compare different fire frequencies. We examined if the effects of single and recurrent fires are consistent for leaf litter ants, dung beetles, birds (sampled with point-counts PC and mist net-MN), saplings, and trees. Recurrent fires had a great effect on forest structure, reducing live tree biomass and number of lianas, and increasing canopy openness and numbers of saplings alive. Recurrent fires had consistently stronger effects on species richness and composition across all sample groups than single fires, except ants. Birds and plants were more grouped in the congruence analysis. The average dissimilarities between control and recurrent-burned forest were higher than between control and once-burned forest for all sample groups, furthermore birds and vegetation communities in recurrent-burned forest are almost entirely dissimilar from the unburned forest. While beta diversity of ants, birds (MN), and trees was not affected by the frequency of fire, it changed for dung beetles, birds (PC), and saplings. Effects of fire on faunal community structure were more due to indirect effects, through vegetation, than through the fire itself. These results reinforce the effect of single and recurrent fires on tropical forests, and highlight the mechanisms acting behind them. Policy-makers need to explicitly address protection of tropical forests from wildfires in conservation planning.