Related Experiment Videos
Recovery and resilience of tropical forests after disturbance
Lydia E S Cole1, Shonil A Bhagwat2, Katherine J Willis3
11] Department of Zoology, Oxford Long-term Ecology Laboratory, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK [2] Department of Zoology, Biodiversity Institute, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
Abstract:
The time taken for forested tropical ecosystems to re-establish post-disturbance is of widespread interest. Yet to date there has been no comparative study across tropical biomes to determine rates of forest re-growth, and how they vary through space and time. Here we present results from a meta-analysis of palaeoecological records that use fossil pollen as a proxy for vegetation change over the past 20,000 years. A total of 283 forest disturbance and recovery events, reported in 71 studies, are identified across four tropical regions. Results indicate that forests in Central America and Africa generally recover faster from past disturbances than those in South America and Asia, as do forests exposed to natural large infrequent disturbances compared with post-climatic and human impacts. Results also demonstrate that increasing frequency of disturbance events at a site through time elevates recovery rates, indicating a degree of resilience in forests exposed to recurrent past disturbance.