Terrestrial vegetation plays a major role in regulating the global carbon cycle and in turn the climate of the Earth system. It is believed that the North America forest ecosystems are a net sink for anthropogenic carbon. However, significant uncertainties exist in quantifying this claim. Inaccurate and incomplete characterization of forest vegetation is among the main causes to these uncertain...

The State Park of Ilha Grande is only a part (5,594 hectares) of the entire island (19,300 hectares) which is located off the south coast of Rio de Janeiro state, between the cities of Mangaratiba and Angra dos Reis. Approximately half of the Park area (47%) is covered by dense Atlantic forest. The secondary forest growth is in a process of ecological succession close to attaining maturity (43%...

We reconstructed the history of Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) to understand how social and economic events, and policy changes affected the sanctuary's condition. We surveyed 25 villages surrounding CWS to evaluate past and present ecological conditions, compare the results with historical accounts and identify causal relationships. During the first half of the 20th century, the primary thr...

Many topographic characteristics of the landscape (e.g. relief, slope, aspect, gradient, slope curvature, slope length and contour curvature) play important roles in the distribution of vegetation and biodiversity (e.g. Merriam, 1890, 1894; Whittaker & Niering, 1965, 1968; Vuilleumier, 1970; Brown, 1971, 1978; Hastings et al., 1972; Simpson, 1975; Hanawalt & Whittaker, 1976; Whittaker, 1977; Be...

The National Park of Bantimurung Bulusaraung located in Maros Regency, South Sulawesi Province, is a unique conservation area with karst ecosystem. Forest fires have been an essential threat to the Park. study aims analyze forest fire occurrences, identify causes and prevention efforts at Bulusaraung, Sulawesi. Data used this consist monthly data from rainfall Agency Meteorology, Climatology Ge...

Quantitative relationships between stand indices and carbon dioxide (CO2) stocking are missing in the evergreen broadleaved forests (EBLFs) in eastern China and this hinders to estimate carbon (C) budget in the subtropical region. We determined the vegetation-soil C pool and CO2 stocking using stand indices [diameter at breast height (DBH), total height (H) and wood density] in Schima superba d...

The study aims at developing forest cover inventory from high resolution satellite imagery (0.6m) of Ayubia National Park, NWFP, Pakistan. The 3372 ha study area is one of the best examples of existing moist temperate Himalayan forest in Pakistan. Landscapes composed of large number of heterogeneous and complex elements, exhibit multi-scale hierarchical dependencies. A multi-scale object based ...

The effects of the fires that burned over 4.7 million ha of Indonesia’s tropical forests during 1997 and 1998 are largely unknown. We assess the immediate impacts of these fires on five forest areas representing several different habitats in Kalimantan 1-2 months after the fires went out. Comparisons of transects in burned and unburned forest areas were conducted at three sites: Tanjung Puting ...

The lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina t. tuberculata) has been found in 18 locations in indigenous forest in North Island since 1961, mainly in Northland kauri forest (including Little Barrier Island), on the volcanic plateau (including Tongariro National Park), Urewera National Park and in Tararua Range. In South Island this bat has only been reported once since 1961, in North West Nelson For...

Understanding the causes of savanna–forest dynamics is vital as small but widespread changes in the extent of tropical forests can have major impacts on global climate, biodiversity and human well-being. Comparison of aerial photographs for 50 rain-forest patches in Kakadu National Park had previously revealed a landscape-wide monotonic expansion of rain-forest boundaries between 1964 and 2004....