Parallel to this shift in forest cover, the species found within forests are changing rapidly over time. The species that make up forest communities fluctuates naturally as forests recover over time, as well as with to human activities (eg. when species are introduced to new areas, when a species is driven to local extinction or when populations move to avoid disturbances or changes in climate).
By Haley Arnold Every year vast areas of land are deforested. At the same time, some previously deforested areas regrow - either as naturally regenerating “secondary forests” or as plantations [1,2]. Long-standing patterns of forest losses and gains have led to an increase in secondary and plantation forests relative to old “primary” forests which have been undisturbed for centuries.
Parallel to this shift in forest cover, the species found within forests are changing rapidly over time. The species that make up forest communities fluctuates naturally as forests recover over time, as well as with to human activities (eg. when species are introduced to new areas, when a species is driven to local extinction or when populations move to avoid disturbances or changes in climate).
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Two members of the Biodiversity & Behaviour Group attended this year's Caribaea Initiative Conference - Haley Arnold presented some of her PhD work on succession and functional traits in abandoned cocoa estates, while James Josaphat spoke about his MSc project on the effect of recreational disturbance on freshwater macroinvertebrates in Trinidad rivers. Both Haley and James gave excellent talks and got lots of positive feedback.
It is a fantastic annual conference which this year took place in the Dominican Republic between 15-17 May. |
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