Thursday, August 9, 2007: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
B3&4, San Jose McEnery Convention Center
OOS 36 - Conservation and restoration of tropical dry forest: From islands to continents
Tropical dry forests comprise the largest proportion of any tropical forest type, yet when compared to tropical rainforests, they have received relatively little attention from ecologists. This is particularly troublesome, because throughout the world tropical dry forests have declined significantly, resulting in tremendous losses of biodiversity. It is estimated that less than 2% of the original forest remains intact and less than 0.08% is in a protected state. Dry forest decline has resulted from a number of factors both directly and indirectly a result of human activity: deforestation and land-use change, alien plant invasion (particularly grasses), grazing by ungulates, increases in the frequency of anthropogenic fire, loss of pollinators and seed dispersers. In many cases, agents of dry forest decline are also barriers to restoration. To overcome these barriers, restoration ecologists are working throughout the tropics on both continents and islands to develop ecologically sustainable and economically feasible solutions. While there have been a number of successes in these efforts, there has been no synthesis of these findings. Since tropical dry forests vary greatly in structure, composition and function, it is important to determine if conservation and restoration approaches are generalizable across regions. Our primary objective in this ssession is to outline a generalized approach to conservation and restoration of tropical dry forests. We will develop linkages among studies that have identified restoration barriers and tested ecological theory to develop applied solutions. In particular, we will ask: How is restoration success defined in a system where “reference conditions” may not exist? How may restoration goals and approaches differ from islands to continents or across spatial scales from hectares to landscapes? What is the potential for sustainable restoration in a community type that is likely to be particularly affected by global climate change due to its sensitivity to changes in rainfall regimes and location on oceanic islands? This session will be the first of its kind to bring together researchers focused on conservation and restoration of tropical dry forest throughout North and South America and Caribbean and Pacific islands. By linking ecological theory with restoration experiments, this symposium will provide insights that extend to other community types that have experienced long-histories of anthropogenic change.
Organizer:Susan Cordell, USDA Forest Service
Co-organizer:Jarrod M. Thaxton, USGS Hawaii Cooperative Studies Unit
Moderator:Susan Cordell, USDA Forest Service
8:00 AMOOS 36-1Restoration of biodiversity: Seed, rain, and recruitment of woody species in a Mexican secondary dry forest
Cristina Martinez-Garza, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Rebeca Rojas, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Tamia Huc, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos
8:20 AMOOS 36-2Cacti diversity in perturbed and conserved sites of a tropical Mexican dry forest
Luis A. Arias-Medellin, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Cristina Martinez-Garza, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos
8:40 AMOOS 36-3Conservation of tropical dry forests on Pacific islands
Tomas Gillespie, UCLA
9:00 AMOOS 36-4Damage and short-term recovery of seasonal tropical forest in the Yucatan Peninsula following consecutive hurricanes
Martha Bonilla, University of California-Santa Cruz, Karen D Holl, University of California-Santa Cruz
9:20 AMOOS 36-5Forests at the edge: Fire and the dynamics of tropical savanna-forest boundaries
William A. Hoffmann, North Carolina State University, Ryan Adasme, North Carolina State University, M. Haridasan, Universidade de Brasilia, Augusto, C. Franco, Universidade de Brasilia
9:40 AM Break
9:50 AMOOS 36-6Restoration of soil processes in Mexican dry forests
Mayra E. Gavito, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Victor J. Jaramillo, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Felipe García-Oliva, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
10:10 AMOOS 36-7Conservation and rehabilitation of dry forests in the Caribbean
Ariel Lugo, USDA Forest Service, Sandra Molina Colón, Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico
10:30 AMOOS 36-8The influence of native plant characteristics and site conditions on restoration approaches in grass-invaded remnant Hawaiian dry forests
Susan Cordell, USDA Forest Service, Jarrod M. Thaxton, Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center, Creighton M. Litton, USDA Forest Service, Robert J. Cabin, Brevard College, Darren R. Sandquist, California State University, Colleen Cole, USDA Forest Service
10:50 AMOOS 36-9The consequences of anthropogenic impact on the disruption of biotic interactions in tropical dry forest ecosystems
Rodolfo Dirzo, Stanford University

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