Elisabeth Kalko Change - chances and challenges for tropical forests Research in the tropics has undergone major shifts in the past decades. Starting with the naturalist's fascination of tropical diversity that has layed the foundations of research in the tropics and continues to be an indispensable component of our discipline we all came to the recognition that tropical habitats are highly threatened, driven by massive changes in land use associated with high demographic pressure and an ever increasing need for timber, food and fuel. But what will be the future of this development? Sustainability has been put forward as a buzz word, suggesting that ways can be found to "use" tropical ecosystems and at the same time maintain their diversity and functionality. Furthermore, mitigation has become another key issue. There, one might ask, whether and what can be learned from the multitude of studies investigating causes and consequences of fragmentation. Are there workable ways to promote defragmentation of landscapes? Are there realistic scenarios that permit maintenance and recuperation of ecosystem goods and services, both crucial for human well-being, on the local as well as on the global scale? Integrating the various facets of current topics in tropical biology, I am presenting an overview on current chances and challenges and critically evaluate future perspectives. What questions need to be asked and answered, what are the most pressing needs, where should future research be directed at, what is our responsibility and, finally, what are our abilities to contribute? Institute of Experimental Ecology University of Ulm Albert-Einstein Allee 11 89069 Ulm, Germany & Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute P.O. Box 0843-03092 Balboa Ancón Republica de Panamá Homepage 1 Homepage 2 Research

Marcello Tabarelli Human disturbance drive tropical forests to hyper-fragmented landscapes of limited conservation value The future of tropical forest biodiversity and the invariably undercompensated environmental services provided by this ecosystem, such as carbon storage, are inextricably tied to our ability to understand persistent, ecosystem-level changes triggered by human disturbances. Both empirical and theoretical evidence suggest that edge effects combined with logging, wildfires and hunting (the most frequent human disturbances affecting tropical forests) trigger a rapid successional process that effectively drive most remaining forest fragments towards a persistent, early-successional system. This altered ecosystem emerges and then persists as these human-induced disturbances consistently favor a small set of functionally-redundant light-demanding plant species to the detriment of a highly diverse pool of species typical of old-growth forests. Ecosystem performance in increasingly older forest fragments approaching full relaxation conditions converge with those observed in patches of early- to middle-aged secondary forests (< 40-50 yrs old) following prolonged cultivation or pastures. By edging towards early-successional systems, significant portions of neotropical hyper-fragmented landscapes will likely fulfil a limited value in terms of environmental services, biodiversity conservation, and are unlikely to serve as effective sources for large-scale forest recovery in former agricultural lands, which clearly impairs their eligibility as future conservation targets. Moreover, aging, hyper-fragmented landscapes are likely to provide only limited economic opportunities, and goods and services to operate as working forests to ensure sustainable rural livelihoods without prohibitive capital investments focused on forest restoration. In synthesis, it becomes increasingly difficult to reverse landscape degradation and the associated human poverty beyond a threshold of both habitat loss and time elapsed since hyper-fragmentation. We hope that this essay can instigate a more comprehensive assessment of the forces driving the nature of human-modified tropical ecosystems as the scenario described here already predominates across many previously forested tropical lands. Crucially, this is a timely step towards the consolidation of land-use regulations designed to guarantee the full potential of anthropogenic landscapes in terms of their biodiversity conservation and environmental services. Universidade Federal de Pernambuco Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Botânica Cidade Universitária 50670901 - Recife, PE - Brasil Homepage I am currently interested in analyze how habitat fragmentation affects plant populations persistence and tropical forest regeneration dynamics. My research is conducted at a unique model system to understand the effects of anthropogenic landscape alterations: The Brazilian Atlantic forest and sugar-cane plantations. I try to take advantage of this singular system to suggest how other tropical forests might loose its functionality if humans continue to disturb tropical forests at current rates.

Norbert Codeiro Sexy or not-so-sexy mutual partners in the face of habitat disturbance Mutualisms define inter-specific interactions between partner species where cooperation leads to expected mutual benefits. In plant-animal mutualisms, such as those between pollinators or seed dispersers and their dependent plants, these interactions are predicted to be affected in different ways when their habitats are altered by humans. While the effects of habitat disturbance, loss or fragmentation are generally predicted to have negative consequences on mutualistic interactions, direct and indirect consequences still remain poorly understood. Despite so many unknowns, many authors surmise that widening spheres of extinctions are possible in the tropics where highly diverse forests are probably characterized by numerous mutualistic relationships. In this talk, I will critically examine empirical evidence borrowed from temperate and tropical studies to assess how habitat disturbance affects plant-animal mutualisms. In particular, I will address the plethora of outcomes from animal and plant perspectives, and integrate these findings within conceptual frameworks revolving around breeding systems, trophic cascades and the specialist-generalist continuum. A number of new ideas will be developed to guide future research in this field. Department of Biological, Chemical, and Physical Sciences Roosevelt University 430 S. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60605. USA Homepage 1 Homepage 2 Dr. Nobby (Norbert) Cordeiro is currently an Assistant Professor of Biology at Roosevelt University, with research ties to several international institutions. While broadly interested in ecological processes that shape biodiversity, he has primary interests in how human-aided habitat disturbances impact plant-animal and animal-animal mutualisms. Over the last 20-25 years in East African forests, including the volcanic massifs of Kilimanjaro and the much older Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania, his research has examined biodiversity changes along elevational gradients and species distributions as a function of area and isolation at small spatial scales of fragments in one site to larger landscape scales on mountains. More recent applied studies in the Eastern Arc Mountains arising from this background in biogeography has, since 1998, focused more on how forest fragmentation affects plant-animal mutualisms, including seed dispersal and pollination. Recruitment of tropical forest trees have underpinned these studies, and together with colleagues at the University of Dar es Salaam and York University, also led to a working seedling guide and extensive database on the trees from this region of Africa. In addition to these interests, Dr. Cordeiro also examines the effects of dominant culture and globalization on the dissemination and interpretation of conservation biology and ecology.

Kathy Willis Impacts of Global Change on Tropical Ecosystems - what can we learn from the past? This talk will highlight the potential of using longer-term ecological records (>50 years) for understanding tropical ecosystem responses to future climate change and human impact. To assess the impacts of future climate change on tropical ecosystems, the talk will focus on intervals of time in the fossil record when the magnitude and/or rate of climate change matched or exceeded predicted rates for the next century. For each of these intervals in time, case-studies of biotic responses will be presented to demonstrate the scale and impact of these climate changes on biodiversity. What emerges from these records is evidence for rapid community turnover, migrations, novel ecosystems and thresholds moving from one stable ecosystem state to another - but evidence for large-scale extinction due to a warming world, is equivocal. We argue, based on this long-term ecological evidence, that land-use change due to population growth, still poses a far greater threat to tropical biodiversity in the future than climate change. In contrast to climate change, there are no past analogues comparable to the current rate of anthropogenically-driven land use change in the tropics. So what lessons can be learnt from long-term ecological records relating to land-use change and human impact? An important point that emerges from examining long-term ecological datasets is that there are many examples where so-called 'virgin rainforest' has undergone some form of clearance in the past - and yet the rainforest has recovered. How quickly the forest recovered once the area was left fallow, and also what is missing (if anything) from this 'secondary' forest formation are questions that are critical to future conservation, management and restoration of disturbed land including land currently being converted into oil-palm plantations. There is also a more fundamental question and that is determining the baseline vegetation and natural disturbance regime. For example, there are cases where the assumption that forested vegetation is 'natural' and grasslands represent an anthropogenically degraded state is incorrect - but without a temporal record of the natural baseline vegetation, its natural disturbance regime (e.g. through fires) and its variability through time, management of these ecosystems will be misguided and in some instances, detrimental to its long term survival. In contrast to many shorter-term datasets and models, we suggest that these long-term ecological records provide a more positive outlook on the future of tropical ecosystems - and emphasises their potential resilience to the impacts of global change. School of Geography and the Environment Oxford University Centre for the Environment South Parks Road Oxford - United Kingdom Homepage

Damayanti Buchori How to Integrate Science, Knowledge and Empowerment into the Conservation Agenda: A view from the South The development of conservation is very much effected by the science of ecology, whereas the development of ecology and conservation sciences are very much impacted by conservation practices on the ground. From this point of view, conservation is a powerful tool that can engage scientists across different field of sciences, whether they are biologists, mathematicians, modellers, sociologists and public policy advocates. In the last decade, conservation has evolved from a practice of species preservation based on single, biological discipline into practices that are based on multidiscipline science; from preservation approach that exclude people, to community approach that integrates people and animals and the landscape - ecosystem as one unity. Hence, the evolution of conservation practices from pure biological approach into development approach and lately, empowerment of local community has happened in many parts of the world. During the early stage of conservation movement, the emphasis to use top down, centralistic approach, based on sciences developed in the Western/Northern world were dominant. This approach does not necessarily fit with local situation in developing/Southern countries. In fact, there are many examples of projects where innovations are needed on the ground to make conservation work and endorsed by all stakeholders. This usually needs the integration between PRA approach of community development programs along with the implementation of western sciences that can be blended with much of local wisdom and traditional knowledge. A voice from the South, is the experiences of conservation practices from Indonesia, that will focus on the interaction between conservation practices and conservation sciences. Analysis and discussion will center on the development of conservation movement and conservation science in Indonesia, of the push and pull of different approach and its impact on conservation. Specific focus will be put into the role of science and knowledge in the conservation agenda of Indonesia, and of the importance of integrating empowerment in conservation agenda as a whole. Dept. of Pest and Plant Disease IPB Bogor - Indonesia

Jaboury Ghazoul Prioritising conservation: a personal reflection At a time of global economic crisis conservation of biodiversity may seem a less than urgent priority than the conservation of livelihoods. Yet individual, corporate and state responses to the current economic conditions give reason for thought regarding what priorities we do, and should, attach to conservation of biodiversity compared to other urgent demands. I seek to explore this from a personal perspective that I hope will stimulate the ATBC community to consider how, as scientists and researchers, we should deal with the 'C' in ATBC. Department Enviromental Sciences ETH Zentrum, CHN H41 CH-8092 Zürich - Switzerland Homepage Jaboury Ghazoul is a plant ecologist and leads the Ecosystem Management group at ETH Zurich where he has been based since 2005. Although he works mostly on plant reproductive ecology in the tropics, his interests are diverse and encompass almost any subject broadly related to plant ecology so long as pursuit of said subject allows him to explore fascinating tropical locations and meet interesting people along the way. This philosophy has led to the development of a research group at ETH Zurich that addresses conservation directly by working with local conservation organisations, and indirectly by contributing to conservation-relevant scientific knowledge. The members of the Ecosystem Management group address ecological and genetic components of plant reproduction in human-dominated landscapes, consider the capacity of plant populations to adapt to climate change, evaluate ecosystem service arguments as applied to landscape mosaics, and explore implications of biofuel expansion for natural and managed plant communities. Jaboury is, perhaps, better known as the editor of Biotropica.

Helmut Haberl The global human appropriation of net primary production: patterns, drivers and consequences Land use fundamentally alters the flows of trophic energy in terrestrial ecosystems. This process is captured by a comprehensive socioecological indicator termed "human appropriation of net primary production", abbreviated HANPP. HANPP is defined as the aggregate effect of (a) human-induced changes in the productivity of terrestrial ecosystems and (b) harvest of biomass, including destruction of biomass and human-induced vegetation fires. HANPP is an indicator for land-use intensity that shows how much of the productive potential of ecosystems is already used by humans. Global HANPP amounts to approximately one quarter of the potential productivity of the earth's continents, mostly resulting from agricultural activities such as cropland farming and grazing (approximately three quarters of global HANPP). Forestry, conversion to built-up land and human-induced fires account for the remaining quarter. Global maps show that HANPP is unevenly distributed across the globe. This presentation discusses natural and socioeconomic determinants that influence the global pattern of HANPP in the year 2000 as well as the current state of research on the ecological effects of HANPP, above all its impacts on biodiversity and ecological stocks and flows of carbon. Institute of Social Ecology, Faculty for Interdisciplinary Studies, Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt - Graz - Wien Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070 Wien, Österreich Homepage Helmut Haberl studied biology and mathematics at the Universities of Salzburg and Vienna. PhD University of Vienna (1995), Habilitation in human ecology, University of Vienna (2001). Helmut Haberl's research foci include: Long-term socio-ecological research (LTSER), integrated land change science, socioeconomic metabolism, theory of society-nature interaction, energy and the environment, sustainability indicators. He is member of the Scientific Committees of the Global Land Project and of the European Environment Agency and of the editorial boards of Ecological Economics and Land Use Policy. (Co)-author of 67 articles in international peer-review journals, (co)-editor of 4 special issues of peer-review journals and 5 edited volumes. See publication list at http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/socec/inhalt/803.htm.