Secondary Diversity Examining changes in species composition in tropical dry forest succession in the Southern Yucatan, Mexico.
Rebecca
Dickson, Clark University, rdickson@clarku.edu
(Presenting)
With the continued decline of primary forests and an increasing proportion of global forest cover being composed of secondary or successional forests, these modified forests are playing increasingly important roles in global ecological processes and maintaining floral and faunal diversity. This harboring capacity depends upon the quality of these forests as a refuge, which depends fundamentally on forest age as well as the intensity of prior disturbance. Much of the world's smallholder agricultural production is also intertwined with secondary forests, as traditional swidden systems produce and maintain secondary forests during fallow cycles. In swidden agricultural systems disturbance intensity is a complex function measured in part by type of cultivation, fallow length and number of cultivation cycles. In the Southern Yucatán (SY), Mexico, swidden agriculture produces a landscape composed of multiple ages of secondary forests that is also the focus for biodiversity conservation . This study examines the change in tree species composition and richness over time in secondary forests in SY and how the intensity of prior agricultural use affects these measures. Spectral patterns of these forests, as measured by Landsat TM and ETM+, are then examined.
NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Active Awards Represented by this Poster: