What do We know about mammal movements in african tropical forests?
Tropical forests have long fascinated people. These ecosystems are a source of food and water, medicine, clean air, materials to build houses, and inspiration and awe. For city people, tropical forests often represent the unknown and sources of threatening diseases and dangerous animals. They also represent one of the last frontiers for science as the interiors of some forests remain largely scientifically unexplored (e.g., Lomami Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC; Nouabale-Ndoki in the Republic of Congo; Manu, Peru; Roraima Forest and Cordilleras in Venezuela and Guiana; Papua-New Guinea tropical forests). New species of animals and plants are being discovered in tropical forests every year. In a well-known study, Erwin (1988) demonstrated that we know only a small portion of the invertebrates of a Neotropical forest, especially those living in the canopy, and calculated that there is between 10 and 30 million species of plants and animals on Earth. This estimate was later reduced to 8 million species, but still the majority will be found in tropical forests (Mora et al., 2011). One research area that can provide information critically needed for conservation is movement ecology. However, studying movement ecology in tropical forests forests is often logistically very difficult. Therefore, it is not surprising that we know little about the movement of tropical forest species compared to those living in open areas.
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Texto biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | Mamíferos, Ecología del movimiento, Conducta animal, Bosques tropicales, |
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| Summary: | Tropical forests have long fascinated people. These ecosystems are a source of food and water, medicine, clean air, materials to build houses, and inspiration and awe. For city people, tropical forests often represent the unknown and sources of threatening diseases and dangerous animals. They also represent one of the last frontiers for science as the interiors of some forests remain largely scientifically unexplored (e.g., Lomami Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC; Nouabale-Ndoki in the Republic of Congo; Manu, Peru; Roraima Forest and Cordilleras in Venezuela and Guiana; Papua-New Guinea tropical forests). New species of animals and plants are being discovered in tropical forests every year. In a well-known study, Erwin (1988) demonstrated that we know only a small portion of the invertebrates of a Neotropical forest, especially those living in the canopy, and calculated that there is between 10 and 30 million species of plants and animals on Earth. This estimate was later reduced to 8 million species, but still the majority will be found in tropical forests (Mora et al., 2011). One research area that can provide information critically needed for conservation is movement ecology. However, studying movement ecology in tropical forests forests is often logistically very difficult. Therefore, it is not surprising that we know little about the movement of tropical forest species compared to those living in open areas. |
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