The faint promise of a distant market: a survey of Belém's trade in non-timber forest products

Increased trade in non-timber forest products (NTFPs) has been promoted as one possible means to slow tropical deforestation by increasing the economic value of intact forest. A market survey of NTFPs occurring in the Capim River basin in eastern Amazonia, Brazil demonstrated that the reality for many smallholder communities in frontier and remote regions includes chronic transportation difficulties, high variability in fruit production, perishable products and lack of market expertise. In some communities, declining abundance of NTFPs due to logging and fire has resulted in a lack of forest products to even meet subsistence needs. In areas close to cities where transportation is assured and where forest clearing has eroded the natural occurrence of some valuable native NTFPs, smallholders who manage and successfully market native fruit and medicinal species are overcoming these obstacles. In frontier regions undergoing rapid transformation, however, decline in locally used and regionally marketed NTFPs currently pose detrimental consequences for communities. Findings suggest that an overemphasis on NTFP marketing has diverted attention from local livelihood, resource access and subsistence issues.     

The social and spatial organization of winter communal roosting in Rooks (Corvus fmgilegus)

The spatial and social organization of a winter communal roost of Rooks ( Corvus frugilegus L.) was examined. The behaviour of rooks in the roost was found to reduce the rate of loss of heat energy for all or some of the population. The saving of energy experienced by young birds by roosting in sheltered positions was important because of the smaller energy reserves available. When the weather became exceptionally severe, dominant individuals, in seeking sheltered positions, forced less dominant birds from more sheltered to far less sheltered positions, thereby increasing their energy loss. The effects of this selectively-acting social hierarchy during the night is exacerbated on the feeding grounds during the day when some rooks starve especially those low in the hierarchy. The daytime feeding situation will also increase the lower critical metabolic temperature of the young rooks by lowering the nutritional plane. Other evidence is presented to show that in winter, mortality of young rooks is higher than that of adult rooks.
It is argued that the change in the spatial organization in the roost induced by weather and determined by a selectively-actingsocial hierarchy operates to reduce the rate of energy loss of the majority of the rooks while the remainder suffer an increasing energy deficit.     

The natural regulation of Giant tortoise populations on Aldabra Atoll. Reproduction

A two-year reproduction study of three isolated populations of different densities of the Aldabra Giant tortoise ( Geochelone gigantea Schweigger) showed dissimilarity in gonadal parameters; (i) as population density increased age at sexual maturity was delayed in males and females; (ii) although the mean number of mature follicles was similar in all populations, preovulatory follicular atresia was only found in the high density population; (iii) annual variation in preovulatory follicular atresia was dependent on rainfall and food availability; (iv) the number of clutches laid/♀/year decreased with increasing population density as did clutch size; in the high density population (and depending on rainfall) only 30–80% of the mature females bred. The discussion considered the importance of movement in determining survival/reproduction.     

Manipulation of vegetation communities on the Abu Dhabi rangelands. II. The effects of topsoiling and drip irrigation

The effect of topsoiling on the vegetation communities of Abu Dhabi coastal desart rangelands with sand taken from an inland area of rangeland supporting a different vegetation community, was investigated. The study was carried out on ghanada Island, an inshore desert island which had been extensively topsoiled in the previous 5 years. Parts of the island also had been drip irrigated. Perennial vegetation communities on Ghanada were markedly different on topsoiled areas compared to non-topsoiled areas. However not all the species common in the topsoil source area were subsequently found to be common on the topsoiled areas. Zygophyllum hamiense, thought to be a colonizer of disturbed soil in the source areas, was common on the topsoiled areas. Annual plant species richness was greater on topsoiled areas compared to untreated native soil indicating (i) that the source areas had a greater annual species richness than Ghanada, and (ii) annual species propagules successfully survived the processes of topsoiling. Annual and perennial species richness was not significantly different between irrigated and non-irrigated areas. The perennial percentage cover was greatest on drip irrigated areas and the perennial which benefited the most was Heliotropium kotschyi, probably due to its rhizomous growth habit.     

Extinction Risk: Predicting and Redressing the Threat

Predicting and redressing the threat of species extinction is not a success story. The science of estimating extinction rates and risk prediction is approached in a manner that is difficult to apply in the field, and yet current integrated ecosystem management programmes in many parts of the world, which are trying to place the conservation of species into sustainable community projects, need predictive tools for planning land use programmes. Such programmes involve US$100s of millions of multilateral and bilateral aid; many predicated on a site's biodiversity importance, the risks of extinction, sustainable extraction, production forms of land use, community livelihoods, water, and many others factors, but increasingly on ensuring that after the pump-priming funds are finished the programmes are both environmentally and economically sustainable (Swingland 2002, 2003, 2004; Swingland et al. 2003). [Swingland I.R. 2002. In: Swingland I.R., Bettelheim E.C., Grace J., Prance G.T. and Saunders L.S. (eds), Carbon Biodiversity, Conservation and Income: An Analysis of a Free Market Approach to Land-use Change and Forestry in Developing and Developed Countries. Philosophical Transactions Royal Society London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, London; Swingland I.R. (ed.) 2003. Capturing Biodiversity and Conserving Biodiversity: The Market Approach. Earthscan, London; Swingland I.R. (ed.) 2004. CO² e biodiversità. Un approccio integrato a favore del clima e del patrimonio naturale. Edizioni Ambiente, Milano, Italy, 296 pp.; Swingland I.R., Bettelheim E.C. and Niles J.O. 2003. In: Swingland I.R. (ed.), Capturing Biodiversity and Conserving Biodiversity: The Market Approach. Earthscan, London] This involves predictions of ‘what if?’ what if laws are changed to prevent over utilisation and prevent ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’ where land ownership is vested in the state and people degrade the environment, and instead institute private land ownership. In places like China and much of the Far East, biodiversity is over-exploited as nearly all their species are used for food, medicine and construction purposes, and private land ownership in rural areas is rudimentary or absent. Since most species extinction is anthropocentric, research on species extinction needs to be more accessible and focussed on global problems.     

Manipulation of vegetation communities on the Abu Dhabi rangelands. I. The effects of irrigation and release from longterm grazing

The effect on vegetation communities of release from grazing by camels and goats has been investigated in the Baynunah region of Abu Dhabi emirate, in The United Arab Emirates, by the study of an exclosure established 11 years previously. Also the effect of sprinkle irrigation (in the absence of grazing) on the rangeland vegetation was investigated. Perennial species richness was significantly lower outside the exclosure compared with inside on both sand and gravel substrata. Annual species richness however was not significantly different. Perrenial percentage covers were lower outside the exclosure compared with inside, especially on sand substrata. The perennial grass Stipagrostis plumosa (L) showed the greatest difference in percentage cover in this respect. The species richness of annuals and perennials was not significantly different between irrigated and non-irrigated areas within the exclosure. The perennial percentage cover was much greater on sprinkle irrigated sand and gravel substrata. The perennial which benefited the most was Zygophyllum hamiense, Scweinf. Annual percentage cover was lower in irrigated quadrats. Suggestions are made about the effect of intensive grazing on the vegetation communities at Baynunah and on the effectiveness of irrigation as a tool for increasing the quality of the rangeland for livestock and wildlife.