Ecological effects of wildfire on lowland rainforest in Sumatra
Article Abstract:
In the lowland rainforest of Sumatra in Indonesia, wildfire has had serious ecological effects. Fire is more and more common in undisturbed tropical rainforests; the threat is not well understood. Fires in 1997 damaged 17 or more of the parks and protected areas in Indonesia including the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (BBS) of southwest Sumatra. It is third in size of the protected areas of Sumatra and has some of the last intact areas of lowland rainforest there and has a complete Sumatran vertebrate fauna. The burned area has been studied from an ecological standpoint. Fires were caused by campfires and by some small-scale burning of agricultural land in the park and nearby. Food supply for birds was drastically changed, and trees that survived flower and fruit less. Species richness and total numbers of all bird species did not change much, but avian community composition was changed, with more insectivores and fewer frugivores and omnivores after the fire. Squirrels, except for giant tree squirrels, and treeshrews decreased greatly in number. Reducing fire risk is a social process as well as an ecological one.
Publication Name: Conservation Biology
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0888-8892
Year: 1998
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Deforestation trends in a tropical landscape and implications for endangered large mammals
Article Abstract:
The large mammal fauna of the Indonesian island of Sumatra is threatened by rampant deforestation and by the year 2010 core forest area for tigers and rhinoceros is forecasted to be fragmented and reduced to 20 percent of remaining forest. The Indonesian conservation agencies require a mix of enforcement, wise land-use strategies, increased education, capacity to manage, and a new financing mechanism.
Publication Name: Conservation Biology
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0888-8892
Year: 2003
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Who's scratching whom? Reply to Whitten et al.
Article Abstract:
The failure of Indonesian forest conservation does not reflect the failure of the science of conservation biology but a failure of conservation biology. There are many conservation programs in Indonesia but jobs in conservation are rare with poor pay and all these factors make Indonesia a less attractive place of doctoral students or professional biologists.
Publication Name: Conservation Biology
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0888-8892
Year: 2001
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