Emerging threats to tropical forests

Symposium at the Association for Tropical Biology Meetings

Tropical forests are subjected to myriad environmental alterations, many of which are relatively new or poorly understood. These changes may interact additively or synergistically, posing even greater threats to tropical ecosystems. This symposium, to be held during the 2003 Association for Tropical Biology meetings at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland (7-10 July), will bring together leading and up-and-coming researchers involved in cutting-edge studies of emerging threats to tropical forests.

The unifying focus of the symposium is on identifying threatening processes or synergisms that are either new, poorly understood, or under-appreciated. Possible examples include interactions among fire, forest fragmentation and regional desiccation; synergisms between logging and hunting; large-scale edge effects; impacts of exotic diseases on tropical biotas; and the effects of global climate change on tropical ecosystems.

Interested participants should contact the symposium convenors immediately, as speaker slots are limited. Some travel funds may be available for speakers from developing countries (for details contact Dr Michele Pinard, ATB Meeting Coordinator, email: m.a.pinard@abdn.ac.uk). Key results of the symposium will be published as a book or special-journal issue.

Symposium Convenors:

William F. Laurance
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Apartado 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panamá
Email: LauranceW@tivoli.si.edu

Carlos A. Peres
Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.
Email: C.Peres@uea.ac.uk

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