Heterogeneity, Succession, and Patchiness as Factors Affecting Deforestation and Carbon Cycling

近年来，许多注意力集中在快速增长的 亚马逊河流域的森林砍伐以及许多相关的 动植物物种和对全球气候的不利影响 模式. 然而，经常被忽视的是， 该地区的森林自然再生的时间框架， 森林砍伐的有害影响。 一些科学家估计 多达85%的森林被当地的 在清除后的几年内种植。 该项目将包括 对自然再生过程的详细分析， 土著人民在影响森林再造林方面的作用 位于亚马逊河流域中部贝罗蒙特附近的辛古盆地。 分析 遥感数据将与实地观测相结合， 估计清理土地的比率并跟踪继承率 在两个特定地点。 实地分析将评估 不同演替森林，土壤类型，坡度 这些分析将确定 在不同的条件下重新造林。 详细分析 过去和现在的人类活动在两个地点与更肥沃的土壤 将为评估森林对清除的反应提供一种手段 以及鼓励砍伐森林活动的潜力， 而不是进入自然增长率较低的地区， 复苏 该项目将提供有价值的新信息， 被砍伐的热带森林地带的再生过程 自己 新的见解将导致双方对亚马逊 巴西的森林和其他大陆的类似生物群落。 的 该项目还将在方法上作出贡献， 了解遥感数据可用于监测 森林砍伐和再生。 因为这个项目是在 与两个巴西机构合作，因为巴西 国民将被雇用，以帮助完成它，该项目将有助于 发展巴西在这方面的科学能力 重要课题和这些有用的新方法。

Much attention has focused in recent years on rapid rates of deforestation in the Amazon Basin and about related extinctions of many plant and animal species and adverse impacts on global climatic patterns. Frequently overlooked, however, has been the ability of the region's forests to naturally regenerate in time frames that mitigate the detrimental impacts of deforestation. Some scientists estimate that as much as 85 percent of the forests are recolonized by native plants within a few years after clearance. This project will consist of a detailed analysis of the processes of natural regeneration and the roles of native people as they affect reforestation of forests in the Xingu Basin near Belo Monte in the central Amazon Basin. Analyses of remotely sensed data will be combined with field observations in order to estimate rates of cleared land and to track the rates of succession at two specific sites. Field-based analyses will assess the relationships among various successional forests, soil types, slope conditions, land uses; these analyses will determine rates of reforestation under different sets of conditions. Detailed analyses of past and present human activities in two sites with more fertile soils will provide a means for assessing the response of forests to clearance and the potential for encouraging deforestation activities into these types of areas rather than into areas with slower natural rates of recovery. This project will provide valuable new information into the processes by which cleared tropical forest tracts regenerate themselves. New insights will result both with respect to the Amazon forests of Brazil and for similar biomes on other continents. The project also will make methodological contributions, providing greater knowledge of the ways that remotely sensed data can be used to monitor deforestation and regeneration. Because this project is conducted in collaboration with two Brazilian agencies and because Brazilian nationals will be employed to help complete it, the project will help develop Brazilian scientific capabilities with respect to this important topic and these useful new methods.