Rainforest Fragmentation and its Impacts on Amazonian Tree Communities

在亚马逊河流域中部，研究小组正在进行世界上最大的（1000平方公里）和最长的（23年）栖息地破碎化的实验研究，重点是树木群落。 树木定义了雨林的物理结构，在生态系统过程中发挥着关键作用，并与无数其他物种相互作用。 因此，树木的命运对破碎森林的生态有着深远的影响。 自20世纪80年代初以来，该团队一直在碎片和完整森林中的1公顷普查地块网络内跟踪近60，000棵大树（直径大于10厘米）的命运。 该小组将在一个战略子集的地块内普查小树和树苗，并重新普查所有69个地块内的大树。 这些数据将被用来检验有关破碎森林生态变化的性质和机制基础的重要假设。在过去十年中，亚马逊森林的丧失和破碎速度急剧加快，大规模的新公路和基础设施项目正在深入盆地的中心。 该项目的成果将直接应用于森林管理战略、保护区系统的设计、生态分区倡议以及目前预测亚马逊森林未来状况的努力。

In central Amazonia, the research team is conducting the world's largest (1000 km2) and longest-running (23 yr) experimental study of habitat fragmentation, with an emphasis on tree communities. Trees define the physical structure of the rainforest, play critical roles in ecosystem processes, and interact with myriad other species. Hence, the fate of trees has a profound influence on the ecology of fragmented forests. Since the early 1980s the team has followed the fates of nearly 60,000 large trees (greater than 10-cm diameter) within a network of 1-ha census plots in fragmented and intact forest. The team will census small trees and saplings within a strategic subset of the plots, as well as re-census the large trees within all 69 plots. These data will be used to test important hypotheses concerning the nature and mechanistic basis of ecological change in fragmented forests.Over the past decade, rates of forest loss and fragmentation have accelerated dramatically in the Amazon, and massive new highways and infrastructure projects are now penetrating deep into the heart of the basin. Results from this project will have direct applications for landscape-management strategies, for the design of protected-area systems, for ecological-zoning initiatives, and for ongoing efforts to project the future conditions of Amazonian forests.