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SUMMARY:What we can learn from deforestation patterns and historical distu
 rbance effects in tropical rain forests of the Blue and John Crow Mountain
 s National Park - Shauna-Lee Chai
DTSTART:20100618T120000Z
DTEND:20100618T123000Z
UID:TALK23965@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:15560
DESCRIPTION:I evaluated (a) how well the forest of the Blue and John Crow 
 Mountains National Park (BJCMNP) in Jamaica is being conserved and (b) how
  previous land use 150 years ago has affected current forest composition. 
 \n\nI investigated an elevation bias within the BJCMNP\; much of the park 
 is at high altitude\, but deforestation is mostly confined to low altitude
 s – thus average deforestation rates for the park are potentially mislea
 ding when considering conservation. I found that in 2008\, inside the mont
 ane zone of the Park (> 1000 m above sea level)\, only 4 % of forest was c
 leared\, while in the lowland zone (< 1000 m asl)\, the percentage of fore
 st cleared was seven times as high. IUCN Red List data showed that about 7
 1 % of threatened tree species in the Blue Mountains grow in the lowland r
 egion\, 92 % of which are endemic. From these findings\, I identify a ‘p
 rotected area hotspot zone’\, which lies inside the protected area (PA) 
 boundary but below the core high-altitude zone\, and which should be insti
 tuted in tropical forest PAs that include mountains. The measurement of PA
  effectiveness within this zone will allow legal protection to be truly as
 sessed\, and prevent PAs from gaining credibility due to large remaining i
 naccessible\, high-altitude areas. \n\nThe long term impacts of historical
  land use on tropical forest tree species composition and structure are se
 ldom studied. I used old plantation survey maps of 19th century coffee pla
 ntations in the BJCMNP to investigate the effects of land use history on f
 orest tree species composition and structure after 150-170 years of re-gro
 wth. I found that old growth forests are still different from forests on a
 djacent old plantations after 150-170 years of re-growth in having higher 
 endemic species richness and abundance\, and in the tree species compositi
 on of different trunk diameter size classes. While secondary forests are i
 mportant for carbon storage and after two-centuries can have similar tree 
 species richness and basal area to old growth forests\, the conservation v
 alue of old growth is apparent in their higher abundance and richness of e
 ndemic tree species.
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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