Summary1. Tropical plant populations are often subject to multiple types of anthropogenic disturbance. Effective management requires disentangling the effects of these disturbances and prioritizing interventions for the driver(s) most responsible for population decline. However, the effects of multiple drivers on plant population dynamics are rarely examined. 2. We assessed the independent and combined effects of common anthropogenic disturbances on the transient and long-term population dynamics of two economically important, declining tree species in an Indian dry forest. Specifically, we drew on 10 years of demographic monitoring to assess the effects of non-timber forest product (NTFP) harvest and two invasive species (an understorey shrub Lantana camara and a mistletoe Taxillus tomentosus) on amla (Phyllanthus emblica and Phyllanthus indofischeri) populations. 3. Although fruit harvest has been blamed for declining amla populations, the current policy and management strategies implemented to restrict it have little effect on long-term stochastic growth rates (k s ) of amla both with and without invasive species. In contrast, mistletoes significantly decreased k s of both species. 4. Lantana had both direct and indirect effects on P. emblica, causing a regeneration bottleneck. Lantana had a direct negative effect on seeding and sapling growth, whereas populations without lantana experienced higher levels of grazing by wild animals. Over 10 years, P. emblica populations dropped to 16% of their original size in areas with invasive species. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our results illustrate that mistletoe and lantana, not fruit harvest, are the main drivers of amla decline, and these species are likely to be driving the decline of other Indian dry forest tree species. Management directed only at limiting fruit harvest will be ineffective. Instead, control of both invasive species combined with temporary protection from grazing is urgently needed. The ban on fruit harvest in Indian protected areas is not an effective conservation policy for these species. Harvest is not necessarily the main cause of decline for NTFP species. Management plans for NTFP and other at-risk species must consider the relative effects of different drivers of decline, including direct and indirect effects of invasive species.

A B S T R A C TTo examine management options for biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, eight research regions were classified into social-ecological domains, using a dataset of indicators of livelihood resources, i.e., capital assets. Potential interventions for biodiversity-based agriculture were then compared among landscapes and domains. The approach combined literature review with expert judgment by researchers working in each landscape. Each landscape was described for land use, rural livelihoods and attitudes of social actors toward biodiversity and intensification of agriculture. Principal components analysis of 40 indicators of natural, human, social, financial and physical capital for the eight landscapes showed a loss of biodiversity associated with high-input agricultural intensification. High levels of natural capital (e.g. indicators of wildland biodiversity conservation and agrobiodiversity for human needs) were positively associated with indicators of human capital, including knowledge of the flora and fauna and knowledge sharing among farmers. Three social-ecological domains were identified across the eight landscapes (Tropical Agriculture-Forest Matrix, Tropical Degrading Agroecosystem, and Temperate High-Input Commodity Agriculture) using hierarchical clustering of the indicator values. Each domain shared a set of interventions for biodiversity-based agriculture and ecological intensification that could also increase food security in the impoverished landscapes. Implementation of interventions differed greatly among the landscapes, e.g. financial capital for new farming practices in the Intensive Agriculture domain vs. developing market value chains in the other domains. This exploratory study suggests that indicators of knowledge systems should receive greater emphasis in the monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and that inventories of assets at the landscape level can inform adaptive management of agrobiodiversity-based interventions.ß

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Introduction: Many economically important non-timber forest products (NTFPs) come from widespread and common plant species. Harvest of these species often is assumed to be sustainable due to their commonness. However, because of the ecological roles of common species, harvest may affect and be affected by ecological interactions at broader scales, which are rarely considered when evaluating the sustainability of harvest. We use a case study of the mountain date palm (Phoenix loureiroi Kunth), harvested in South India to produce brooms, to present a conceptual framework illustrating how intensive harvest of a common species interacts with other anthropogenic management practices, plant-animal interactions and surrounding environmental conditions. Methods: We apply this framework to understanding the impacts of mountain date palm harvest in the southern Western Ghats regions of the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. We integrate data on the extent and levels of commercial harvest, local management practices, the ecological context in which harvest occurs, and research on harvest effects. We use this information to document the intensity and extent of mountain date palm harvest in the study area, identify the ecological implications of harvest, and demonstrate how a framework that considers harvest in the context of ecological communities and ecosystems is important for assessing the impacts of harvest of common NTFP species. Results: We show that mountain date palm leaves are heavily harvested from natural areas in the southern Western Ghats but that harvest levels have declined in recent years. Mountain date palm management and harvest occur within a network of ecological interactions, linking human activities to population-, community-, and ecosystem-level processes. We demonstrate that understanding the effects of return interval of anthropogenic fire, herbivory by wild animals and livestock, as well as the light environment in which harvest occurs are critical to assessing the sustainability of mountain date palm harvest.

Multiple actors are typically involved in forest management, namely communities, managers and researchers. In such cases, suboptimal management outcomes may, in addition to other factors, be symptomatic of a divergence in perspectives among these actors driven by fundamental differences in ecological knowledge. We examine the degree of congruence between the understandings of actors surrounding key issues of management concern in three case studies from tropical, subtropical and boreal forests. We identify commonly encountered points of divergence in ecological knowledge relating to key management processes and issues. We use these to formulate seven hypotheses about differences in the bodies of knowledge that frequently underlie communication and learning failures in forest management contexts where multiple actors are involved and outcomes are judged to be suboptimal. Finally, we present a set of propositions to acknowledge and narrow these differences. A more complete recognition of the full triangulation between all actors involved, and of the influence that fundamental differences in ecological knowledge can exert, may help lead to a more fruitful integration between local knowledge and practice, manager knowledge and practice, and contemporary science in forest management.