The Ecological Consequences of Socioeconomic and Land-Use Changes in Postagriculture Puerto Rico

Grau, H. Ricardo; Aide, T. Mitchell; Zimmerman, Jess K.; Thomlinson, John R.; Helmer, Eileen H.; Zou, Xiaoming

doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2003)053[1159:tecosa]2.0.co;2

Cited by 322 publications

(268 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Although this general view has many complications that drive local ecological and sociopolitical dynamics, as an overview of eastern North American forest history it seems historically accurate, and has been referred to as the "forest transition model" (3)(4)(5). Similar processes have been described for some European countries (5), the rural U.S. South (6), and, most importantly given its tropical location, Puerto Rico (7)(8)(9)(10). Based on this and other examples, some have proposed that the FT model could be a framework for understanding tropical landscape dynamics in general and even be used for promoting a conservation agenda (8,9,11).…”

Section: The Forest Transition Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

The agroecological matrix as alternative to the land-sparing/agriculture intensification model

Perfecto

Vandermeer²

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

545

392

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Among the myriad complications involved in the current food crisis, the relationship between agriculture and the rest of nature is one of the most important yet remains only incompletely analyzed. Particularly in tropical areas, agriculture is frequently seen as the antithesis of the natural world, where the problem is framed as one of minimizing land devoted to agriculture so as to devote more to conservation of biodiversity and other ecosystem services. In particular, the "forest transition model" projects an overly optimistic vision of a future where increased agricultural intensification (to produce more per hectare) and/or increased rural-to-urban migration (to reduce the rural population that cuts forest for agriculture) suggests a near future of much tropical aforestation and higher agricultural production. Reviewing recent developments in ecological theory (showing the importance of migration between fragments and local extinction rates) coupled with empirical evidence, we argue that there is little to suggest that the forest transition model is useful for tropical areas, at least under current sociopolitical structures. A model that incorporates the agricultural matrix as an integral component of conservation programs is proposed. Furthermore, we suggest that this model will be most successful within a framework of small-scale agroecological production.food crisis | biodiversity | fragmented landscapes | matrix quality | smallscale farmers

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Section: The Forest Transition Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

The agroecological matrix as alternative to the land-sparing/agriculture intensification model

Perfecto

Vandermeer²

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

545

392

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“…The associated abandonment of pastures and agricultural fields allowed secondary forests to develop over increasingly large areas as time progressed (Thomlinson et al, 1996;Grau et al, 2003;Helmer, 2004;Parés-Ramos et al, 2008;Fig. 1 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 documented, both in terms of its expansion over time, and forest composition and structure Chinea and Helmer, 2003;Grau et al, 2003).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increases in forest area for the investigated catchments were 2 to 55 % (mean 26 %), with increases exceeding 20 % in six of the twelve catchments. However, forest regeneration progressed from the headwaters to the lowlands (Grau et al, 2003) and by the time the records started (cf . Table 1) most of the headwaters would have been reforested already.…”

Section: Potential Explanations For the Lack Of Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of forest regeneration on streamflow in 12 mesoscale humid tropical catchments

Beck

Bruijnzeel

Dijk

et al. 2013

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

105

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Abstract. Although regenerating forests make up an increasingly large portion of humid tropical landscapes, little is known of their water use and effects on streamflow (Q). Since the 1950s the island of Puerto Rico has experienced widespread abandonment of pastures and agricultural lands, followed by forest regeneration. This paper examines the possible impacts of these secondary forests on several Q characteristics for 12 mesoscale catchments (23-346 km 2 ; mean precipitation 1720-3422 mm yr −1 ) with long (33-51 yr) and simultaneous records for Q, precipitation (P ), potential evaporation (PET), and land cover. A simple spatially-lumped, conceptual rainfall-runoff model that uses daily P and PET time series as inputs (HBV-light) was used to simulate Q for each catchment. Annual time series of observed and simulated values of four Q characteristics were calculated. A least-squares trend was fitted through annual time series of the residual difference between observed and simulated time series of each Q characteristic. From this the total cumulative change (Â) was calculated, representing the change in each Q characteristic after controlling for climate variability and water storage carry-over effects between years. Negative values ofÂ were found for most catchments and Q characteristics, suggesting enhanced actual evaporation overall following forest regeneration. However, correlations between changes in urban or forest area and values ofÂ were insignificant (p ≥ 0.389) for all Q characteristics. This suggests there is no convincing evidence that changes in the chosen Q characteristics in these Puerto Rican catchments can be ascribed to changes in urban or forest area. The present results are in line with previous studies of mesoand macro-scale (sub-)tropical catchments, which generally found no significant change in Q that can be attributed to changes in forest cover. Possible explanations for the lack of a clear signal may include errors in the land cover, climate, Q, and/or catchment boundary data; changes in forest area occurring mainly in the less rainy lowlands; and heterogeneity in catchment response. Different results were obtained for different catchments, and using a smaller subset of catchments could have led to very different conclusions. This highlights the importance of including multiple catchments in land-cover impact analysis at the mesoscale.

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“…People have been moving to the cities and the lowland tropics at high rates throughout the Andes (Suarez & Torrealba 1982;Zimmerer 1993;Gray 2009), and approximately 45.4% of families have moved out of the study area since the 1990s (Hartman 2014). Previous studies have found that outmigration and increased reliance on off-farm labor can lead to regeneration in grassland and forest biomes due to land abandonment, consolidation of agricultural activities on the most productive lands, and reduced pressure from grazing and wood harvest (Grau et al 2003;Olsson et al 2005;Baptista & Rudel 2006;Kull et al 2007;Izquierdo et al 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in carbon storage with land management promoted by payment for ecosystem services

et al. 2016

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SUMMARYAndean grasslands (páramos) are highly valued for their role in regional water supply as well as for their biodiversity and large soil carbon stocks. Several Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programmes promote either afforestation or alteration of traditional burning regimes under the assumption that these land management strategies will maximize páramo ecosystem services, including carbon storage. However, knowledge of the effects of incentivized land uses is limited. In an evaluation of how afforestation and elimination of burning affect carbon storage at a site in southern Ecuador, we found the highest above-ground biomass carbon levels at afforested sites (99.3–122.0 t C ha−1), while grassland sites reached 23.9 t C ha−1 after 45 years of burn exclusion. Soil carbon storage from 0–20 cm was high across all sites (172.8–201.9 t C ha−1), but was significantly lower with afforestation than with burn exclusion. These findings suggest that, although afforestation is generally favoured when carbon is the primary ecosystem service of interest, grasslands with infrequent burning have important potential as a land management strategy when both above-ground biomass and soil carbon are considered. These results are relevant to the development and adaptation of PES programmes focused on carbon as well as those focused on multiple ecosystem services.

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The Ecological Consequences of Socioeconomic and Land-Use Changes in Postagriculture Puerto Rico

Cited by 322 publications

References 45 publications

The agroecological matrix as alternative to the land-sparing/agriculture intensification model

The agroecological matrix as alternative to the land-sparing/agriculture intensification model

The impact of forest regeneration on streamflow in 12 mesoscale humid tropical catchments

Changes in carbon storage with land management promoted by payment for ecosystem services

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