The protected areas of Sarawak now contain the best examples of what were once some of the most d... more The protected areas of Sarawak now contain the best examples of what were once some of the most diverse and continuous mature rainforest in the world. Excluding proposed sites and marine reserves, Sarawak boasts 26 protected areas comprising nature reserves, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. These are the only line of defence in efforts to protect Sarawak’s biodiversity and prevent local extinction. The protected areas cover about 0.5 million hectares of forest, or 4% of Sarawak’s total area. Accelerated land conversion to agriculture, agro-forestry and urban development has confined the residual biodiversity to protected areas and human-modified or secondary habitat. With protected areas being fragmented and isolated, even minor threats to these areas could potentially have large impacts on their biodiversity. The ability of species to persist within such remnants is an issue of concern. With the rapid pace of anthropogenic land use change, Sarawak is running out of potential sites for new high quality protected areas. In light of this, and based on past and present experience, a decisive approach to conserving the remaining diverse mature rainforest is urgently needed. New criteria for reserve selection based on basic principles of ecology are critically needed to maximize conservation gains and priorities.
... small aver-age range size are also located in the extreme north and east of the ... Stevens, ... more ... small aver-age range size are also located in the extreme north and east of the ... Stevens, 1989; Pagel et al., 1991; Letcher & Harvey, 1994; reptiles and amphibians: Stevens, 1989 ... the Rapoport rescue effect might, therefore, appear to account for the high diversity of anthropoid ...
... The possible local influence of the El Niño Southern Oscillations on the evolution and select... more ... The possible local influence of the El Niño Southern Oscillations on the evolution and selection of life-history characteristics among ... However, even the widely held Pleistocene refugia hypothesis (Haffer, 1969; Moreau, 1966, 1969), in which geographical fragmentation of more ...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015
The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substan... more The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher's alpha and an approximate pantropical stem total to estimate the minimum number of tropical forest tree species to fall between ∼40,000 and ∼53,000, i.e., at the high end of previous estimates. Contrary to common assumption, the Indo-Pacific region was found to be as species-rich as the Neotropics, with both regions having a minimum of ∼19,000-25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of ∼4,500-6,000 tree species. Very few species are shared among the African, American, and the Indo-Pacific regions. We provide a methodological framework for estimating species richness in trees that may help refine species richness es...
We contrasted the regeneration success of angiosperm canopy species with that of Podocarpus latif... more We contrasted the regeneration success of angiosperm canopy species with that of Podocarpus latifolius to test whether this conifer was sufficiently shade tolerant to be favoured on infrequently disturbed and well-shaded sites. Seedling and sapling population structures were measured in several habitats representing a light gradient in warm temperate forest in the Drakenberg mountains of South Africa. The angiosperm-dominated forest
The protected areas of Sarawak now contain the best examples of what were once some of the most d... more The protected areas of Sarawak now contain the best examples of what were once some of the most diverse and continuous mature rainforest in the world. Excluding proposed sites and marine reserves, Sarawak boasts 26 protected areas comprising nature reserves, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. These are the only line of defence in efforts to protect Sarawak’s biodiversity and prevent local extinction. The protected areas cover about 0.5 million hectares of forest, or 4% of Sarawak’s total area. Accelerated land conversion to agriculture, agro-forestry and urban development has confined the residual biodiversity to protected areas and human-modified or secondary habitat. With protected areas being fragmented and isolated, even minor threats to these areas could potentially have large impacts on their biodiversity. The ability of species to persist within such remnants is an issue of concern. With the rapid pace of anthropogenic land use change, Sarawak is running out of potential sites for new high quality protected areas. In light of this, and based on past and present experience, a decisive approach to conserving the remaining diverse mature rainforest is urgently needed. New criteria for reserve selection based on basic principles of ecology are critically needed to maximize conservation gains and priorities.
... small aver-age range size are also located in the extreme north and east of the ... Stevens, ... more ... small aver-age range size are also located in the extreme north and east of the ... Stevens, 1989; Pagel et al., 1991; Letcher & Harvey, 1994; reptiles and amphibians: Stevens, 1989 ... the Rapoport rescue effect might, therefore, appear to account for the high diversity of anthropoid ...
... The possible local influence of the El Niño Southern Oscillations on the evolution and select... more ... The possible local influence of the El Niño Southern Oscillations on the evolution and selection of life-history characteristics among ... However, even the widely held Pleistocene refugia hypothesis (Haffer, 1969; Moreau, 1966, 1969), in which geographical fragmentation of more ...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015
The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substan... more The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher's alpha and an approximate pantropical stem total to estimate the minimum number of tropical forest tree species to fall between ∼40,000 and ∼53,000, i.e., at the high end of previous estimates. Contrary to common assumption, the Indo-Pacific region was found to be as species-rich as the Neotropics, with both regions having a minimum of ∼19,000-25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of ∼4,500-6,000 tree species. Very few species are shared among the African, American, and the Indo-Pacific regions. We provide a methodological framework for estimating species richness in trees that may help refine species richness es...
We contrasted the regeneration success of angiosperm canopy species with that of Podocarpus latif... more We contrasted the regeneration success of angiosperm canopy species with that of Podocarpus latifolius to test whether this conifer was sufficiently shade tolerant to be favoured on infrequently disturbed and well-shaded sites. Seedling and sapling population structures were measured in several habitats representing a light gradient in warm temperate forest in the Drakenberg mountains of South Africa. The angiosperm-dominated forest
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