Jari Phase II

Devising strategies to integrate biodiversity conservation in plantation dominated landscapes

Project team

Primary contacts

Jos Barlow
Toby Gardner
Carlos Peres

Additional Members
Ivanei Araujo
Maria Esposito
Joseph Hawes
Malva Hernandez
William Overal
Sandra Peters

Project summary

This project aims to identify and analyse existing trade-offs between the management of tropical forest landscapes for economic production and the conservation of biological diversity. To achieve this, we are currently addressing two important questions;

a) The biodiversity value of terra firme and riparian forest corridors

Primary forest corridors are required by Brazilian law as a key component of “legal forest reserves” within private landholdings. They are also an integral part of numerous conservation programmes aimed at linking reserves in fragmented areas, and are frequently used in agri- and silvi-cultural landscapes to help prevent the spread of diseases and pests. Despite the potential importance of these corridors in the wider landscape, their long-term effectiveness for biodiversity conservation remains very poorly understood, especially in the tropics. We are examining the long-term conservation value of 20-30 year old forest corridors, comparing terra firme (unflooded) and riparian corridors, and the importance of differences in corridor length and width.

b) Maximising biodiversity conservation opportunities within tropical production forests.

We aim to identify and examine the trade-offs between the management of tropical plantation forests for production and for the conservation of biological diversity. By examining the factors that limit biodiversity in plantations, we aim to support the development of feasible conservation strategies that can be adopted by forestry companies to help maximise biodiversity conservation at the landscape level. We are currently sampling two selected indicator taxa across multiple sites, simultaneously examining how plantation age, productivity, the development of a native understorey, and the composition of the surrounding landscape matrix, can effect levels of biodiversity.

Key publications

Forthcoming

Collaborating institutions

Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, School of
Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom

Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG), Av. Perimetral 1901, Bairro Terra Firme, Belém - Pará, 66.077-530, Brazil

Orsa Florestal / Jari Cellulose Vila Munguba, S/N - Monte Dourado, Pará CEP 68240-000, Brazil.

Universidade Federal da Paraiba, Cidade Universitária-Campus I, 58.059-900, João Pessoa - Paraiba, Brazil

Dept. of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 4B8, Canada

Project Sponsors

	United Kingdom Government Darwin Initiative
	University of East Anglia (UK). Expedition Committee Grant

	Orsa Florestal / Jari Cellulose Vila Munguba, S/N - Monte Dourado, Pará CEP 68240-000, Brazil.
	Royal Geographic Society (with Institute of British Geographers) (UK). Expedition Grant

	Percy Sladen Trust (UK)
	British Ecological Society (UK) (Small Project Grant)

	Karen Hansen Trust (UK)