After 40 years of government induced settlement of the Brazilian Amazon, the core of this region has experienced surprisingly little deforestation. The agriculture and ranching that cause deforestation depend upon reliable roads, which are concentrated along the eastern and southern flanks of Amazonia. This ‘passive protection’ of central Amazonia may soon be lost, however, unless the proposed paving of roads through the core of the region is reassessed.
Testing the Amazon savannization hypothesis: fire effects on invasion of a neotropical forest by native cerrado and exotic pasture grasses
Testing the Amazon savannization hypothesis: fire effects on invasion of a neotropical forest by native cerrado and exotic pasture grasses
Changes in climate and land use that interact synergistically to increase fire frequencies and intensities in tropical regions are predicted to drive forests to new grass-dominated stable states. To reveal the mechanisms for such a transition, we established 50 ha...