Clear-fellings to introduce heterogeneity can be an important component of a forest management plan. However, it is misleading to compare clear-fellings to protected areas dominated by old-growth forests using a simplistic measure of biodiversity and without a landscape perspective. To minimize the well-documented role of protected areas can have adverse effects on forested landscapes, primary forest remnants, and taxa that rely on forest structural elements characteristic of old-growth forests. Hide

Plants produce a considerable number of structures of one kind, like leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds, which are not identical. This paper provides an overview of current knowledge on traits that vary subindividually, the magnitude of subindividual variation, and its spatial patterning. Examples are presented on the consequences of subindividual variation for plants and consumers. Emerging links between genetics, epigenetics, subindividual variation, and population ecology are also considered. Hide

Arthropod monitoring in protected areas often requires non-destructive methods in order to avoid detrimental effects on natural communities. Video monitoring recorded the highest number of individuals followed by quadrat sampling and pitfall trapping. Quadrat sampling showed the highest diversity followed by video monitoring and pitfall trapping. Thus, video monitoring has a great potential as a supplementary method for biodiversity assessments especially at the level of parataxonomic units. Hide

Tropical forests are faced with a loss of forest cover with effects on ecosystem processes. We quantified decomposition within forest fragments and sites affected by increasing levels of agricultural land-use intensity. Mass loss increased with the area of forest fragments and decreased with land-use intensification. Fragmentation has negative effects on litter decomposition. However, the magnitude of this negative effect was not as large as expected. Hide