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Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest Biodiversity and Conservation Value in Agricultural Landscapes of Mesoamerica

  • Chapter
Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests

Abstract

The Mesoamerican region is blessed with tremendous biological richness, a high level of species endemism, and a diverse cultural heritage. Yet in 2000, only 30 percent of the region’s forest cover remained. Overall, 37.4 percent of the land area of Mesoamerica is used for agriculture (CCAD 2002); much of this agriculture is concentrated in the more seasonal areas previously occupied by seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF). Pasture is the predominant agricultural land use in Central America, constituting 61.1 percent of all agricultural land in 2000 (FAO 2005). Rice, sugarcane, maize, and beans constitute other major agricultural products grown in dry forest zones of Mesoamerica (Donald 2004; Harvey, Alpizar et al. 2005).

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Acknowledgments

Our synthesis was stimulated by a working group on Biodiversity and Conservation Value in Agricultural Landscapes of Mesoamerica, supported by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) Center funded by the NSF (Grant #DEB-0072909), the University of California, and the Santa Barbara campus. Robin L. Chazdon’s research was supported by NSF DEB-0424767 and NSF DEB 0639393. Research by Celia A. Harvey was supported by the FRAGMENT and CORRIDOR projects, funded by the European Union (INCO-DEV ICA4-CT-2001-10099 and INCO-CT-2005-517644). Research by Kathryn E. Stoner and Luis Daniel Avila Cabadilla was partially supported by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI CRN2-21). Funding for the Chamela successional research was provided by a grant from SEMARNAT-CONACYT (CB-2005-01, No. 24843) and SEP-CONACYT (CB-2005-01-51043). We thank Lorena Morales-Pérez for use of unpublished data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of Connecticut, Connecticut, USA

    Robin L. Chazdon

  2. Department of Global Change and Ecosystem Services, Conservation International, USA

    Celia A. Harvey (vice president)

  3. Center for Ecosystem Research, UNAM, Mexico

    Miguel Martínez-Ramos, Patricia Balvanera & Jorge E. Schondube

  4. Centro de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas, UNAM, Mexico

    Kathryn E. Stoner

  5. Universidad de La Habana, Cuba

    Luis Daniel Avila Cabadilla

  6. Central Plateau, subtropical scrub, Mexico

    MÓnica Flores-Hidalgo

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Chazdon, R.L. et al. (2011). Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest Biodiversity and Conservation Value in Agricultural Landscapes of Mesoamerica. In: Dirzo, R., Young, H.S., Mooney, H.A., Ceballos, G. (eds) Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-021-7_12

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