Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Economic Botany and Management Potential of Neotropical Seasonally Dry Forests

  • Chapter
Book cover Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests

Abstract

Seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs) are preferred habitats for people who live in the Neotropics. The reasons for this are straightforward. There are fewer big trees in dry forests than in moist or wet forests, and the land is easier to clear for farming. It is also easier to burn the felled trees and slash after clearing, because of the seasonal drought. Once the tree cover has been removed, the underlying soils are frequently more fertile than those found in regions of higher rainfall, because nutrient leaching is less extreme. Finally, the pronounced dry season keeps pest levels down in agricultural fields and reduces the incidence of mosquito-borne and fungal pathogens that cause health problems. It is not surprising that in many Central American countries the population density in dry forest areas is three to four times higher than that found in wet forest areas (Tosi and Voertman 1964).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Acosta, G.J., C. Illsley, and A. Flores. 1998. Producción foliar en Brahea dulcis (HBK) Mart., Arecaceae, en Topiltepec, Guerrero. Memorias 7th Congreso Latinoamericano de Bótanica y XIV Congreso de Bótanica, México, D.F.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aguilar, J., J. Acoasta, C. Illsley, T. Gómez, J. García, and E. Quintanar. 1997. La Palma y el Monte. Hacia un Major Manejo Comunitario. Cuaderno de trabajo. Grupo de Estudios Ambientales-SSS Sanzekan Tinemi. México, D.F.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alatorre Frenk, G. 2000. La Construcción de una Cultural Gerencial Democrática en las Empresas Forestales Communitarias. Mexico City: Casa Juan Pablos, Procuraduría Agraria.

    Google Scholar 

  • Albuquerque, U.P., and L.H.C. Andrade. 2002. Conhecimento botanico tradicional e conservação em uma area de caatinga no estado de Pernambuco, nordeste do Brasil. Acta Botanica Brasilica 16: 273–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Albuquerque, U.P., L.H.C. Andrade, and A.C.O. Silva. 2005. Use of plant resources in a seasonal dry forest (northeastern Brazil). Acta Botanica Brasilica 19: 27–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Almeida, C., and U.P. Albuquerque. 2002. Uso e conservação de plantas e animais medicinais no estado de Pernambuco (Nordeste do Brasil); um estudo de caso. Interciencia 27: 276–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Argueta, V.A., A. Cano, and M. Rodarte. 1994. Atlas de las Plantas de la Medicina Tradicional Mexicana. México: Instituto Nacional Indigenista.

    Google Scholar 

  • Basile, A.C., J.A. Sertie, P.C.D. Freitas, and A.C. Zanini. 1988. Anti-infammatory activity of oleoresin from Brazilian copaiba. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 22: 101–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bayma, C. 1958. Carnaúba. Rio de Janeiro: Ministerio da Agriculura, Serviço de Infor-mação Agrícola.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bray, D.B., L. Merino-Pérez, and D. Barry. 2005. The Community Forests of Mexico: Managing for a Sustainable Landscape. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bray, D.B., L. Merino-Pérez, P. Negreros-Castillo, G. Segura-Warnholtz, J.M. Torres-Rojo, and H.F.M. Vester. 2003. Mexico's community-managed forests as a global model for sustainable landscapes. Conservation Biology 17: 672–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bullock, S.H. 1995. Plant reproduction in Neotropical dry forests. In Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests, ed. S.H. Bullock, H.A. Mooney, and E. Medina, 277–303. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bye, R. 1981. Quelites: Ethnoecology of edible greens—Past, present, and future. Journal of Ethnobiology 1: 109–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bye, R. 1989. Plantas útiles del bosque tropical caducifolio de Chihuahua, México. In Programa y Resúmenes, Reunión Etnobotánica Ecológica Regional de Selvas Bajas Cadu-cifolias (Bosque tropical caducifolia) y vegetación asociada en México, ed. L. Cervantes and R. Bye, 19–20. Mexico City: Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bye, R. 1995. Ethnobotany of the Mexican tropical dry forests. In Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests, ed. S.H. Bullock, H.A. Mooney, and E. Medina, 423–38. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, D.G., D.C. Daly, G.T. Prance, and U.B. Maciel. 1986. Quantitative ecological inventory of terra firma and várzea tropical forest on the Rio Xingu, Brazilian Amazon. Brittonia 38: 369–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casas, A., and J. Caballero. 1996. Traditional management and morphological variation in Leucaena esculenta (Moc et Sessé ex A. DC.) Benth. (Leguminosae: Mimosoi-deae) in the Mixtec region of Guerrero, Mexico. Economic Botany 50: 167–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casas, A., B. Pickersgill, J. Caballero, and A. Valient-Banuet. 1997. Ethnobotany and the process of domestication of the xoconochtli, Stenocereus stellatus (Cactaeae), in the Tehuacán Valley and La Mixteca Baja, Mexico. Economic Botany 51: 279–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casas, A., M.C. Vázquez, J.L. Viveros, and J. Caballero. 2006. Plant management among the Nahua and the Mixtec in the Balsas River Basin: An ethnobotanical approach to the study of plant domestication. Human Ecology 24: 455–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castillo, G. 1993. Contribución al conocimiento sobre Brahea dulcis (HBK) Mart. en la Region Mixteca de Cárdenas, Oaxaca. PhD diss., Universidad Autónoma de Chap-ingo, México.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chibnick, M. 2003. Crafting Tradition: The Making and Marketing of Oaxacan Wood Carvings. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Codex Mendoza. 1978. Reproduction from the manuscript in the Bodleian Library. Miller Graphics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dwyer, J.D. 1951. The Central America, West Indian, and South American species of Copaifera (Caesalpiniaceae). Brittonnia 7: 143–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fajardo, L., V. González, J. Nassar, P. Lacabana, C.A. Portillo, F. Carrasquet, and J.P. Rodríguez. 2005. Tropical dry forests of Venezuela: Characterization and current conservation status. Biotropica 37: 531–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO. 2000. Non-Wood Forest Products Study for Mexico, Cuba, and South America. Forest Resources Assessment Working Paper 11. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2003. Non-Wood News. No. 10. Wood and Non-Wood Products Utilization Branch, FAO Forest Products Division. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankie, G.W., H.G. Baker, and P.A. Opler. 1974. Comparative phenological studies of trees in tropical wet and dry forests in lowlands of Costa Rica. Journal of Ecology 62: 881–919.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1988. Tree species richness of upper Amazonian forests. Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences 85: 156–59.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1991. The distribution and evolution of climbing plants. In The biology of vines, ed. F.G.E. Putz and H.A. Mooney, 3–42. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1995. Diversity and foristic composition of Neotropical dry forests. In Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests, ed. S.H. Bullock, H.A. Mooney, and E. Medina, 147–94. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gentry, A.H., and J. Terborgh. 1990. Composition and dynamics of the Cocha Cashu mature foodplain forest. In Four Neotropical Rainforests, ed. A.H. Gentry, 542–64. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillespie, T.W., A. Grijalva, and C.N. Farris. 2000. Diversity, composition, and structure of tropical dry forests in Central America. Plant Ecology 147: 3–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, J.E., E. Bowen‐Jones, and M.A. González. 2006. What determines dry forest conservation in Mesoamerica? Opportunism and pragmatism in Mexican and Nica‐raguan protected areas. In Neotropical Savannas and Seasonally Dry Forests: Plant Diversity, Biogeography, and Conservation, ed. R.T. Pennington, G.P. Lewis, and J.A. Ratter, 343–57. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, A., G. Galeano, and R. Bernal. 1995. Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • IBGE. 2005. Produção da Extração Vegetal e da Silvicultura 2005. Rio de Janiero: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografa e Estatística, Distrito Federal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Illsley, C., J. Aguilar, J. Acosta, J. García, and J. Caballero. 1998. Manchoneras y soyaca-huiteras: Manejo campesino de Brahea dulcis (HBK) Mart. en la región de Chilapa, Guerrero. México: Memorias 7th Congreso Latinoamericanao de Botánica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Illsley, C., J. Aguilar, J. Acosta, J. García, T. Gómez, and J. Caballero. 2001. Contribuciones al conocimiento y manejo campesino de los palmares de Brahea dulcis (HBK) Mart. en al region de Chilapa, Guerrero. In Plantas, Cultura y Sociedad. Estudio de la Relación entre Seres Humanos y Plantas en la Albores del Siglo XXI, ed. A. Rendón, D. Rebollar, N. Caballero, and A. Martínez, 259–386. México: UAM Iztapalapa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, D. 1972. The carnauba wax palm (Copernicia prunifera). 4. Economic uses. Principes 16: 128–31.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kennard, D.K., K. Gould, F.E. Putz, T.S. Frederisckons, and F. Morales. 2002. Effect of disturbance intensity on regeneration mechanisms in a Neotropical dry forest. Forest Ecology and Management 162: 197–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Killeen, T.J., A. Jardim, F. Mamani, N. Rojas, and P. Saravia. 1998. Diversity, composition and structure of a tropical semideciduous forest in the Chiquitanía region of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Journal of Tropical Ecology 14: 803–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langenheim, J.H. 1981. Terpenoids in the Leguminosae. In Advances in Legume Sys-tematics, ed. R.M. Polhill and P.H. Raven, 627–55. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawless, J. 1995. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils. London: Element Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linskens, H.F., and J.J. Jackson. 1991. Essential Oils and Waxes. New York: SpringerVerlag.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Little, E.L., and F.H. Wadsworth. 1964. Common Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Agricultural Handbook 249. Washington, DC: USDA Forest Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • López, A.M. 2001. Evaluación de la demanda y extracción de Madera de copal (Bursera spp.) para artesanía en communidades de los valles centrales de Oaxaca. MS diss., Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorenzi, H., and F.J.A. Matos. 2002. Plantas medicinais do Brasil: Nativas e exóticas. Instituto Platnarum, Nova Odessa, São Paulo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lott, E.J., and T.H. Atkinson. 2006. Mexican and Central American seasonally dry tropical forests: Chamela-Cuixmala, Jalisco, as a focal point for comparison. In Neotropical Savannas and Seasonally Dry Forests: Plant Diversity, Biogeography, and Conservation, ed. R.T. Pennington, G.P. Lewis, and J.A. Ratter, 315–42. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez, M. 1969. Las Plantas Medicinales de México. México, D.F: Botas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mastache, F., G. Alba, and E.N. Moret. 1982. El Trabajo de la Palma en la Región de la Montaña, Guerrero. México: Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matos, F.J.A. 1999. Plantas da Medicina Popular do Nordeste. Fortaleza, Brazil: Editora UFC.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald, M.A., and K.P. McLaren. 2003. Coppice regrowth in a disturbed tropical dry limestone forest in Jamaica. Forest Ecology and Management 180: 98–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miranda, F. 1947. Estudios sobre la vegetación de México. V. Rasgos de la vegetación de la cuenca del Río Balsas. Revista de la Sociedad Mexicana de Historia Natural 8: 95–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monteiro, J.M., C.F. Almeida, U.P. Albuquergue, R.F.P. Lucena, A.T.N. Florentino, and R.L.C. Oliveira. 2006. Use and traditional management of Anadenanthera colubrine (Vell.) Brenan in the semi‐arid region of northeastern Brazil. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2: 6–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noblick, L.R. 1986. Palmeiras das caatingas da Bahia e as potencialidades econômicas. Simpósio sobre a Caatinga e sua Exploração Racional. Brasilia: EMBRAPA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira, P.E.A.M., and A.G. Moreira. 1992. Anemocoria em espécies de Cerrado e Mata de Galeria de Brazília, DF. Revista Brasileira de Botânica 15: 163–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olivera, O.G. 1998. Estudio fitoquímico del Cuachalalate (Amphipterygium adstringens). MS diss., Colegio de Postgraduados, Montecillo, Estado de México.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, C.M. 1994. Sustainable Harvest of Non-timber Plant Resources in Tropical Moist Forests: An Ecological Primer. Washington, DC: Biodiversity Support Program.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, C.M., S.E. Purata, M. Chibnick, B.J. Brosi, A.M. López, and M. Ambrosio. 2003. The life and times of Bursera glabrifolia (HBK) Engl. in Mexico: A parable for ethnobotany. Economic Botany 57: 431–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pimienta Barrios, E., and P. Nobel. 1994. Pitaya (Stenocereus spp., Cactaceae): An ancient and modern fruit crop of Mexico. Economic Botany 48: 76–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prance, G.T. 1972. Chrysobalancaceae. Flora Neotropica Monograph 9: 85–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quesada, M., and K.E. Stoner. 2004. Threats to the conservation of the tropical dry forest in Costa Rica. In Biodiversity Conservation in Costa Rica: Learning the Lessons in a Seasonal Dry Forest, ed. G.W. Frankie, A. Mata, and S.B. Vinson, 266–80. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quigley, M.F., and W.J. Platt. 2003. Composition and structure of seasonally deciduous forests in the Americas. Ecological Monographs 73: 87–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robichaux, R.H., and D.A. Yetman. 2000. The Tropical Deciduous Forest of Alamos. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabogal, C. 1992. Regeneration of tropical dry forests in Central America, with examples from Nicaragua. Journal of Vegetation Science 3: 407–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sampaio, E.V.S.B. 2002. Uso das plantas da caatinga. In Vegetação e Flora da Caatinga, ed. E.V.S.B. Sampaio, A.M. Giulietti, J. Virgínio, and C.L. Gamarra-Rojas, 49–90. Recife: Centro Orestino de Informação sobre Plantas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Santos, C.A.F. 1999. In-situ evaluation of fruit yield and estimation of repeatability coef-fcient for major fruit traits of umbu tree, Spondias tuberosa (Anacardiaceae), in the semi-arid region of Brazil. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 46: 455–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silva, A.C.O., and U.S.P. Albuquerque. 2005. Woody medicinal plants of the caatinga in the state of Pernambuco (northeast Brazil). Acta Botanica Brasilica 19: 17–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silva, M.A. 1986. Plantas Úteias da Caatinga. Simpósio Sobre Caatinga e sua Exploração Racional. Brasilia: EMBRAPA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silva, S., and H. Tassara. 1996. Frutas no Brasil. São Paolo: Empresa das Artes.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solares, A.F. 1995. Capacidad de regeneración de la corteza y evaluación fitoquímica antes y despues descortezamiento en Cuachalalate. MS diss., Programa Forestal, Colegio de Postgraduadoas, Montecillo, Estado de México.

    Google Scholar 

  • Standley, P.C. 1923. Trees and shrubs of Mexico. Contributions of the United States National Herbarium 23: 542–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toledo, V.M. 1992. Bio‐economic cost. In The Conversion of Tropical Forest to Pasture in Latin America, ed. T. Downing, S. Hecht, and H. Pearson, 63–71. New York: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tosi, J.A., and R.F. Voertman. 1964. Some environmental factors in the economic development of the tropics. Economic Geography 40: 189–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vallejo, M.A., and F.J. Oveido. 1994. Características Botánicas, Usos y Distribución de los Principales Arboles y Arbustos con Potencial Forrajero de América Central. Vol. 2. Serie Técnica, Informe Técnica No. 236. Costa Rica: Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Ensenañza (CATIE).

    Google Scholar 

  • Vázquez, R.M.C. 1991. Tendencias en el proceso de domesticación del papaloquelite (Porophyllum ruderale [Jacq.] Cass. subsp. macrocephalum [DC] R.R. Johnson Asteraceae). MS diss., Universidad Nacional Autónomo de México.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veiga, V.F., L. Zunino, J.B. Calixto, M.L. Patitucci, and A.C. Pinto. 2001. The Copaifera genus. Quimica Nova 25: 272–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Victor, P. 1990. Plantas medicinais: Comparação da fora de quarto municipios de Per-nambco. PhD diss., Universidade Federal de Pernambuco.

    Google Scholar 

  • Viera, R.F. 1999. Conservation of medicinal and aromatic plants in Brazil. In New Crops and New Uses: Biodiversity and Agricultural Sustainability, ed. J. Janick, 152–59. Alexandria, VA: ASHS Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wikander, T. 1984. Mecanismos de dispersión de diasporas de una selva deciduas en Venezuela. Biotropica 16: 276–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, H.C., and A. Osol. 1943. The Dispensatory of the USA. 23rd ed. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yetman, D.A., T.R. Van Devender, R.A. López Estudillo, and A.L.R. Guerrero. 2000. Monte Mojino: Maya people and trees in southern Sonora. In The Tropical Deciduous Forest of Alamos: Biodiversity of a Threatened Ecosystem in Mexico, ed. R.H. Robi-chaux and D.A. Yetman, 102–51. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zarin, D.J., J.R.R. Alavalapati, F.E. Putz, and M. Schmink. 2004. Working Forests in the Neotropics: Conservation through Sustainable Management. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Silvia Purata and Catarina Illsley for kindly sharing information, insights, and photos from their groundbreaking research in Mexico, Rodolfo Dirzo and Hal Mooney for providing the motivation to write this chapter, and the Overbrook Foundation for its continual support of community forestry in the Neotropics.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Economic Botany, New York

    Charles M. Peters

Authors
  1. Charles M. Peters
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Rodolfo Dirzo Hillary S. Young Harold A. Mooney Gerardo Ceballos

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Island Press

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Peters, C.M. (2011). Economic Botany and Management Potential of Neotropical Seasonally Dry Forests. 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_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Societies and partnerships

Search

Navigation