TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluating ipê (Tabebuia, Bignoniaceae) logging in Amazonia
T2 - Sustainable management or catalyst for forest degradation?
AU - Schulze, Mark
AU - Grogan, James
AU - Uhl, Chris
AU - Lentini, Marco
AU - Vidal, Edson
N1 - Funding Information:
We especially thank L. Rogério Oliveira for providing inventory data from Rondônia and Amazonas, and Rodney Salomão for assistance with preparation of the economic accessibility model in Fig. 4 . Funding for various phases of this research was provided by the US Agency for International Development, the National Science Foundation (graduate fellowship), the Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation, the Conservation, Food and Health Foundation, the International Tropical Timber Organization, the Lincoln Park Zoo Scott Neoptropic Fund, and the Milton and Miriam Handler Foundation. Among many contributors in the field, we thank Elaelson Santos, Josieldo Pantoja, Manoel Rodrigues Vitorino, Marcelo Galdino, Maria Nascimento Rodrigues, Miguel Alves de Jesus, Miguel Lopes, and Waldemir Ribeiro da Cruz.
PY - 2008/8
Y1 - 2008/8
N2 - Prized for their dense, rot-resistant wood, Tabebuia impetiginosa and T. serratifolia (vernacular name = ipê) are among the most valuable Amazonian timbers. We analyzed the geographical extent, spread and trajectory of ipê logging in Brazilian Amazonia, and evaluated harvest pressure on this forest resource. We also examine Tabebuia population response to reduced-impact logging, a more ecologically benign alternative to destructive conventional harvest practices in Amazonia. Based on eight years of population monitoring at multiple sites in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, we project second harvest ipê yields in forests logged using RIL under legally allowable (90% of commercial stems) and reduced (70%) harvest intensities. In recent years ipê harvests have declined or ceased in the majority of old logging frontiers in eastern Amazonia while spreading to new logging frontiers in central and southwestern Amazonia. With current timber market prices, transportation infrastructure and harvesting costs, logging of ipê would be profitable in an estimated 63% of the Brazilian Amazon; in the more remote logging frontiers only logging of ipê and a few other high-value timbers is currently profitable. All populations of T. impetiginosa and T. serratifolia in northeastern forests showed drastic population declines over multiple RIL harvests in simulations, with no indication of population recovery over the long term. We conclude from study of Tabebuia populations in eastern Amazonia and modeling of response to logging that these two species are endangered by logging activity and merit additional protection under forest legislation.
AB - Prized for their dense, rot-resistant wood, Tabebuia impetiginosa and T. serratifolia (vernacular name = ipê) are among the most valuable Amazonian timbers. We analyzed the geographical extent, spread and trajectory of ipê logging in Brazilian Amazonia, and evaluated harvest pressure on this forest resource. We also examine Tabebuia population response to reduced-impact logging, a more ecologically benign alternative to destructive conventional harvest practices in Amazonia. Based on eight years of population monitoring at multiple sites in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, we project second harvest ipê yields in forests logged using RIL under legally allowable (90% of commercial stems) and reduced (70%) harvest intensities. In recent years ipê harvests have declined or ceased in the majority of old logging frontiers in eastern Amazonia while spreading to new logging frontiers in central and southwestern Amazonia. With current timber market prices, transportation infrastructure and harvesting costs, logging of ipê would be profitable in an estimated 63% of the Brazilian Amazon; in the more remote logging frontiers only logging of ipê and a few other high-value timbers is currently profitable. All populations of T. impetiginosa and T. serratifolia in northeastern forests showed drastic population declines over multiple RIL harvests in simulations, with no indication of population recovery over the long term. We conclude from study of Tabebuia populations in eastern Amazonia and modeling of response to logging that these two species are endangered by logging activity and merit additional protection under forest legislation.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.biocon.2008.06.003
DO - 10.1016/j.biocon.2008.06.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:49349099262
SN - 0006-3207
VL - 141
SP - 2071
EP - 2085
JO - Biological Conservation
JF - Biological Conservation
IS - 8
ER -