The course emphasizes the ecological and biological aspects of tropical environments, focusing on plant organisms. The student will be introduced to all major tropical ecosystems, to the diversity concept and function and to conservation
Textbooks:
Osborne, P. J. 2000. Tropical ecosystems and ecological concepts. Cambridge University Press.
Whitmore, T.M. 1998. An introduction to tropical rain forests. 2nd edition, Oxford Univ. Press.
Gliessman S. 2006. Agroecology.2nd edition. CRC press. Chapter 17.
Vandermeer J.H. 2002. Tropical agroecosystems. CRC press. Chapter 6.
Montagnini F., Jordan C.F. 2005. Tropical forest ecology. The basis for conservation and management. Springer. Chapters 4, 5 and 7.
Papers:
Sakai, S. 2001. Phenological diversity in tropical forests. Population Ecology, 43: 77-86.
Sakai, S. 2002. General flowering in lowland mixed dipterocarp forests of south-east Asia.
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 75: 233-247.
Van Schaik, C.P., Terborgh, J.W., Wright, S. J. 1993. The phenology of tropical forests: adaptive significance and consequences for primary consumers. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, vol. 24. 353-377.
Peres, C. 2000. Identifying keystone plant resources in tropical forests: the case of gums from Parkia pods. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 16: 287-317.
Whittaker, R.J., Bush, M.B., Richards, K. 1989. Plant recolonization and vegetation succession on the Krakatau Islands, Indonesia. Ecological Monographs, vol. 59: 59-123.
Ohsawa, M. 1990. An interpretation of latitudinal patterns of forest limits in south and east Asian mountains. Journal of Ecology, vol. 78: 326-339.
Niemela, T., Pellikka, P. 2004. Zonation and characteristics of the vegetation of Mt. Kenya. In: Expedition reports of the Department of Geography, University of Helsinki, vol. 40: 14-20. www.helsinki.fi/science/taita/reports/Niemela_et_Pellikka_%20Mt_Kenya.pdf
Wright, J.S. 2004. Plant diversity in tropical forests: a review of mechanisms of species coexistence. Oecologia, vol. 130: 1-14.
Hart., R.D. 1980. A natural ecosystem analog approach to the design of a successional crop system for tropical forest environments. Biotropica, vol 12: 73-82.
Long A.J., Nair R. 1999. Trees outside forests: agro-, community and urban forestry. New Forests 17: 145-174.
Web sites
http://zoo.bf.jcu.cz/tropy
Other textbooks or lecture notes are also available for attending students
Learning Objectives
Knolewdge acquired: we will study the different types of tropical ecosystems, their natural history, the ecological patterns, processes, and interactions that characterize them.
Competence acquired (at the end of the course): to understand the functioning of tropical ecosystems, the role of biodiversity, and the need for conservation.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course): by the end of this course, you should be able to describe tropical ecosystems and how they function, and understand some of the conservation issues that impact these biologically diverse ecosystems
Writte. Text with open and closed questions (20 answers in total) to be performed in 1 hour.
Course program
Abiotic characteristics of tropical ecosystems. Primary productivity of tropical ecosystems. Seasonal and annual variability in tropical ecosystems. Interspecific interactions between plants and animals: mutualisms and keystone species. Altitudinal gradients and plant zonation. Biodiversity: where it comes from and how is it maintained. Diversity indexes: examples. Tropical forest succession. Tropical ecosystems: African and neotropical savannas, rain and monsoon forests, mangroves. Amazonian inundated forests: varzea and igapo. The analog model: mimic the natural successional processes. Examples of agroforestry systems in the tropics. Tropical home gardens.
Managing and conserving tropical ecosystems.