Tropical Ecosystems
Tr opical ecosystems cover a large part of the earth’s surface and contain more
than half of all terrestrial species (Myers and Myers 1992). These ecosystems
have played a unique role in the evolution of the planet’s biodiversity. Tropi-
cal environments, especially humid forests, were once much more widespread
than at present. Today, approximately half of all tropical regions are forests,
with the remainder savannas and deserts. Worldwide, there are about 3.87 bil-
lion ha of forest, 5 percent of which are forest plantations (FAO 2001). World
forests may be categorized as tropical, subtropical, temperate, or boreal (Fig-
ure 1.1a). Tropical forests consist of tropical rain, tropical moist deciduous,
tropical dry, and tropical mountain forests (Figure 1.1b).
All forests are affected on some level by direct and indirect human activity,
although there are no accurate global assessments of forest conditions.
16 I. Conservation Biology and Landscape Ecology in the Tropics
Figure 1.1. Distribution of
worldwide forests by (a)general
forest type and (b)tropical
forest type (after FAO 2001).