Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The roots of tropical ecology can be traced to the voyages of European naturalists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Men who might be considered early ecologists such as Alexander Von Humboldt, Thomas Belt, Henry Walter Bates, and even Charles Darwin sailed to tropical locations and wrote extensively about the exotic flora and fauna they encountered.
The second is the notion of branching evolution, implying the common descent of all species of living things on earth from a single unique origin." [11] Additionally, "Darwin further noted that evolution must be gradual, with no major breaks or discontinuities. Finally, he reasoned that the mechanism of evolution was natural selection." [11]
Ecosystem processes, such as primary production, nutrient cycling, and niche construction, regulate the flux of energy and matter through an environment. Ecosystems have biophysical feedback mechanisms that moderate processes acting on living ( biotic ) and abiotic components of the planet.
So evolutionary changes in the life-history traits of Trinidadian guppies caused by predation resulted in ecological effects at the community and ecosystem level, which feedback to influence the evolution of other traits in the guppies. [4] Another hypothesis of eco-evolutionary dynamics in ecosystems involves the evolution of food webs.
However, tropical forests are extensive, making up just under half the world's forests. [3] The tropical domain has the largest proportion of the world's forests (45 percent), followed by the boreal, temperate and subtropical domains. [4] More than 3.6 million hectares of virgin tropical forest was lost in 2018. [5] [6]
The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS)/Organización para Estudios Tropicales (OET), founded in 1963, [1] is a non-profit consortium of over 50 universities and research institutions based in the United States, Latin America, [2] and South Africa. OTS manages a network of ecological research stations in Costa Rica and South Africa.
As a result, island ecosystems comprise 30% of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, 50% of marine tropical diversity, and some of the most unusual and rare species. [2] Many species still remain unknown. The diversity of species on islands is highly impacted by human activities such as deforestation and introduction of the exotic species.
On June 25, 1998, IFC was divided into two: the Training Center for Tropical Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability (TREES) and the Makiling Center for Mountain Ecosystems (MCME). TREES took over the functions of the former FTO. It was provided with the autonomy and authority to plan, market, and implement CFNR's training projects.