Rudel Thomas K
Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers University, 55 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
Conserv Biol. 2006 Dec;20(6):1604-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00532.x.
Human agents of landscape transformation in the tropics affect forests differently as the forests decline in size. Five agents of change--road builders, corporate concession holders, community forest managers, park advocates, and urban consumers--have different effects on large forests in remote tropical regions than they do on remnant forests in settled agricultural regions. Because forests vary so much in size across tropical regions, these differences in the effects of agents on forests have important implications for regional conservation efforts. To make these implications explicit, I compared the effects of the five agents in regions with large forests with their effects in regions with small forests. The comparisons indicated that, as forests declined in size, new roads no longer destroyed forests, corporate loggers left the forests, community forest managers became more effective, parks became less feasible as a means of conservation, and urban consumers initiated tree planting. My results suggest that awareness about the changing effects of humans on landscapes with shrinking forests can serve as a useful tool in formulating regionally appropriate policies for conserving tropical forests.
随着热带地区森林面积的减少，人类对景观的改造对森林的影响也有所不同。道路建设者、企业特许权持有者、社区森林管理者、公园倡导者和城市消费者这五种变革力量，对偏远热带地区的大型森林和定居农业地区的残余森林的影响各不相同。由于热带地区森林的大小差异很大，这些力量对森林影响的差异对区域保护工作具有重要意义。为了明确这些意义，我比较了这五种力量在有大型森林的地区和有小型森林的地区的影响。比较结果表明，随着森林面积的减少，新修道路不再破坏森林，企业伐木者离开森林，社区森林管理者变得更有成效，公园作为一种保护手段变得不太可行，而城市消费者开始植树造林。我的研究结果表明，认识到人类对森林面积不断缩小的景观的影响变化，可以作为制定适合区域的热带森林保护政策的有用工具。
