5 °C mean annual air temperature; 25.4–97.5 % RH, mean annual KPT 330 precipitation 2,000–2,200 mm, Köppen Aw), with a more pronounced dry season than Jambi (Fig. S1 and Tables S2 and S3, Online Resources). The seasonal, continental climate and geomorphology of Mato Grosso, with lowland and upland landforms and widespread cattle grazing, differ from the less seasonal and more homogeneous, lowland terrain of island Sumatra with its more intensive land use and higher human population density. Sources of background information
The work described arises from two large scale projects supported by (amongst others) The World Bank, UNDP, UNEP and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF).The Sumatran check details study was conducted as part of the Forest Ecosystem Management research program at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR, www.cifor.org), Bogor, Indonesia in collaboration the Alternatives to Slash and Burn program (ASB), implemented by the World Agroforestry Centre (www.worldagroforestry.org). ASB was established in 1992 to halt destructive forms of shifting cultivation and promote sustainable land management at tropical forest margins (Palm et al. 2005; Sanchez et al. 2005). In Brazil, Promoting Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use in the Frontier Forest of Northwestern Mato Grosso was established in 2000 to reconcile socioeconomic development with biodiversity conservation
in an integrated landscape containing intact primary forest, corridors of secondary regrowth, forest plantations and intensive agrisilvipasture enough selleck chemicals llc (Global Environmental Facility 2000). The Mato Grosso
sites are included in the project benchmarks, where work is supported by Mato Grosso State Foundation for the Environment, Mato Grosso State Corporation for Rural Technical Assistance and Extension (www.empaer.mt.gov.br), Brazilian Corporation for Agricultural and Livestock Research (www.embrapa.br/english), and World Agroforestry Centre. Brazilian sites are listed by PN number (Pró-Natura, www.pronatura.org). Gradsects Both regions were sampled using gradient-directed transects (“gradsects”, sensu Gillison and Brewer 1985). In this approach, sampling locations (sites for 40 × 5 m and other transects) are identified within a gradient which represents the sequence of natural and human-modified environments, stratified at nested scales from landscape to plot level (Gillison and Brewer 1985; Wessels et al. 1998; Knollová et al. 2005; Parker et al. 2011). While gradsects approximate “disturbance gradients” in previous usage (e.g. Eggleton et al. 1995; Lawton et al. 1998), in the present study they also opportunistically comprise a series of sites defined variously and hierarchically by climate, land cover, drainage, estimated land use intensity and geological and soil substrata (see Appendix S1, Online Resources).