A GLOBAL PROGRAMME IN INTERDISCIPLINARY FOREST RESEARCH: THE CTFS PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

A research collaboration between forest scientists of tropical Asia and the United States is gathering new statistically comparable data, aimed at furthering an understanding of tropical forests and at translating biological and socio economic research into results relevant to forest management, economics and policy. The programme is interdisciplinary and long-term in scope. We review its objectives and describe field methods including characteristics of the sites chosen. Achievements to date in both field work and research are summarised. Early research findings point to the human factors that are likely to influence biodiversity, question the view that the quality of logging practices is influenced by the period of the concession, and emphasise the value of managed rain forest as a carbon store. Yet they also reveal great local and regional diversity in the structure and function of the forests, and of the life history characteristics of their tree species.