The current issue of Tropical Conservation Science includes 19 articles: 15 Research Articles, 1 Review Article, and 3 Short Communications.
These papers encompass studies in Tanzania, Qatar, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and St. Kitts. A group of studies report on forest arson and elephant conflict in Sumatra, plant species diversity and shifting cultivation and selective logging on Hainan island in China, butterfly conservation in urban areas in central Mexico and epiphyte assemblages in plantations and secondary forests in western Panama. A second group of papers investigated identity recognition and below-ground plant competition in Guam, coastal zones habitat-use by birds in Qatar, surveying wildlife with arboreal camera-traps in Peru, tropical soil management techniques in the Brazilian eastern Amazon, bee diversity in semi-deciduous forests in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. A third group reports on landscape suitability for Atlantic Forest primates in Brazil, conservation value of nonnative white-tailed deer on a Caribbean island, compensations payments and tiger removal in Nepal, small-bodied primates and seed dispersal in Colombia, and artificial perches and forest restoration in subtropical Atlantic Forest of Brazil. A fourth group of studies dealt with small-scale gold-mining and avian and anuran conservation in Peru, tree communities and edge-induced homogenization in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, harvesting non-timber products and community benefits in central Vietnam, use of Google Earth in conservation of limestone karst ecosystems in Malaysia, and use of chili fences to mitigate human-elephant conflict in Tanzania.
The articles in this issue provide a view of the broad geographic and thematic base of conservation research in the tropics. They illustrate the challenges facing tropical conservation scientists when investigating local, regional and global conservation problems and when trying to apply novel research techniques in their research.
