Pine forests in Honduras are increasingly affected by extreme weather events, land use change, and bark beetle outbreaks, primarily caused by Dendroctonus frontalis , posing significant challenges to ecosystem resilience. This study evaluates how spatial configuration and climatic conditions interact with forest structure, species composition, and regeneration dynamics to shape post-infestation recovery. We combined field-based forest inventories with satellite-derived vegetation indices (NDVI, GCI, ARVI) to assess recovery patterns across twenty-seven pine forest patches differing in size and shape. Environmental variables, including precipitation and elevation, were integrated to identify the main drivers of post-disturbance resilience. Our results indicate that precipitation and elevation are the strongest climatic drivers of vegetation recovery, while patch shape plays a central role in determining structural and compositional trajectories. Elongated patches, despite experiencing higher initial mortality, exhibited greater regeneration potential of Pinus species, likely due to increased light availability and reduced competition. In contrast, compact patches retained higher basal area, greater canopy continuity, and a higher relative abundance of broadleaf associates such as Quercus and Liquidambar . Species diversity was consistently higher in control plots, highlighting the contribution of non-pine species to long-term structural stability. By integrating spectral, structural, and compositional indicators, this study demonstrates that spatial configuration is a key determinant of forest resilience following bark beetle infestation in Central America. These findings underscore the importance of adaptive management strategies that consider patch geometry, climatic variability, and multispecies regeneration to enhance the resilience of pine-dominated landscapes under increasing environmental change.
Restoring ecosystems, and forests in particular, has become a global priority. At larger scales, forest restoration must necessarily reconcile the needs and priorities of multiple stakeholders and, in doing so, raises several governance challenges. Approaching governance in the context of forest restoration through an interdisciplinary lens provides a complex picture consistent with the multiple factors that impact forest restoration. Focusing on one specific governance challenge, namely, how to balance global to local benefits of forest restoration, serves to demonstrate the complexity and value of approaching these challenges with an interdisciplinary lens. This paper presents several options, including: the need for a multi-scale and functioning governance structures or mechanisms involving decision-makers from local to national and international scales; considering multiple brokers (or "intermediaries") as important leverage points; sharing tools with national governments that help to ensure that restoration brings a balanced flow of benefits to their citizens; redressing power imbalances by strengthening social capital and building the capacity of community-level organizations; recognizing rights (to land or forest tenure rights - whether to communities or privately to local community members); creating a dedicated funding stream for restoration; changing the focus from quantitative targets for tree planting/restoration to more multiobjective based approaches; acknowledging and emphasizing that forest restoration can yield multiple benefits for many individuals or groups, and ensuring that these can be realized.
Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) are more likely to be diagnosed with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) compared with the general population. Although newcomers generally experience a health advantage in Canada compared with non-immigrants and more established immigrants (i.e., healthy immigrant effect), they also experience disparities in access to healthcare services. These disparities, in turn, may lead to unique vulnerabilities for the sexual health of GBM immigrants. We examined disparities in healthcare access, STI testing, and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use among immigrant and non-immigrant GBM. Using baseline data (collected between February 2017 and August 2019) from a multisite cohort study of GBM in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal (n = 2449), we found that newcomer GBM (migrated <= 5 years prior) were less likely to report having a primary healthcare provider than non-immigrants. This had a weak indirect effect in mediating both access to STI testing and the use of HIV PrEP. These disparities dissipated after controlling for migration precarity (e.g., refugees and those without permanent residency), suggesting that disparities in newcomer GBM healthcare access may, in part, be driven by the large number of newcomers with precarious migration statuses.Public Significance Statement: New immigrants tend to be less likely to have a primary healthcare provider or use other sexual health clinics, which can have adverse consequences for sexual health. This disparity appears to be largely concentrated among temporary foreign workers, international students, and refugees. Interventions should target policies that increase the number of primary healthcare providers, and address immigration policies that lead to fear of deportation due to one's health.
Aunque la primera etapa de la Campaña Nacional de 1856-1857 contra el ejército del líder filibustero William Walker se concentró en la vertiente del Pacífico de Costa Rica y Nicaragua, hubo una batalla que tuvo lugar en las llanuras del Caribe, en la desembocadura del río Sardinal, afluente del Sarapiquí. Ocurrida el 10 de abril de 1856 por la mañana, en ella se enfrentó una tropa de 100 alajuelenses, comandada por Florentino Alfaro y Rafael Orozco, con un contingente enemigo que penetró desde La Trinidad, en la confluencia de los ríos San Juan y Sarapiquí, liderado por John M. Baldwin. Tras una hora de refriega en el estero —hoy desaparecido, debido a la erosión—, ambos bandos se retiraron del lugar, considerándose vencedores los dos. Con base en los pocos testimonios existentes, más otras fuentes documentales, en este artículo se analizan el contexto histórico y el significado estratégico de dicha batalla —que representó la segunda expulsión de los filibusteros del territorio de Costa Rica—, a la vez que se reconstruyen los hechos bélicos, para entender lo realmente sucedido.
Agricultural systems are both emitters of greenhouse gases and have the potential to sequester carbon, especially agroforestry systems. Coffee agroforestry systems offer a wide range of intensities of use of agricultural inputs and densities and management of shade trees. We assessed the agronomic carbon footprint (up to farm gate) and modelled the carbon sequestration of a range of coffee agroforestry systems across 180 farms in Costa Rica and Guatemala. The agronomic carbon footprint included upstream, direct and indirect processes associated with chemical and organic fertiliser use and energy consumption (excluding processing of cherries). Carbon sequestration was modelled using the CAF2021 model a processed based model of the C, N and water dynamics specifically designed for coffee agroforestry systems. The carbon footprint per kg of coffee cherries was significantly and positively related to the level of nitrogen inputs. Modelled changes in C stocks i.e. carbon sequestration was significantly and positively related to the Leaf Area Index (LAI) of the trees, and the levels of nitrogen inputs. Increasing nitrogen inputs per hectare was positively associated with emission per kg as nitrogen efficiency varied significantly across the sample. The net carbon balance, defined as sequestration minus CO2e emissions was also positively related to shade tree LAI but negatively with yield and N application. Carbon positive farms were characterized by shade cover over 60 %, but low yields and low net income. However, farms that were close to carbon neutral had higher yields and higher net income, with shade levels of about 50 % cover, while carbon negative farms which had shade cover averaging 40 %. Nevertheless, farms showed a large variation in performance with all combinations of positive and negative for carbon balance and net income. However, among the farms with a positive net income, those with a positive carbon balance had a significantly lower net income than those that were carbon negative (i.e. net emitters). This confirms the economic trade-off for farmers seeking to maximise these two goals. If farmers are expected to generate positive carbon balances and potentially to offset emissions higher in the supply chain, then they should receive economic support to compensate continued on-farm carbon accumulation.
