Natural Forest Management in Neotropical Mountain Rain Forests — An Ecological Experiment

In tropical forests, the first step in the destruction cycle is usually the over-exploitation of high value timber, leading not only to extinction of the extracted species (Silva Matos and Bovi 2002) but also to the conversion of the forests into pastures in many cases (Wunder 1996b). In many highlands of Ecuador the productivity of the pastures is depleted due to the invasion of bracken fern (see Chapter 28 in this volume), which finally leads again to the conversion of primary forests by local farmers (Paulsch et al. 2001; Hartig and Beck 2003). This process usually is accompanied by loss of biodiversity (Brooks et al. 2001), increased erosion, changes of hydrology (Bruijnzel 2004), and further environmental disturbances. More information on deforestation in Ecuador is given by Mosandl et al. (Chapter 4 in this volume).