Research trends: Tropical dry forests: The neglected research agenda?

Tropical dry forests covers 0.5 to 1.1 billion hectares which is about half of the tropical moist forest area. The forests fulfil many important ecological and economic functions and deliver manifold commodities for subsistence as well as for international demands. Despite their importance tropical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forest policy and economics 2021-01, Vol.122, p.102333, Article 102333
Main Authors: Schröder, Jobst Michael, Ávila Rodríguez, Lina Paola, Günter, Sven
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Climate change
Commodities
Disadvantaged
Dry forests
Forest conservation
Forest management
Forestry research
Forests
Manifolds
Natural environment
Research analysis
Research policy
Scientific papers
Tropical forests
Tropics
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:Tropical dry forests covers 0.5 to 1.1 billion hectares which is about half of the tropical moist forest area. The forests fulfil many important ecological and economic functions and deliver manifold commodities for subsistence as well as for international demands. Despite their importance tropical dry forests seem to attain by far lesser attention than humid forests by the international research community. In an „ISI web of knowledge“ and “google scholar”-based comparison of reviewed scientific articles on tropical dry versus tropical humid forests we found that the number of publications with focus on the dry biome is 3.6 times lower. The research topics differ partly. The topics “carbon” and “climate change” were for both biomes among the most prominent research subjects. “Disturbance” was a prioritized research topic for tropical dry forests, whereas “biodiversity” and “conservation” were highly relevant for tropical humid forests. This seems to be justified for several reasons. Nevertheless it appears to be urgent to call for a stronger international comprehensive strategic and applied research agenda for tropical dry forests to encounter the manifold forest-related problems in this disadvantaged environment. •Tropical dry forests face high deforestation and degradation rates•Research on tropical dry forests is less than on tropical humid forests•The number of scientific publications on tropical dry forests is 3 times lower•The research topics differ only partly•More international strategic and applied research is suggested
ISSN:1389-9341
1872-7050
DOI:10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102333