But will it grow back?

摘要

Ever since the early 1990s, people I talk to on planes and at parties about what I do (tropical forest ecology and conservation) have invariably said something along the lines of "oh yes, deforestation, it's dreadful ... but won't the forest grow back?" The answer is, of course, a combination of "to a degree," "slowly," and "it depends." In Second Growth, Robin Chazdon expands comprehensively on the question and the answers for a scientific audience and presents a well-argued case for why they matter. While deforestation has slowed in many parts of the tropics, land-use change continues to contribute substantially to greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss.