Effects of road infrastructure on forest value across a tri-national Amazonian frontier

摘要

Road construction demonstrably accelerates deforestation rates in tropical forests, but its consequences for forest degradation remain less clear. We estimated a series of forest value metrics including components of biodiversity, carbon stocks, and timber and non-timber forest product resources, along the recently paved Inter-Oceanic Highway (IOH) integrating Brazil and Peru along the Bolivian border. We installed 69 vegetation plots in intact terra firme forests representative of local community holdings near and far from the IOH, and we characterized 15 components of forest value for each plot.