In sequence:
* Welcoming Remarks: Cristián Samper (Director, National Museum of Natural History), and G. Wayne Clough (Secretary, Smithsonian Institution)
* Introduction and Background to Symposium: William F. Laurance (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)
* Loss and Recovery of the World's Humid Tropical Forests: Gregory P. Asner (Carnegie Institution)
* Agents of Extinction: Do Historical Shifts in Who Exploits Tropical Forests Provide New Opportunities for Conservation? Thomas K. Rudel (Rutgers University)
* Prospects for Tropical Forest Biodiversity in a Human-Modified World: Robin L. Chazdon (University of Connecticut)
* Extinction Proneness Among Different Groups of Organisms: Are We Really Losing 100 Species a Day? Nigel E. Stork (University of Melbourne)
* Draining the Tropical Forests: Loss of Wildlife to Hunting and Trade: Elizabeth L. Bennett (Wildlife Conservation Society)
* The Future of Tropical Species on a Warmer Planet: S. Joseph Wright (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)
* Islands of Survival: Will Tropical Nature Reserves Be Arks for Imperiled Species? William F. Laurance (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)
* Practical Strategies for Conservation: Claudio Valladares-Padua (Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas and Wildlife Trust Alliance)
* Synopsis of Main Conclusions and Points of Controversy: S. Joseph Wright (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)
* Speaker Panel Discussion: Cristián Samper (National Museum of Natural History)
* Concluding Remarks: Cristián Samper (National Museum of Natural History)
* Symposium Reception
The Smithsonian Institution announces a tropical science symposium in early January 2009, as a critical review of threats to tropical biodiversity. “Will the Rainforests Survive? New Threats and Realities in the Tropical Extinction Crisis” offers cutting-edge science and first-class entertainment and controversy, with talks from some of the world’s top tropical scientists.
The symposium will critically evaluate the extinction threat facing tropical forest species. There is broad agreement that tropical forest landscapes are changing at unprecedented rates but sharp disagreement about the impact for the future of tropical forest species. A workshop on the tropical extinction crisis was convened by William F. Laurance and S. Joseph Wright at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama on August 21-23, 2008. This workshop served as precursor for the upcoming symposium "Will the Rainforests Survive? New Threats and Realities in the Tropical Extinction Crisis."
An important debate has erupted in the scientific community concerning the magnitude of future species extinctions in the tropics. This debate was ignited by an in-depth analysis of expected human-population and forest-cover trends (S. J. Wright & H. Muller-Landau. 2006. Biotropica) and has generated great interest in the fate of tropical biodiversity (reviewed in W. F. Laurance. 2007. Trends in Ecology & Evolution). The debate centers around two different theories: Wright’s position is based in part on United Nations figures that urbanism and lower population growth will allow abandoned areas to recover and tropical species to be spared versus Laurance’s claims that secondary and degraded forests will sustain only a fraction of tropical biodiversity and that industrial agriculture, logging, mining, and economic globalization, rather than changing rural and urban populations, are becoming the dominant drivers of tropical deforestation.
The symposium is scheduled for January 12, 2009 at the Baird Auditorium of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. This one-day event will feature invited papers and panel discussions. The expected audience includes Smithsonian scholars and research staff, university-based scientists and students, program managers and representatives from federal agencies, congressional staff, news media and the general public.
Eight scholars will discuss their papers on the following themes: Introduction and presentation of the issues, deforestation and land-use change; deforestation drivers; defaunation, hunting, and disease; conservation value of human-dominated lands; climate change; values and threats to tropical nature reserves; and, possible conservation actions. Panel discussions will be moderated by Cristián Samper, Director of the National Museum of Natural History. Speakers will include research leaders from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and their research partners. Results will be disseminated to scholars and the public through publications, Web sites, and the news media. Symposium papers will be published as a special volume in Conservation Biology.
William F. Laurance and S. Joseph Wright
Symposium Co-Chairs
Below are the papers that contributed to this debate:
Have we overstated the tropical biodiversity crisis?
William F. Laurance
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
The Future of Tropical Forest Species
S. Joseph Wright
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Helene C. Muller-Landau
University of Minnesota
The Uncertain Future of Tropical Forest Species
S. Joseph Wright
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Helene C. Muller-Landau
University of Minnesota
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