Linking Ecology, Culture and Conservation Across Ecological Scales: Management and Conservation of Tropical Wild Plant and Animal Resources, held in Uberlandia, Brazil July 24-28

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

People in tropical areas have hunted animals, gathered wild plants and found shelter in forests, grasslands, and wetlands for thousands to hundreds of thousands of years. Some human influences on animal and plant are negative and some positive. Our goal is to understand how plants, animals and humans have responded to one another's influences in tropical areas, where many people depend on the natural environment for their survival. However, use of plants and animals sometimes harms the environment and this means that it is less able to provide food, water and shelter for people. It also sometimes means that animals that help to keep plants in the area go extinct. By bringing people together from around the world, including from many tropical countries, we will learn what we know about human influences on tropical plants and animals and in turn how plants and animals influence humans. Bringing together scientists who work with plants, animals and the behavior of people, and indigenous leaders from communities who depend on the natural forests, grasslands and wet lands, may help us resolve some of the problems occurring in these areas. Our meeting should help create new ways of understanding tropical nature so that we can reduce negative influences and promote positive ones.