Preface

Our planet is rapidly being modified at all its levels. Our use of fossil fuels is leading to changes in the composition to the atmosphere, which combined with our generation of resi‐ dues is leading to changes in the composition of the oceans. We are also changing the eco‐ logical composition of many ecosystems by moving (by purpose or by accident) many plant, animal and microbe species around the globe. In addition, humans have changed whole landscape, substituting forests by grasslands, drying wetlands for croplands, abandoning farmlands to let forest regrow, flattening mountains for urban expansion, etc. This process is called land use change, an important part of the global change that has led to the beginning of a new geological era: the Anthropocene.

Tropical forests in particular are among the ecosystems most affect by land use change proc‐ esses in the last decades. Clearing the forests for timber extraction, cropland establishment, cattle ranching, urban expansion, etc., are modifying important ecological processes and structures. Such changes are causing the lost or reduction of many ecosystem services pro‐ vided by the tropical forests.

Tropical forests provide goods such as timber, fuel, food, medicinal plants, or water. They also regulate vital processes such as nutrient cycling, hydrological cycling, greenhouse gas‐ es, etc. In addition, tropical forests provide the framework for economic and cultural devel‐ opment of the communities living in them.

Keeping in mind the considerations described above, the aim of this book is to provide a set of examples that we hope can serve as an introduction for the readers to the work currently done in the tropics in the face of such important challenges. Although brief, we hope this book can be used as an introductory text on the importance and complexity of assessing ecosystem services in tropical forests as the planet enters in the new age of Anthropocene.

Biodiversity is therefore the pillar that sustains the ecosystem services provided by tropical forests. To understand the high biodiversity that tropical forests contain, the first chapter by Zakaria et al., provides detailed composition lists of flora and fauna that can be found in tropical forests. The authors also explore and comment how land use change can affect the faunal diversity in tropical rainforests.

To understand the current dimensions of land use change processes currently have in tropi‐ cal forests, the chapter by Arellano et al. describes their work to detect land use change through satellite imagery. The authors used both field and satellite optical methods to meas‐ ure chlorophyll content to detect the degradation caused by land use change. The authors also offer a non-destructive method to measure chlorophyll content and compare it with tra‐ ditional methodology, commenting on the advantages and weaknesses of both techniques.

The chapter by Alemagi et al. describe the provision services of tropical forests in Came‐ roon. The authors discuss the contribution of council forests in Cameroon from the aspects of climate change mitigation and socio-economic development. They found these forests of‐ fered high values on both timber and non-timber benefits, and also serve as carbon stocks to

help to mitigate the climate change. This chapter also provides an example of how tropical forests provide supporting services for cultural and economic development of the communi‐ ties living on them.

Moving into an example of changes in regulatory services caused by land use change in tropical forests, the chapter by Oliveira et al. focuses on characterizing and analyzing the temporal dynamics of precipitation and evapotranspiration in the Atlantic rainforest of Bra‐ zil in the first decade of 21st century. By using the global remote sensing data and disaggre‐ gate into regional scale, they were able to analyze the changes in the hydrological variables in this region that can be linked to changes in land use change.

As an additional example of regulatory services provided by tropical forests, the book closes with a discussion on the role of land use change in the alteration of nutrient cycling by Viera et al. The authors explored nutrient cycling in the Atlantic forest of Brazil from both ecologi‐ cal and environmental aspects. In this chapter, the authors offer a general description about the biome and how different nutrients transferred in the ecosystem, and how land use change could affect them.

All things considered, these five chapters provide a first glimpse of the current research done on tropical forests and land use change processes. They are an introduction to the re‐ search being done around the globe in connection to this topic. We hope the readers from academia, management, conservation, and any other stakeholders will enjoy reading this book and regard it as an initial source of information and study cases on what is the role that biodiversity plays in ecosystems.

The Editors want to finish this preface acknowledging the collaboration and hard work of all the authors. We are also thankful to the Publishing Team of InTech for their continuous sup‐ port and assistance during the creation of this book. Special thanks are due to Mrs. Andrea Koric for inviting us to lead this exciting project and for coordinating the different editorial tasks. Last but not least, we want to acknowledge InTech´s and the authors´ generosity and social commitment by making research from tropical and developing countries available for free.

**Dr. Juan A. Blanco**

Senior Researcher & Marie Curie Research Fellow Dep. Of Environmental Sciences, Public University of Navarre, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

#### **Prof. Dr. Shih-Chieh Chang**

Associate Professor Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan

**Dr. Yueh-Hsin Lo** Research Associate & Marie Curie Research Fellow Dep. Of Environmental Sciences, Public University of Navarre, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain

Provisional chapter
