After 40 years of government induced settlement of the Brazilian Amazon, the core of this region has experienced surprisingly little deforestation. The agriculture and ranching that cause deforestation depend upon reliable roads, which are concentrated along the...

Root penetration rate was estimated for the liana Davilla kunthii St. Hill (Dilleniaceae) in a secondary forest in eastern Amazonia by relating aboveground growth with root depth measurements. Basal diameter, height, number of leaves and number of scars of...

Forest understory fires are an increasingly important cause of forest impoverishment in Amazonia, but little is known of the landscape characteristics and climatic phenomena that determine their occurrence. We developed empirical functions relating the occurrence...