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Relevant peer-reviewed paper for discussion forum
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Farid Dahdouh-Guebas
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Apr 05, 2005 20:25 PDT
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Dear colleagues,
For those interested I am announcing on behalf of our research team a new
paper featured in Current Biology, which I believe is of interest to your
research and management forum.. Below you can consult the press release.
The publishers informed us that, as the cover article, the paper can be
downloaded for free from the publishers' website UNTIL NEXT WEEK (on my
Homepage URL, click on 'Go straight to... publications' and then on the
title of the article). Please send any download-related questions to the
publishers. The reference is :
Dahdouh-Guebas, F., S. Hettiarachchi, D. Lo Seen, O. Batelaan, S.
Sooriyarachchi, L.P. Jayatissa & N. Koedam, 2005. Transitions in ancient
inland freshwater resource management in Sri Lanka affect biota and human
populations in and around coastal lagoons. Current Biology 15(6): 579-586.=
Keywords : mangrove, lagoon, irrigation, introgression, cryptic ecological
degradation, retrospection, prediction, ethnobiology, vegetation science,
interviews, remote sensing, change detection, GIS, historic archives,
East-India Company, Sri Lanka.
With best regards,
Farid Dahdouh-Guebas
*******************************************************************
Dr Farid DAHDOUH-GUEBAS
Biocomplexity Research Team
Laboratory of General Botany and Nature Management
Mangrove Management Group
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Tel. ++ 32 2 6293422 (Office 7F412)
Tel. ++ 32 2 6293420-21-11 (Laboratory)
Fax. ++ 32 2 6293413
E-mail : fdah-@vub.ac.be
URL : http://www.vub.ac.be/APNA/research/biocomplexity.html
Homepage URL : http://www.vub.ac.be/APNA/staff/FDG/fdg.html
*******************************************************************
---------------------------------------------
CURRENT BIOLOGY PRESS RELEASE
---------------------------------------------
ESSENTIAL MANGROVE FOREST THREATENED BY CRYPTIC ECOLOGICAL DEGRADATION
The recent killer tsunami has highlighted once more the importance of
coastline protection. In natural conditions, this function is taken up by
mangroves, forests thriving at the edge of land and sea that are
ecologically and socio-economically important for local people in
tropical countries on all continents. Using biology, geography,
hydrology, socio-economic interviews, and 18th-century history, an
international team led by Dr. Farid Dahdouh-Guebas has demonstrated
that in the recent past an increase in human-environment interactions
that affect the hydrology of rivers has turned coastal mangrove
lagoons into freshwater bodies.
Such elucidation of past ecosystem processes and human-environment
interactions is an essential part of the Past Global Changes (PAGES)
project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP),
funded by the U.S. and Swiss National Science Foundations as well as
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Drawing on diverse data sources, including assessment of contemporary
mangrove assemblages in
southern Sri Lanka, changing water runoff patterns, and archival material
from the Dutch East-India
company, the researchers show that over the past few decades contemporary
irrigation projects have
abused the long-standing Sri Lankan tradition of freshwater management that=
once sustained robust
irrigation-based civilizations. The researchers show that, increasingly, th=
e
magnitude of these modern
irrigation projects has been such that entire river basins have been
diverted to those of other rivers.
Whereas these projects certainly develop the ability to grow crops inland,
at the same time such practices
drastically affect the coastal zone by introducing an excess of fresh water=
.
The consequences range from
adverse shifts in the composition of mangrove tree species to disrupted
ethnobiological relationships,
lagoon fisheries, and many additional functions provided by mangroves.
The authors believe that the worrying aspect of the research is that a
degradation of the most vulnerable,
most socio-economically important and most aesthetic species is masked by
the expansion of less
important species. The authors emphasize that such cryptic ecological
degradation must be acknowledged
by policy and decision makers if mangrove protection is an aim. The researc=
h
team argues that early
detection of such changes should be adopted and is essential for the
prevention of further mangrove
degradation.
Reference :
Dahdouh-Guebas, F., S. Hettiarachchi, D. Lo Seen, O. Batelaan, S.
Sooriyarachchi, L.P. Jayatissa & N. Koedam, 2005.
Transitions in ancient inland freshwater resource management in Sri Lanka
affect biota and human populations in and around
coastal lagoons. Current Biology 15(6): 579-586.
International contact :
Dr. Farid Dahdouh-Guebas, Biocomplexity Research Team, Laboratory of Genera=
l
Botany and Nature Management,
Mangrove Management Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2,
B-1050 Brussels, Belgium, Tel. +32 2
6293422, Fax. +32 2 6293413, fdah-@vub.ac.be
In Sri Lanka :
Dr. Sanath Hettiarachchi & Dr. Loku Pulukkuttige Jayatissa, Department of
Botany, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri
Lanka, Tel. +94 41 22701, Fax. +94 41 22683, san-@bot.ruh.ac.lk,
lp-@bot.ruh.ac.lk
In India :
Dr. Danny Lo Seen, Geomatics Unit, French Institute of Pondicherry, Saint
Louis Street 11, 605001 Pondicherry, India, Tel.
+91 413 334168, Fax. +91 413 339534, danny.-@ifpindia.org
http://www.vub.ac.be/APNA/staff/FDG/pub/
http://www.current-biology.com/
------------------------
VUB PERSBERICHT
------------------------
VERKEERD ZOETWATERBEHEER KAN KUSTBESCHERMING TEGEN VLOEDGOLVEN DOEN
WEGVALLEN OP SRI LANKA
Als de overheid in Sri Lanka niet snel werk maakt van een beter binnenlands=
zoetwaterbeheer dan zal dit verregaande gevolgen hebben voor de fauna en
flora in de mangrovewouden langs de kust. Want als deze mangroven verdwijne=
n
dan valt ook een belangrijke buffer tegen o.a. vloedgolven weg. Dat schrijf=
t
een internationaal team van onderzoekers uit Belgi=EB, Sri Lanka en India, =
die
met hun interdisciplinair onderzoek tussen biologie, aardrijkskunde,
waterbouwkunde, socio-economische interviews en 18e eeuwse geschiedenis de
cover van het vooraanstaande wetenschappelijk tijdschrift Current Biology
haalden. In de 20ste eeuw nam de overheid op Sri Lanka het niet zo nauw met=
de Srilankaanse traditie van binnenlands zoetwaterbeheer, wat geleid heeft
tot een degradatie van de lagunes langs de kust. De toevloed van zoet water=
zet deze zoutwaterlagunes geleidelijk aan om in =93zoetwatermeren=94, wat n=
efast
is voor de fauna en flora. In normale omstandigheden fungeert het
mangrovewoud in tropische kustecosystemen immers als een voedingsgebied voo=
r
diverse vissen, schaal en schelpdieren. Bovendien is het mangrovewoud voor
de bevolking een natuurlijke hulpbron voor hout, voedsel, enz=85 en biedt h=
et
als natuurlijke dijk bescherming tegen de invloed van de oceaan.
De onderzoekers wijzen in hun artikel ook op de zogenaamde =91cryptische
ecologische degradatie=92. D.w.z. dat ecologisch en socio-economisch
belangrijke mangrovesoorten traag maar zeker verdwijnen, maar dat die
verdwijning wordt gemaskeerd door een uitbreiding van minder belangrijke
soorten.
De onderzoekers wijzen in hun artikel op het belang van een vroegtijdig
vaststellen van de =91cryptische ecologische degradatie=92 zodat de mangro=
ven
op tijd kunnen beschermd worden. Dat kan onder andere door een beschrijvin=
g
van de veranderingen met historisch beeld- of kaartmateriaal, het
doorgronden van de complexiteit tussen planten, dieren, mensen en milieu, e=
n
het opstellen van maatregelen zoals heraanplanting van mangroven.
Verlies aan mangroven zou een ramp zijn voor de lokale bevolking want dat
staat gelijk aan verlies aan houtvoorraad, het verminderen van de
visvoorraad, en het verdwijnen van de natuurlijke dijk die hen beschermt
tegen de invloed van de oceaan. De onderzoekers voegen daarom =96 verwijze=
nd
naar de tsunami van december 2004 - aan hun artikel in Current Biology nog
een opmerkelijke paragraaf toe :
=93The tsunami disaster on December 26, 2004 affected our mangrove sites an=
d
many people we know; we feel that the antierosion function of mangroves has=
been paid too little attention. For years, we, together with many other
scientists, have critically assessed and criticized the conversion of
mangroves to tourist resorts or shrimp farms in light of the ecological,
socioeconomic, and physical function of these forests. An early warning
system to announce the arrival of tsunamis or other ocean surges (let us no=
t
forget that the much more frequent cyclones locally have the same effect)
can save many lives, but an additional early warning system such as the one=
introduced in this paper to detect obvious or cryptic mangrove degradation
may even save more in those areas where mangroves protect communities livin=
g
behind and within the mangrove forest. We dedicate this paper to all those
who were affected by the tsunami, particularly those who, if not for
inappropriate land management, could have been helped by mangroves.=94
Meer informatie :
Dr Farid DAHDOUH-GUEBAS
Biocomplexity Research Team, VUB-APNA-WE
Tel. 02 629 34 22
E-mail : fdah-@vub.ac.be
REFERENTIE :
Transitions in ancient inland freshwater resource management in Sri Lanka
affect biota and human populations in and around coastal lagoons, door Fari=
d
DAHDOUH-GUEBAS, Sanath HETTIARACHCHI, Danny LO SEEN, Okke BATELAAN,
Sanjeevani SOORIYARACHCHI, Loku Pulukkuttige JAYATISSA & Nico KOEDAM.
Current Biology 15(6): 579-586.
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