Field data on diversity and vegetation structure of natural regeneration in a chronosequence of abandoned gold-mining lands in a tropical Amazon forest.

Anthropogenic activities (e.g., logging, gold-mining, agriculture, and uncontrolled urban expansion) threaten the forests in the southeast of the Peruvian Amazon, one of the most diverse ecosystems worldwide.

Urbanization drives partner switching and loss of mutualism in an ant-plant symbiosis.

Mutualistic interactions between species underpin biodiversity and ecosystem function, but may be lost when partners respond differently to abiotic conditions. Except for a few prominent examples, effects of global anthropogenic change on mutualisms are poorly understood. Here we assess the effects of urbanization on a symbiosis in which the plant Cordia nodosa house ants in hollow structures (domatia) in exchange for defense against herbivores.

Changes in floristic and vegetation structure in a chronosequence of abandoned gold-mining lands in a tropical Amazon forest.

This study analyzes floristic and vegetation structure changes during forest succession after disturbances caused by small-scale gold mining in Madre de Dios (Peru). We compared the floristic and vegetation structure of a reference forest against three sites with different periods of abandonment after mining (5, 11 and 23-years). Three 20 × 60 m plots were defined on each site, and all tree species with a DBH >1 cm within the plots were inventoried.

Spatio-temporal trends of mercury levels in alluvial gold mining spoils areas monitored between rainy and dry seasons in the Peruvian Amazon.

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in the Amazon has degraded tropical forests and escalated mercury (Hg) pollution, affecting biodiversity, ecological processes and rural livelihoods. In the Peruvian Amazon, ASGM annually releases some 181 tons of Hg into the environment. Despite some recent advances in understanding the spatial distribution of Hg within gold mine spoils and the surrounding landscape, temporal dynamics in Hg movement are not well understood.