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Because of the huge species diversity of Amazonian forests, it has been difficult to obtain a general idea of their environmental and floristic variation among sites. This makes it difficult to allocate suitable land uses to areas with different productivity, to adapt the management systems to local ecological conditions, and to identify habitats of high conservation value. Understorey plants (such as pteridophytes) can be used as indicators to rapidly and at relatively low cost evaluate the ecological conditions and species composition of a given rain forest site. The present project will design a species identification tool that conveys to the users of the indicator species approach 1) the knowledge on how to identify the indicator species, and 2) the information on what kind of environment or forest each species indicates. In order to be useful for people who are not plant specialists, the identification tool will be interactive, easy to use, free of botanical jargon, richly illustrated and freely available on the internet.
Team
Hanna Tuomisto, Gabriela Zuquim, Glenda Cárdenas
UTU Geography Section has been working in Tanzania since 2003 with Tanzanian and international partners. Our collaborative research topics are broadly related to the analysis of human-nature dynamics with landscape and geospatial approaches. We link our research efforts with education in Geography and Landscape Science, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing, Participatory GIS and Landscape Management. We collaborate with our partners in developing better spatial tools, methods and practices of sustainable landscape management and use and preservation of natural resources.
Team
Niina Käyhkö, Taimi Sitari,Nora Fagerholm, Jussi S. Jauhiainen, Jukka Käyhkö,Harun Makandi,Sanna Mäki,Mikko Joronen, Lauri Hooli, Joni Koskinen, Salla Eilola, Zakaria Khamis, Niko Humalisto