Haiti Ethnographic Research

At the north of the mainland, a dense tropical forest spans across nearly one hundred seventy kilometers of the island. The forest will be rich with life and vegetation only native to that environment. Bananas, cocoa beans, and coffee are only a few of the things the forest produces while monkeys, dolphins, and tropical birds will roam around the large rainforest.

Imagine yourself as a businessperson on a trip to the island of Hispaniola to check on how production is faring. You land in Santo Domingo to transfer to a short commuter flight to Port-au-Prince. During the flight, you gaze outside your window to admire the breathtaking view of the Sierra de Baoruco, with its luscious forests. As the plane approaches the Haiti-Dominican Republic border, you notice that the land has been completely denuded of trees directly on the other side of the border, creating a clear demarcation between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The U.S Military had to deploy in joined forces including the Army and Navy, if not other forces with them. They had to work together with other organizations of medical and construction to help the Haitian people rebuild their infrastructure, as well as their lives. Many lives were saved in the process of providing relief. In a time when the U.S. Military is by and large “war weary,” we can also look at these sustainment operation successes as encouragement that we don’t just bring war and death to a country’s doorstep, but relief and hope as

Pinus taeda was only a minor component (2.2 million hectares) of hardwood dominated Piedmont forest before European settlement in the U.S. (before the 1800’s). These forests were converted into agricultural lands (especially cotton farming) after European settlement. However, the introduction of the boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman) impacted growing cotton industry and piedmont and coastal plains in the south remained unused. Abandoned land with eroded soil created a favorable condition for the spread of the light-seeded P. taeda trees resulting in the widespread growth of pure P. taeda stand (Schultz, 1997). Fire control programs conducted in the early 1900s further favored those stands. Furthermore, P. taeda stands expanded

According to Diamond (2005), the rapid deforestation in Haiti is caused by lower rainfall compared to the Dominican Republic. The

Colombia’s wildlife animals are being endangered due to loss of habitat which is stolen by drug crops. Colombia, “has more bird species than any other country… but rare endemic birds - such as the gorgeted puffleg, a hummingbird discovered just three years ago in southwest Colombia - are losing habitat within their limited ranges to coca cultivation.” (Carpenter). The gorgeted puffleg isn’t the only endangered species, nor is it a coincidence that it’s habitat is in known drug regions of Colombia. Other wildlife, which are native to the south of Colombia, have had their homes exploited and used for cultivation; this is true for four magnolia species who are facing inevitable extinction. The demand for land by the cocaine industry is driving drug farmers to participate in the destruction of ecosystems through the means of illegal agriculture

In this article we are presented with the effects of fire and wildlife dynamics in Western Amazonia. This a very intriguing article written by researchers at the Institution Technology Department of Biological Sciences in Melbourne, Florida. Researches both on local and regional scales were able to ascertain the question, if bamboo forests have historically covered an area as extensive as its current distributions? During the study, the intrigued wanted to uncover how the modern extent of bamboo could have resulted from the historical increases of fire presence and whether past invasions of bamboo dominance is persistent to the landscape and future state of Western Amazonia. Through the use of Landsat imagery, field surveys and other means of technology, these researchers were able to show the impacts of fire on bamboo in major cities of Los Amigos, Cocha Cashu, Peru, and Acre, Brazil.

Only a century ago, South America's primitive forests blanketed the entire region from the southern tip of the continent north half the length of Chile's coast and eastward into Argentina's Patagonia. Beech trees of the genus Nothofagus covered most of the region, mixed with evergreen and various deciduous trees. Once extending more than 35 million acres, these forests comprised the largest stands of pristine temperate rainforest in the world (Nash 1994). Nothofagus beeches are among the most ancient species of trees and have been on Earth more than 150 million years. Soon after their arrival in the 16th century, European settlers began logging these forests, but not until the 20th century did widespread clearance begin. During the 1940s

The practice of destroying the ecosystems by cutting down the tress has put at risk all the ecosystems around the world. Deforestation can lead to the extinction of many species that we know today and to the complete destruction of the world, lucky there are people and governments working to prevent this. Jack Ewing proposes in his essay “Deforestation, Reforestation and Regeneration” that the two main factors that help turn around the effects of deforestation on Costa Rica. First, he introduces us to how with the support of the government trough programs that provide cash incentives and tax exemptions for reforestation projects has helped to change the situation in Costa Rica. The second factor that Ewing shows is the introduction of the ecological truism in Costa Rica. This activity provided a far better and bigger income for the locals than farming and cattle ranching activities which were the principal causes of deforestation. (Ewing100). Ewing has shown us that we can coexist in harmony with the tress and still have an economical benefit out of

Many researchers have a general idea of what caused the collapse of Easter Island, a 63-mile Polynesian island, also called Rapa Nui, located in the Pacific nearly four thousand miles west from the country of Chile (Krulwich 2013). Most of whom who investigate the specific aspects that brought Easter Island to its ultimate downfall, which includes extreme deforestation, pests, soil erosion, and a more or less lack of resources, are able to connect this fatal downward spiral to the rest of the world today (Hillel 1992, 3-11). With the dangerous situation the island of Haiti serves to be presently mending due to their deforestation for charcoal and soil erosion as a consequence, this problem has become a major economic issue for the island’s inhabitants; how do we know that this catastrophe will not occur in other areas of the world, and what types of measures can be taken to eliminate the cycle of deforestation due to the absence of thought for what could happen when the final tree serves as a martyr for an ecosystem that once had the great potential to thrive?

The African tulip tree (Spathodea campanulata) is a native species of tree that is found along the West coast of Africa from Ghana to Angola and inland across the center of the continent to southern Sudan and Uganda. (Source #1) The vivid fiery hue of the flowers of the African tulip tree contributed to its introduction to Puerto Rico more than a century earlier as an ornamental. (Source #2) More than a century later the African tulip tree has contributed to the reforestation of lands formerly abandoned by agricultural collapse. It is now the most abundant tree in the secondary forests of Puerto Rico. (Source #3) The opportunistic nature of the resilient African tulip tree has transformed the landscape of Puerto Rico by providing habitat and aiding in the recovery of flora and fauna due to anthropogenic ecocide.

My first research experience involved ecological work at the San Miguel Biological Station in Costa Rica. During the summer of 2013, I did extensive field research in and near the Cabo Blanco Absolute reserve focusing on forest succession within the scope of the unique continuous conservation efforts of the national government. A total of thirty (0.02 hectare) forest inventory plots were laid out. Species composition and population structure of tree species were characterized representing 28-year-old and 50-year-old successional forests, and small areas of primary forest. The research showed that longevity of growth and area use were determining factors in the species that occurred. When an area had been undisturbed and allowed to grow for a longer period, there was more speciation resembling primary forest. Suggesting for the areas studied, that if left undisturbed long enough, an area’s speciation will resemble primary forest. However, secondary growth in these areas is not expected to immediately resemble the population structure of tree species as a consequence of time in undisturbed growth. I showcased this project in a poster presentation at the SDSU Student Research Symposium March 2014.

The area around Roatan and the Bay Islands is considered to be a Tropical Humid Forest. This area of life is restricted to narrow lowlands and covers coastal plains. The flora that integrates the vegetation of the area has characteristics and morphological features which include trees, shrubs, and grasses; as well as an evergreen, deciduous phenology.

This search was undertaken to find published scientific literature on both the ecology and lifecycle of Chilean Needle Grass, the main results of this search are discussed in this literature review for PLSC 321.