title: A large-scale forest fragmentation experiment: the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems Project.
abstract: Opportunities to conduct large-scale field experiments are rare, but provide a unique opportunity to reveal the complex processes that operate within natural ecosystems. Here, we review the design of existing, large-scale forest fragmentation experiments. Based on this review, we develop a design for the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) Project, a new forest fragmentation experiment to be located in the lowland tropical forests of Borneo (Sabah, Malaysia). The SAFE Project represents an advance on existing experiments in that it: (i) allows discrimination of the effects of landscape-level forest cover from patch-level processes; (ii) is designed to facilitate the unification of a wide range of data types on ecological patterns and processes that operate over a wide range of spatial scales; (iii) has greater replication than existing experiments; (iv) incorporates an experimental manipulation of riparian corridors; and (v) embeds the experimentally fragmented landscape within a wider gradient of land-use intensity than do existing projects. The SAFE Project represents an opportunity for ecologists across disciplines to participate in a large initiative designed to generate a broad understanding of the ecological impacts of tropical forest modification.
authors: Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK. r.ewers@imperial.ac.uk
authors: Robert M
authors: RM
authors: Ewers
authors: Raphael K
authors: RK
authors: Didham
authors: Lenore
authors: L
authors: Fahrig
authors: Gonçalo
authors: G
authors: Ferraz
authors: Andy
authors: A
authors: Hector
authors: Robert D
authors: RD
authors: Holt
authors: Valerie
authors: V
authors: Kapos
authors: Glen
authors: G
authors: Reynolds
authors: Waidi
authors: W
authors: Sinun
authors: Jake L
authors: JL
authors: Snaddon
authors: Edgar C
authors: EC
authors: Turner
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000531:Altitude; D028023:Arecaceae / Q000502:physiology; D001893:Borneo; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D017753:Ecosystem; D008296:Malaysia; D014197:Trees / Q000502:physiology*; D014329:Tropical Climate