Mike Oatham

• University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

Understanding the development of white sands ecosystems (WSEs) and their occurrence is critical for determining structural diversity in global biodiversity hotspots. WSE has fascinated ecologists for decades, with soil always opined to play a critical role in the development of complex ecosystem vegetation patterns. However, few to no studies have...

Silvicultural treatments are a common tool for increasing commercial timber production. Their impact on the growth or mortality of the remaining stand is well researched. This study focuses on the economic aspects of silvicultural treatments in neotropical forests. We have selected liberation treatments and consider them to be investments that are...

Despite the widespread use and strong promotion of the sustainable forest management approach, there are still uncertainties about the actual contribution of current forest management practices to sustainability. We studied the problem of sustainable timber production in four tropical countries (Belize, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago). D...

Crude seed extracts of four forest tree species, Mora excelsa Benth, Carapa guianensis Aubl., Pentaclethra macroloba (Willd.) Kuntze and Clathrotropis brachypetala (Tul.) Kleinhoonte, from Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago were screened for their antifeedant activity against third instar larvae of Spodoptera frugiperda. All extracts tested exhibited a...

Assessing anthropogenic impacts on carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems is of great value for increasing the resilience of soil resources and ecosystem sustainability of tropical Small Island Developing States (SIDS) that are known to be vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. We used historic air photos to assess land use/land cover chang...

The impact of fire on the stand structure of Mauritia flexuosa Linn f. was investigated in a tropical savanna-forest system by comparing savanna margins that are either protected from or regularly exposed to moderate to low intensity savanna fires. Mauritia flexuosa populations within different environments were sampled over two years to measure: s...

Tropical hyperseasonal savannas provide a rare example of a tropical climax community dominated by graminoid species. Species living in such savannas are frequently exposed to excess heat and light, in addition to drought and waterlogging, and must possess traits to avoid or tolerate these stress factors. Here we examine the contrasting heat and li...

Soil spatial patterns in tropical forest may impact, or to some extent control, important characteristics of tropical forests such as forest biodiversity and carbon emissions. However, tropical forests are highly heterogeneous and therefore determining soil spatial patterns using traditional methods is highly labor intensive and destructive. As a r...

Geophysical techniques of proximal soil sensing provide non-invasive, rapid, cost effective and spatially exhaustive measurements of soil properties to understand plot scale soil heterogeneity. This is useful in precision agriculture, soil fertility, and soil and environmental contamination management. The benefits of rapid proximal sensing in reco...

In temperate climates, soil water repellency (SWR) has been documented to develop with land-use change from native forest to pine plantations. In the tropics a sparse evidence base has been documented for the observation of SWR, but no investigation has been conducted to determine the consequences of changing land-use from native forest to pine pla...

The vast potential for negative impacts of land use change upon the environment has created an urgent need for the creation of a comprehensive view of land cover/use change. Such a perspective would serve as an invaluable tool that could be used by public administrators and environmental managers to manage the rate of change in land use in forested...

The diurnal water relations of two weeds of irrigated rangeland in Abu Dhabi and one important forage plant were investigated to determine reasons for their distribution and response to irrigation and topsoiling.Zygophyllum hamiense, a weed of sprinkle irrigated rangeland, was found to have a relatively low water potential which together with its s...

The effect on vegetation communities of release from grazing by camels and goats has been investigated in the Baynunah region of Abu Dhabi emirate, in The United Arab Emirates, by the study of an exclosure established 11 years previously. Also the effect of sprinkle irrigation (in the absence of grazing) on the rangeland vegetation was investigated...

The effect of topsoiling on the vegetation communities of Abu Dhabi coastal desart rangelands with sand taken from an inland area of rangeland supporting a different vegetation community, was investigated. The study was carried out on ghanada Island, an inshore desert island which had been extensively topsoiled in the previous 5 years. Parts of the...