Abstract booklet - gtö – Society for Tropical Ecology

6 FOREWORD7ForewordDistinguished participants, dear friends and colleagues,the more we study tropical biodiversity the more we discoverhow little we still know. No matter if we look at orchids inPanama, frogs in Madagascar, chameleons in Cameroon andskinks in Vietnam, to mention just a few examples, there arestill lots of surprises and species numbers turn out to bemuch higher than expected. Ecological studies are revealingevery day more how rich the world of biodiversity is, howcomplex the interactions between different species ofanimals and plants are and, as a consequence, how complextropical ecosystems are. At the same time economistsare trying to assess the financial and economic value of species andecosystem services. Not everybody does like the “economisation” ofbiodiversity, but it certainly translates the importance of the elementsand systems of life – as we ecologists see it - into a language which isbetter understood by decision makers from politics, economics, andindustry than our scientific, ecological arguments.But wherever we look, trends of biological diversity are negative. Thediscovery of so many new species is paralleled by an unprecedentedloss of biological diversity due to anthropogenic reasons. The more newspecies are described, the more we understand how many forms of lifewe may have lost already without even knowing about their existence,not to talk about their role in the ecosystems and their – potential –benefit for human beings.The United Nations Year of Biodiversity just ended, and the “Target 2010”to significantly reduce or stop the loss of biodiversity has been missed.The Global Biodiversity Outlook 3, published less than a year ago,shows that none of the 21 sub-targets set for 2010 by the parties to theConvention on Biological Diversity in 2002 has been achieved.The 2011 Conference of our Society for Tropical Ecology – gtö willaddress the status of tropical biodiversity and try to put a light on itsfuture which seems to be dull. What unites us is the interest and – whynot - enthusiasm for the tropical regions and so we may not give up toengage ourselves in the research on and conservation of our study areas,both in the geographical and taxonomic meaning.Therefore, we need to strengthen also our organisation, the gtö. We needmore members, we need to be active as an organisation also between ourconferences. I’m convinced that this conference here in Frankfurt, to which Ihave the pleasure and honour of welcoming you all, will be one more importantstep stone towards a better understanding of the multiple aspects of tropicaldiversity and towards finding solutions for their conservation.I would like to express the thanks of gtö and my very personal thanks to oursupporters and sponsors, to all who helped to prepare the conference, especiallymy local team, and last but not least to all the participants who contribute tomaking this meeting interesting and productive.I wish us all a successful conference.Thank you for coming!Manfred NiekischPresident gtöPhotos: Manfred NiekischgtöSociety for Tropical Ecology | Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie e.V. Status and future of tropical biodiversity | Frankfurt, 21 - 24 February 2011gtö