Researchers exploring the value of different types of timber across the Amazon rainforest have produced a fascinating choropleth map to illustrate their findings.

Shown above, it consists of timber values plotted on a gridded map of equal-area cells, each 0.25km-squared in size. Click on the image to view the full-size version.

Sadia Ahmed and Robert Ewers, both of Imperial College London, carried out the study and believe its findings could provide a method for predicting future deforestation patterns in the region.

Their theory is that a knowledge of spatial patterns in timber value could play an important role in helping conservation groups target the areas at highest risk of imminent logging.

Ahmed and Ewers explain that the link between timber values and deforestation patterns is related to road networks in the Amazon:

The spatial patterns of deforestation are determined largely by the patterns of roads that open access to frontier areas and expansion of the road network in the Amazon is largely determined by profit seeking logging activities.

In other words, the higher the price loggers can expect to receive for the timber of a certain tree, the more likely they are to target areas of forest where that genus is most abundant, building roads along the way.

A previous study found a high correlation between deforestation and road networks, with almost all logging taking place within 25km of roads.

Ahmed and Ewers hope that conservationists will be able to use the map to locate high value areas and thus determine where loggers are most likely to build new roads - allowing them to focus their efforts on vulnerable regions before deforestation takes place.

The image panel below provides a more detailed illustration of how Amazonian timber varies spatially by genus and value. Hymenaea appears to be the most valuable variety across the rainforest as a whole, while Manilkara has something of a high-value hotspot in the northern central area.

Each of the 11 high-value genera, showing genus-specific spatial patterns in the distribution of timber value and differences in total value (US$/ha). Image and caption courtesy of authors. Illustration: Sadia Ahmed and Robert Ewers, Imperial College London

You can find Ahmed and Ewers' full research paper, including tables and images, here.

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