Inaug.-diss.-Würzburg. / Cover title.

The Framework Convention on Climate Change has yet to deal with tropical deforestation although it represents an important source of greenhouse gas emissions. In December 2005 negotiations on a possible regime to reduce emissions from deforestation resume under the impulse of a regime proposal based on the concept of compensated reduction. Over the course of 2006 Panamanian policy-makers working within the National Environmental Authority (ANAM) determine that such a regime is in the interest of Panama given that the integrity of the Kyoto Protocol's existing flexibility mechanisms is protected. However reducing its deforestation rate is not currently possible for Panama due to ANAM's limited institutional capacity to act on the field and limited political capacity to influence the national agenda. Important up-front flows of funds from developed countries combined with the adoption of a progressive project based compensation mechanism could contribute to reverse this trend.

This study attempts to expand existing knowledge on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, by studying a four year old tropical tree plantation. The growth of trees coming from monocultures, three species mixtures and six species mixtures was compared. Through multivariate statistical analysis, the variation in tree productivity was partitioned into different components: variation explained by (1) species richness, (2) species identity and (3) the environment. Results reveal that the environment explains the largest portion of variability in tree growth. Moreover, of the small amount of variation explained by diversity, species identity is found to be twice as important then species richness. Of notable significance was the amount of variation explained by the interaction of diversity with the environment.

Previous studies have shown that: (1) plant defensive compounds may have medicinal properties; and (2) defensive compounds present in aposematic insects are often sequestered from their host-plant(s). This study addresses whether aposematic insects can be used as guides to detect plants containing medicinally-active compounds. First, ten tropical medicinally-active plants and ten non-active plants, selected using previous ICBG bioassay results, were observed regularly to determine their insect populations. Aposematic insects were found more frequently on active than non-active plants ( X2=8.167, P=0.01). Second, three aposematic insects feeding on Tithonia diversifolia were examined chemically to determine the fate of the plant's pharmaceutically-active compounds. They were not found to sequester or excrete these compounds. Therefore, using aposematic insects could increase the likelihood of finding plants with medicinally-active compounds; however, these insects may not necessarily utilize these compounds for defensive purposes. The underlying basis for this significant association between aposematic insects and medicinally-active plants requires further investigation.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1940. / Vita. Published also without thesis note. Bibliography: p. [435]-447.

Inaug.-Diss.--Frankfurt a/M. / Lebenslauf. "Literaturverzeichnis": p. 101-102.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1930. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Kgl. Bayerische Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. / Bibliography: p. [vii]-viii.

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