Secondary succession or facilitation processes carried out at sites established for rehabilitating abandoned pastures and degraded forests (prurmas) are instrumental in their return to original forest status. An understanding of these secondary succession processes contributes to the rehabilitation of degraded forest ecosystems and to the livelihoods of local communities, and aids in conserving biodiversity. We studied secondary succession in mixed species plantations that were established to rehabilitate abandoned land. The initial vegetation in these abandoned pastures and croplands was grassland composed of three dominant species: Rottboellia exaltata, Imperata brasiliensis, and Brachyaria decumbens. After tree planting and weeding had been carried out, the site was first invaded by R. exaltata and Baccharis floribunda. These two species, which depend solely on sexual and not vegetati...

One of main factors identified as explaining forest loss and degradation in the Selva (the Peruvian Amazon) is the migration of people from the Sierra (Andes highlands), where agricultural conditions are severe, to forest areas in the Selva in search of new land. This paper aims at clarifying the characteristics and process of migration based on interviews with local people near Pucallpa, Ucayali Department, where forest loss and degradation has advanced in recent decades. In the study area, forest loss and degradation progressed by commercial logging after construction of a road connecting between Lima and Pucallpa in 1943. After logging, stock-farming companies and immigrants entered the area, and land uses other than high forest have been expanding. Today, the study area is occupied by people who have immigrated since the 1960s. Many of them earned income by logging until the 1980s, w...