For the first time ever since it was established in 1951 at the botanical institute of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the "Association pour l'Etude Taxonomique de la Flore d'Afrique Tropicale" met in Antananarivo, Madagascar, in April 2010. After Government assurances to crack down on the rosewood trade, one might have expected some radical change. But, unfortunately, according to Wildmadagascar.org reporting that "Despite pledge to crack down, illegal logging continues in Madagascar's rainforest parks", nothing changed for biodiversity in 2010 in Mananara, Makira, and Masoala National Parks.

When a Scientist Mom meets Mother Nature in Ethiopia, she speaks to all kids, first to the young ones, second to the older ones, those who grew up but continue to play with bugs in the field and in Museum collections: "By educating children, we may generate a greater legacy of conservation than from a long list of species listed in scientific publications gathering dust on a shelf." Read Meg Lowman's column entitled "Surveying Ethiopian insects".

During the first national meeting of the société française d'écologie (sfé, or French Society of Ecology) between 2-4 September 2010 in Montpellier, there was many presentations about invasion and introduction of alien organisms in natural ecosytems, including tropical ones. Plant invasion is highly dependent on dispersal of diaspores or propagules by wind, ocean currents, frugivores, truck, car, boat and human beings. This has been debated during the 5th International Symposium on Frugivores and Seed Dispersal in Montpellier in June. As a reminder, the virtual issue of BIOTROPICA published an article by Julie Denslow and colleagues on the invasiveness of exotic plants in the Tropical Pacific Islands showing that the number of species "was significantly correlated with island and country areas and with native plant species richness". The "presence of an airport with paved runway (an index of economic activity)" was also a key factor explaining plant invasiveness.

The ATBC Conservation Committee released the "Heart of Borneo" resolution in March 2007 urging "the international community, private sector, nongovernmental organizations, international aid agencies, scientific organizations, and government partners to provide direly needed financial and technical support for the crucial Heart of Borneo program and for related conservation initiatives to help protect the rapidly vanishing ecosystems and biodiversity of Borneo." Although scientists may consider Palm oil boycott as an "unrealistic" and "ineffective" approach to conserving the region's fast-disappearing rainforests, still, the private esctor is now responding and change their palm oil suppliers. Mongabay.com reports that" Burger King drops palm oil supplier linked to Borneo rainforest destruction". Other corporate such as Findus, however, progressively banned palm oil in their products between 2008 and 2010 despite being classified by WWF as good Palm Oil Buyers' Scorecard in 2009.

Wiley-Blackwell and the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation published a special virtual issue of BIOTROPICA to celebrate the International Year of Biodiversity. Among the selected articles, Robin Chazdon and colleagues stated that : "Lasting conservation efforts demand new alliances among conservation biologists, agroecologists, agronomists, farmers, indigenous peoples, rural social movements, foresters, social scientists, and land managers to collaborate in research, co-design conservation programs and policies, and manage human-modified landscapes in ways that enhance biodiversity conservation and promote sustainable livelihoods." That is a New Deal for tropical biologists in 2011 that has been declared the International Year of Forests by the United Nations.

In a the last issue of Journal of Tropical Ecology, Patrick A. Jansen and colleagues showed that the agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) meticulously defleshes Astrocaryum standleyanum palm seeds before scatter hoarding on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, thus reducing seed predation to the mutual benefit of the tree and the rodent. This study complements that of Nick Smythe published in BIOTROPICA in 1989. (Photo : Agouti at Barro Colorado Island defleshing a Scheelea butyracea seed. © Pierre-Michel Forget).