Global dominance of lianas over trees is driven by forest disturbance, climate and topography.

Growing evidence suggests that liana competition with trees is threatening the global carbon sink by slowing the recovery of forests following disturbance. A recent theory based on local and regional evidence further proposes that the competitive success of lianas over trees is driven by interactions between forest disturbance and climate. We present the first global assessment of liana-tree relative performance in response to forest disturbance and climate drivers. Using an unprecedented dataset, we analysed 651 vegetation samples representing 26,538 lianas and 82,802 trees from 556 unique locations worldwide, derived from 83 publications. Results show that lianas perform better relative to trees (increasing liana-to-tree ratio) when forests are disturbed, under warmer temperatures and lower precipitation and towards the tropical lowlands. We also found that lianas can be a critical factor hindering forest recovery in disturbed forests experiencing liana-favourable climates, as chronosequence data show that high competitive success of lianas over trees can persist for decades following disturbances, especially when the annual mean temperature exceeds 27.8°C, precipitation is less than 1614 mm and climatic water deficit is more than 829 mm. These findings reveal that degraded tropical forests with environmental conditions favouring lianas are disproportionately more vulnerable to liana dominance and thus can potentially stall succession, with important implications for the global carbon sink, and hence should be the highest priority to consider for restoration management.

Des preuves de plus en plus nombreuses suggèrent que la competition entre lianes et les arbres menace le puits de carbone mondial en ralentissant la récupération des forêts après une perturbation. Une théorie récente, fondée sur des observations locales et régionales, propose en outre que le succès compétitif des lianes sur les arbres est dû aux interactions entre la perturbation forestière et le climat. Nous présentons la première évaluation mondiale de la performance relative des lianes par rapport aux arbres en réponse aux perturbations forestières et aux facteurs climatiques. En utilisant un ensemble de données sans précédent, nous avons analysé 651 échantillons de végétation représentant 26,538 lianes et 82,802 arbres, issus de 556 emplacements uniques dans le monde entier, tirés de 83 publications. Les résultats montrent que les lianes ont de meilleure performances par rapport aux arbres (augmentation du ratio liane-arbre) lorsque les forêts sont perturbées, sous des zones chaudes aves précipitations faibles, et vers les basses altitudes tropicales. Nous avons également constaté que les lianes peuvent être un facteur critique entravant la récupération des forêts dans les forêts perturbées connaissant des climats favorables aux lianes, car les données de chronoséquence montrent que le succès compétitif élevé des lianes sur les arbres peut persister pendant des décennies après les perturbations, surtout lorsque la température annuelle moyenne dépasse 27.8°C, que les précipitations sont inférieures à 1614 mm et que le déficit hydrique climatique est supérieur à 829 mm. Ces découvertes révèlent que les forêts tropicales dégradées avec des conditions environnementales favorables aux lianes sont disproportionnellement plus vulnérables à la dominance des lianes, et peuvent ainsi potentiellement entraver la succession, avec d'importantes implications pour le puits de carbone mondial et devraient donc être la plus haute priorité à considérer pour la gestion de la restauration.

Resonant cavity-enhanced photodiode array for miniaturised spectroscopic sensing.

Optical spectroscopic sensing is a technique that is commonly employed for the identification and compositional analysis of a wide variety of substances, from biological samples to greenhouse gases. High-resolution spectrometers are well established, however, attempts to miniaturise the designs can suffer from adverse effects due to the miniaturisation, for both Fourier transform based interferometric designs, as well as dispersive designs. In this work, a linear array of resonant cavity-enhanced photodiodes is realised with spatially chirped resonance wavelength, offering chip-scale free-space hyperspectral sensing. Resonant cavity-enhanced photodiodes sense over a narrow spectral band, which can be tuned by the thicknesses of the heterostructure. Through this work, multiple narrow spectral bands can be sensed by resonant cavity-enhanced photodiodes on a single chip by grading the thicknesses across the wafer. Photocurrent measurements from a fabricated array determine the wavelength of incident light with an accuracy of ± 2 nm.

Agroecological practices increase farmers' well-being in an agricultural growth corridor in Tanzania.

Millions of people rely on nature-rich farming systems for their subsistence and income. The contributions of nature to these systems are varied and key to their sustainability in the long term. Yet, agricultural stakeholders are often unaware or undervalue the relevance of those contributions, which can affect decisions concerning land management. There is limited knowledge on how farming practices and especially those that build more strongly on nature, including agroecological practices, may shape farmers' livelihoods and well-being. We aim to determine the effect that farmer perception of contributions from nature, socioeconomic conditions, and farming practices, have on outcomes related to food security and human well-being. We conducted 467 household surveys in an agricultural growth corridor in rural Tanzania, which is also essential for nature conservation due to its high biodiversity and its strategic location between several protected areas encompassing wetland, forest, and grassland habitats. Results show that implementing more agroecological practices at farm scale has a positive effect on farmer well-being in the study landscape. Results also indicate that higher awareness of benefits from nature, as well as engagement with agricultural extension services, are associated with higher number of agroecological practices applied in the farm. This research confirms the relevance of capacity-building initiatives to scale up the uptake of agroecological practices in the tropics. It also shows, using empirical evidence, that farming practices taking advantage of nature's contributions to people can positively affect food security and human well-being, even when those practices complement conventional ones, such as the use of synthetic inputs. Understanding the impact of agroecological farming on the well-being of smallholder farmers in the tropics paves the way for policy and program development that ensures global food demands are met in a sustainable way without compromising the well-being of some of the world's most vulnerable people.

Mid-infrared resonant cavity light emitting diodes operating at 4.5†µm.

We report on a mid-infrared resonant cavity light emitting diode (RCLED) operating at the wavelength of 4.5 µm with a narrow spectral linewidth at room temperature. Compared to a reference LED without a resonant cavity, our RCLED exhibits (85x) higher peak intensity, (13x) higher integrated output power, (16x) narrower spectral linewidth and (7x) superior temperature stability. The device consists of a one-wavelength thick micro-cavity containing an Al0.12In0.88As/InAs0.85Sb0.15 quantum well active region sandwiched between two high contrast AlAs0.08Sb0.92/GaSb distributed Bragg reflector mirrors, grown lattice-matched on GaSb by molecular beam epitaxy. The high spectral brightness, narrow linewidth and superior temperature stability are attractive features, enabling these devices to be used for detection of N2O at 4.5 µm. We show that with only minor adjustments the gases CO2 (4.2 µm) and CO (4.6 µm) are also readily accessible.

Resonant cavity-enhanced photodetector incorporating a type-II superlattice to extend MWIR sensitivity.

Mid-infrared resonant cavity-enhanced photodetectors (RCE PD) present a promising technology for targeted gas detection. We demonstrate an RCE PD incorporating an InAs/InAsSb superlattice as the detecting element, extending the resonant wavelength beyond 4 µm. AlAsSb/GaSb mirrors and a unipolar barrier active region paralleling an nBn structure are also used, and performance is compared to a conventional broadband nBn detector incorporating the same superlattice. The RCE PD exhibited a Q-factor of ∼90 and an extremely stable resonance wavelength. Peak responsivity was 3.0 A W-1 at 240 K, equalling 84% quantum efficiency, a 5.5 times increase over the reference nBn at the same wavelength. Dark current density was 3.3×10-2 A cm-2 at 240 K, falling to 2.7×10-4 A cm-2 at 180 K. The broadband BLIP limit is approached at 180 K with specific detectivity of 2.1×1011 cm Hz1/2 W-1, which presents the potential of achieving BLIP-limited operation in the thermoelectric cooling regime.

Room-Temperature Mid-Infrared Emission from Faceted InAsSb Multi Quantum Wells Embedded in InAs Nanowires.

There is considerable interest in the development of InAsSb-based nanowires for infrared photonics due to their high tunability across the infrared spectral range, high mobility, and integration with silicon electronics. However, optical emission is currently limited to low temperatures due to strong nonradiative Auger and surface recombination. Here, we present a new structure based on conical type II InAsSb/InAs multiquantum wells within InAs nanowires which exhibit bright mid-infrared photoluminescence up to room temperature. The nanowires are grown by catalyst-free selective area epitaxy on silicon. This unique geometry confines the electron-hole recombination to within the quantum wells which alleviates the problems associated with recombination via surface states, while the quantum confinement of carriers increases the radiative recombination rate and suppresses Auger recombination. This demonstration will pave the way for the development of new integrated quantum light sources operating in the technologically important mid-infrared spectral range.

Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas.

The rapid disruption of tropical forests probably imperils global biodiversity more than any other contemporary phenomenon. With deforestation advancing quickly, protected areas are increasingly becoming final refuges for threatened species and natural ecosystem processes. However, many protected areas in the tropics are themselves vulnerable to human encroachment and other environmental stresses. As pressures mount, it is vital to know whether existing reserves can sustain their biodiversity. A critical constraint in addressing this question has been that data describing a broad array of biodiversity groups have been unavailable for a sufficiently large and representative sample of reserves. Here we present a uniquely comprehensive data set on changes over the past 20 to 30 years in 31 functional groups of species and 21 potential drivers of environmental change, for 60 protected areas stratified across the world's major tropical regions. Our analysis reveals great variation in reserve 'health': about half of all reserves have been effective or performed passably, but the rest are experiencing an erosion of biodiversity that is often alarmingly widespread taxonomically and functionally. Habitat disruption, hunting and forest-product exploitation were the strongest predictors of declining reserve health. Crucially, environmental changes immediately outside reserves seemed nearly as important as those inside in determining their ecological fate, with changes inside reserves strongly mirroring those occurring around them. These findings suggest that tropical protected areas are often intimately linked ecologically to their surrounding habitats, and that a failure to stem broad-scale loss and degradation of such habitats could sharply increase the likelihood of serious biodiversity declines.

Integrating field and satellite data for spatially explicit inference on the density of threatened arboreal primates.

Spatially explicit models of animal abundance are a critical tool to inform conservation planning and management. However, they require the availability of spatially diffuse environmental predictors of abundance, which may be challenging, especially in complex and heterogeneous habitats. This is particularly the case for tropical mammals, such as nonhuman primates, that depend on multi-layered and species-rich tree canopy coverage, which is usually measured through a limited sample of ground plots. We developed an approach that calibrates remote-sensing imagery to ground measurements of tree density to derive basal area, in turn used as a predictor of primate density based on published models. We applied generalized linear models (GLM) to relate 9.8-ha ground samples of tree basal area to various metrics extracted from Landsat 8 imagery. We tested the potential of this approach for spatial inference of animal density by comparing the density predictions for an endangered colobus monkey, to previous estimates from field transect counts, measured basal area, and other predictors of abundance. The best GLM had high accuracy and showed no significant difference between predicted and observed values of basal area. Our species distribution model yielded predicted primate densities that matched those based on field measurements. Results show the potential of using open-access and global remote-sensing data to derive an important predictor of animal abundance in tropical forests and in turn to make spatially explicit inference on animal density. This approach has important, inherent applications as it greatly magnifies the relevance of abundance modeling for informing conservation. This is especially true for threatened species living in heterogeneous habitats where spatial patterns of abundance, in relation to habitat and/or human disturbance factors, are often complex and, management decisions, such as improving forest protection, may need to be focused on priority areas.

Low Leakage-Current InAsSb Nanowire Photodetectors on Silicon.

Axially doped p-i-n InAs0.93Sb0.07 nanowire arrays have been grown on Si substrates and fabricated into photodetectors for shortwave infrared detection. The devices exhibit a leakage current density around 2 mA/cm(2) and a 20% cutoff of 2.3 µm at 300 K. This record low leakage current density for InAsSb based devices demonstrates the suitability of nanowires for the integration of III-V semiconductors with silicon technology.

Land cover change and carbon emissions over 100 years in an African biodiversity hotspot.

Agricultural expansion has resulted in both land use and land cover change (LULCC) across the tropics. However, the spatial and temporal patterns of such change and their resulting impacts are poorly understood, particularly for the presatellite era. Here, we quantify the LULCC history across the 33.9 million ha watershed of Tanzania's Eastern Arc Mountains, using geo-referenced and digitized historical land cover maps (dated 1908, 1923, 1949 and 2000). Our time series from this biodiversity hotspot shows that forest and savanna area both declined, by 74% (2.8 million ha) and 10% (2.9 million ha), respectively, between 1908 and 2000. This vegetation was replaced by a fivefold increase in cropland, from 1.2 million ha to 6.7 million ha. This LULCC implies a committed release of 0.9 Pg C (95% CI: 0.4-1.5) across the watershed for the same period, equivalent to 0.3 Mg C ha(-1)  yr(-1) . This is at least threefold higher than previous estimates from global models for the same study area. We then used the LULCC data from before and after protected area creation, as well as from areas where no protection was established, to analyse the effectiveness of legal protection on land cover change despite the underlying spatial variation in protected areas. We found that, between 1949 and 2000, forest expanded within legally protected areas, resulting in carbon uptake of 4.8 (3.8-5.7) Mg C ha(-1) , compared to a committed loss of 11.9 (7.2-16.6) Mg C ha(-1) within areas lacking such protection. Furthermore, for nine protected areas where LULCC data are available prior to and following establishment, we show that protection reduces deforestation rates by 150% relative to unprotected portions of the watershed. Our results highlight that considerable LULCC occurred prior to the satellite era, thus other data sources are required to better understand long-term land cover trends in the tropics.

Limited carbon and biodiversity co-benefits for tropical forest mammals and birds.

The conservation of tropical forest carbon stocks offers the opportunity to curb climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and simultaneously conserve biodiversity. However, there has been considerable debate about the extent to which carbon stock conservation will provide benefits to biodiversity in part because whether forests that contain high carbon density in their aboveground biomass also contain high animal diversity is unknown. Here, we empirically examined medium to large bodied ground-dwelling mammal and bird (hereafter "wildlife") diversity and carbon stock levels within the tropics using camera trap and vegetation data from a pantropical network of sites. Specifically, we tested whether tropical forests that stored more carbon contained higher wildlife species richness, taxonomic diversity, and trait diversity. We found that carbon stocks were not a significant predictor for any of these three measures of diversity, which suggests that benefits for wildlife diversity will not be maximized unless wildlife diversity is explicitly taken into account; prioritizing carbon stocks alone will not necessarily meet biodiversity conservation goals. We recommend conservation planning that considers both objectives because there is the potential for more wildlife diversity and carbon stock conservation to be achieved for the same total budget if both objectives are pursued in tandem rather than independently. Tropical forests with low elevation variability and low tree density supported significantly higher wildlife diversity. These tropical forest characteristics may provide more affordable proxies of wildlife diversity for future multi-objective conservation planning when fine scale data on wildlife are lacking.

Husbandry and enclosure influences on penguin behavior and conservation breeding.

Multi-zoo comparisons of animal welfare are rare, and yet vital for ensuring continued improvement of zoo enclosures and husbandry. Methods are not standardized for the development of zoo enclosures based on multiple indicators, and case study species are required. This study compares behavior and breeding success to various enclosure and husbandry parameters for the Humboldt penguin, Spheniscus humboldti, for the development of improved enclosure design. Behavioral sampling was completed at Flamingo Land over a period of 8 months. Further data on behavior, enclosure design, and breeding success were collected via questionnaires, visits to zoos, and literature review. Breeding success was primarily influenced by colony age and number of breeding pairs, suggesting an important social influence on reproduction. Across zoos, there was also significant variation in behavior. The proportion of time spent in water varied between zoos (2-23%) and was used as an indicator of physical activity and natural behavior. Regression models revealed that water-use was best predicted by total enclosure area per penguin, followed by land area, with some evidence for positive influence of pool surface area per penguin. Predominantly linear/curvilinear increases in our biological indicators with enclosure parameters suggest that optimal conditions for S. humboldti were not met among the selected zoos. We propose revised minimum conditions for S. humboldti enclosure design, which exceed those in the existing husbandry guidelines. We present a framework for the evaluation of zoo enclosures and suggest that a rigorous scientific protocol be established for the design of new enclosures, based on multivariate methods. Zoo Biol. 35:385-397, 2016. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of Climate, Soil, Topography and Disturbance on Liana Prevalence.

Lianas (woody vines and climbing monocots) are increasing in abundance in many tropical forests with uncertain consequences for forest functioning and recovery following disturbances. At a global scale, these increases are likely driven by disturbances and climate change. Yet, our understanding of the environmental variables that drive liana prevalence at regional scales is incomplete and geographically biased towards Latin America. To address this gap, we present a comprehensive study evaluating the combined effects of climate, soil, disturbance and topography on liana prevalence in the Australian Wet Tropics. We established 31 20 × 20 m vegetation plots along an elevation gradient in low disturbance (canopy closure ≥ 75%) and high disturbance (canopy closure ≤ 25%) forest stands. In these plots, all tree and liana (defined as all woody dicot vines and climbing monocots, i.e., rattans) stems ≥ 1 cm DBH were measured and environmental data were collected on climate, soil and topography. Generalised linear models were used with multi-model averaging to quantify the relative effects of the environmental variables on measures of liana prevalence (liana-tree basal area ratio, woody vine basal area and stem density and rattan stem density). Liana prevalence decreased with elevation but increased with disturbance and mean annual precipitation. The increase in the liana-tree ratio with precipitation was more pronounced for highly disturbed sites. Like other tropical regions, disturbance is an important driver of liana prevalence in Australian rainforests and appears to interact with climate to increase liana-tree ratios. The observed increase in liana-tree ratio with precipitation contrasts findings from elsewhere but is confounded by correlated changes in elevation and temperature, which highlights the importance of regional studies. Our findings show that forests with high disturbance and climatic conditions favourable to lianas are where lianas most likely to outcompete trees and impede forest recovery.

Evidence of thermophilization in Afromontane forests.

Thermophilization is the directional change in species community composition towards greater relative abundances of species associated with warmer environments. This process is well-documented in temperate and Neotropical plant communities, but it is uncertain whether this phenomenon occurs elsewhere in the tropics. Here we extend the search for thermophilization to equatorial Africa, where lower tree diversity compared to other tropical forest regions and different biogeographic history could affect community responses to climate change. Using re-census data from 17 forest plots in three mountain regions of Africa, we find a consistent pattern of thermophilization in tree communities. Mean rates of thermophilization were +0.0086 °C·y-1 in the Kigezi Highlands (Uganda), +0.0032 °C·y-1 in the Virunga Mountains (Rwanda-Uganda-Democratic Republic of the Congo) and +0.0023 °C·y-1 in the Udzungwa Mountains (Tanzania). Distinct from other forests, both recruitment and mortality were important drivers of thermophilzation in the African plots. The forests studied currently act as a carbon sink, but the consequences of further thermophilization are unclear.

The impact of insect herbivory on biogeochemical cycling in broadleaved forests varies with temperature.

Herbivorous insects alter biogeochemical cycling within forests, but the magnitude of these impacts, their global variation, and drivers of this variation remain poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap and help improve biogeochemical models, we established a global network of 74 plots within 40 mature, undisturbed broadleaved forests. We analyzed freshly senesced and green leaves for carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and silica concentrations, foliar production and herbivory, and stand-level nutrient fluxes. We show more nutrient release by insect herbivores at non-outbreak levels in tropical forests than temperate and boreal forests, that these fluxes increase strongly with mean annual temperature, and that they exceed atmospheric deposition inputs in some localities. Thus, background levels of insect herbivory are sufficiently large to both alter ecosystem element cycling and influence terrestrial carbon cycling. Further, climate can affect interactions between natural populations of plants and herbivores with important consequences for global biogeochemical cycles across broadleaved forests.

Pathways to win-wins or trade-offs? How certified community forests impact forest restoration and human wellbeing.

Certified community forests combine local governance with forest certification and aim to serve multiple objectives including forest protection, restoration, human wellbeing and equitable governance. However, the causal pathways by which they impact these objectives remain poorly understood. The ability of protected area impact evaluations to identify complex pathways is limited by a narrow focus on top-down theoretical, quantitative perspectives and inadequate consideration of local context. We used a novel mixed-methods research design that integrates the perspectives of multiple actors to develop a generalized conceptual model of the causal pathways for certified community forests. We tested the model using a combination of statistical matching, structural equation modelling and qualitative analyses for an agroforestry landscape in Tanzania. We found certified community forests positively impacted human wellbeing, equitable governance and forest restoration. Equitable governance had the largest impact on wellbeing, followed by crop yield and forest resource availability. Timber revenues varied widely between villages and the average effect of financial benefits did not impact wellbeing due to the immature stage of the certified timber market. We identified positive interactions and trade-offs between conservation and agriculture. Our findings suggest that no simple solution exists for meeting multiple objectives. However, developing understanding of the pathways linking social and conservation outcomes can help identify opportunities to promote synergies and mitigate negative impacts to reconcile competing objectives. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding forest landscape restoration: reinforcing scientific foundations for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration'.

A systems approach framework for evaluating tree restoration interventions for social and ecological outcomes in rural tropical landscapes.

The science guiding design and evaluation of restoration interventions in tropical landscapes is dominated by ecological processes and outcomes and lacks indicators and methods that integrate human wellbeing into the restoration process. We apply a new systems approach framework for tree restoration in forest-agricultural landscapes to show how this shortcoming can be addressed. Demonstrating 'proof of concept', we tested statistical models underlying the framework pathways with data collected from a case study in Tanzania. Local community perceptions of nature's values were not affected by levels of self-reported wildlife-induced crop damage. But mapped predictions from the systems approach under a tree restoration scenario suggested differential outcomes for biodiversity indicators and altered spatial patterns of crop damage risk, expected to jeopardize human wellbeing. The predictions map anticipated trade-offs in costs and benefits of restoration scenarios, which we have started to explore with stakeholders to identify restoration opportunities that consider local knowledge, value systems and human wellbeing. We suggest that the framework be applied to other landscapes to identify commonalities and differences in forest landscape restoration outcomes under varying governance and land use systems. This should form a foundation for evidence-based implementation of the global drive for forest landscape restoration, at local scales. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding forest landscape restoration: reinforcing scientific foundations for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration'.

Fifteen essential science advances needed for effective restoration of the world's forest landscapes.

There has never been a more pressing and opportune time for science and practice to collaborate towards restoration of the world's forests. Multiple uncertainties remain for achieving successful, long-term forest landscape restoration (FLR). In this article, we use expert knowledge and literature review to identify knowledge gaps that need closing to advance restoration practice, as an introduction to a landmark theme issue on FLR and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Aligned with an Adaptive Management Cycle for FLR, we identify 15 essential science advances required to facilitate FLR success for nature and people. They highlight that the greatest science challenges lie in the conceptualization, planning and assessment stages of restoration, which require an evidence base for why, where and how to restore, at realistic scales. FLR and underlying sciences are complex, requiring spatially explicit approaches across disciplines and sectors, considering multiple objectives, drivers and trade-offs critical for decision-making and financing. The developing tropics are a priority region, where scientists must work with stakeholders across the Adaptive Management Cycle. Clearly communicated scientific evidence for action at the outset of restoration planning will enable donors, decision makers and implementers to develop informed objectives, realistic targets and processes for accountability. This article paves the way for 19 further articles in this theme issue, with author contributions from across the world. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding forest landscape restoration: reinforcing scientific foundations for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration'.

A practice-led assessment of landscape restoration potential in a biodiversity hotspot.

Effective restoration planning tools are needed to mitigate global carbon and biodiversity crises. Published spatial assessments of restoration potential are often at large scales or coarse resolutions inappropriate for local action. Using a Tanzanian case study, we introduce a systematic approach to inform landscape restoration planning, estimating spatial variation in cost-effectiveness, based on restoration method, logistics, biomass modelling and uncertainty mapping. We found potential for biomass recovery across 77.7% of a 53 000 km2 region, but with some natural spatial discontinuity in moist forest biomass, that was previously assigned to human causes. Most areas with biomass deficit (80.5%) were restorable through passive or assisted natural regeneration. However, cumulative biomass gains from planting outweighed initially high implementation costs meaning that, where applicable, this method yielded greater long-term returns on investment. Accounting for ecological, funding and other uncertainty, the top 25% consistently cost-effective sites were within protected areas and/or moderately degraded moist forest and savanna. Agro-ecological mosaics had high biomass deficit but little cost-effective restoration potential. Socio-economic research will be needed to inform action towards environmental and human development goals in these areas. Our results highlight value in long-term landscape restoration investments and separate treatment of savannas and forests. Furthermore, they contradict previously asserted low restoration potential in East Africa, emphasizing the importance of our regional approach for identifying restoration opportunities across the tropics. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding forest landscape restoration: reinforcing scientific foundations for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration'.

High speed InAs electron avalanche photodiodes overcome the conventional gain-bandwidth product limit.

High bandwidth, uncooled, Indium Arsenide (InAs) electron avalanche photodiodes (e-APDs) with unique and highly desirable characteristics are reported. The e-APDs exhibit a 3dB bandwidth of 3.5 GHz which, unlike that of conventional APDs, is shown not to reduce with increasing avalanche gain. Hence these InAs e-APDs demonstrate a characteristic of theoretically ideal electron only APDs, the absence of a gain-bandwidth product limit. This is important because gain-bandwidth products restrict the maximum exploitable gain in all conventional high bandwidth APDs. Non-limiting gain-bandwidth products up to 580 GHz have been measured on these first high bandwidth e-APDs.