• Digital processing of high-resolution images provides the most accurate estimates of the area and distribution of cleared tropical forests, and previous studies have shown that forest and most types of deforested land can be distinguished with accuracies of over 90%.

• The inability of the soil to recover substantially under relatively long period of abandoned pasture indicates that extreme care should be taken in the management of the deforested lands in similar tropical environments.

• Precipitation in deforested areas quickly runs off, creating flash floods followed by periods of greatly reduced or no stream flow.