Abstract Tropical dry forests covers 0.5 to 1.1 billion hectares which is about half of the tropical moist forest area. The forests fulfil many important ecological and economic functions and deliver manifold commodities for subsistence as well as for international demands. Despite their importance tropical dry forests seem to attain by far lesser attention than humid forests by the international research community. In an „ISI web of knowledge“ and “google scholar”-based comparison of reviewed scientific articles on tropical dry versus tropical humid forests we found that the number of publications with focus on the dry biome is 3.6 times lower. The research topics differ partly. The topics “carbon” and “climate change” were for both biomes among the most prominent research subjects. “Disturbance” was a prioritized research topic for tropical dry forests, whereas “biodiversity” and “conservation” were highly relevant for tropical humid forests. This seems to be justified for several reasons. Nevertheless it appears to be urgent to call for a stronger international comprehensive strategic and applied research agenda for tropical dry forests to encounter the manifold forest-related problems in this disadvantaged environment.

中文翻译：

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研究趋势：热带干旱森林：被忽视的研究议程？

摘要 热带干旱森林面积为0.5～11亿公顷，约占热带湿润森林面积的一半。森林具有许多重要的生态和经济功能，并提供多种商品以满足生存和国际需求。尽管热带干燥森林很重要，但国际研究界对热带干燥森林的关注似乎远低于潮湿森林。在“ISI 知识网络”和基于“谷歌学者”的热带干旱与热带湿润森林审查科学文章的比较中，我们发现专注于干旱生物群落的出版物数量低 3.6 倍。研究主题部分不同。“碳”和“气候变化”的主题是最突出的研究课题中的两个生物群落。“干扰”是热带干旱森林的优先研究课题，而“生物多样性”和“保护”与热带湿润森林高度相关。出于几个原因，这似乎是合理的。然而，迫切需要为热带干旱森林制定更强有力的国际综合战略和应用研究议程，以应对这种不利环境中与森林有关的多种问题。