Bird diversity along a gradient of tropical forest loss due to agriculture in central Veracruz, Mexico

Intact tropical forests, free from substantial anthropogenic influence, store and sequester large amounts of atmospheric carbon but are currently neglected in international climate policy. We show that between 2000 and 2013, direct clearance of intact tropical forest areas accounted for 3.2% of gross carbon emissions from all deforestation across the pantropics. However, full carbon accounting requires the consideration of forgone carbon sequestration, selective logging, edge effects, and defaunation. When these factors were considered, the net carbon impact resulting from intact tropical forest loss between 2000 and 2013 increased by a factor of 6 (626%), from 0.34 (0.37 to 0.21) to 2.12 (2.85 to 1.00) petagrams of carbon (equivalent to approximately 2 years of global land use change emissions). The climate mitigation value of conserving the 549 million ha of tropical forest that remains intact is therefore significant but will soon dwindle if their rate of loss continues to accelerate.

Download Full-text

Forest birds respond to the spatial pattern of exurban development in the Mid-Atlantic region, USA

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.2039 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. e2039 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Marcela Suarez-Rubio ◽

Todd R. Lookingbill

Keyword(s):

Spatial Pattern ◽

Spatial Scale ◽

Forest Fragmentation ◽

Spatial Scales ◽

The United States ◽

Forest Edge ◽

Forest Birds ◽

Bird Diversity ◽

Forest Loss ◽

Exurban Development

Housing development beyond the urban fringe (i.e., exurban development) is one of the fastest growing forms of land-use change in the United States. Exurban development’s attraction to natural and recreational amenities has raised concerns for conservation and represents a potential threat to wildlife. Although forest-dependent species have been found particularly sensitive to low housing densities, it is unclear how the spatial distribution of houses affects forest birds. The aim of this study was to assess forest bird responses to changes in the spatial pattern of exurban development and also to examine species responses when forest loss and forest fragmentation were considered. We evaluated landscape composition around North American Breeding Bird Survey stops between 1986 and 2009 by developing a compactness index to assess changes in the spatial pattern of exurban development over time. Compactness was defined as a measure of how clustered exurban development was in the area surrounding each survey stop at each time period considered. We used Threshold Indicator Taxa Analysis to detect the response of forest and forest-edge species in terms of occurrence and relative abundance along the compactness gradient at two spatial scales (400-m and 1-km radius buffer). Our results showed that most forest birds and some forest-edge species were positively associated with high levels of compactness at the larger spatial scale; the proportion of forest in the surrounding landscape also had a significant effect when forest loss and forest fragmentation were accounted for. In contrast, the spatial configuration of exurban development was an important predictor of occurrence and abundance for only a few species at the smaller spatial scale. The positive response of forest birds to compactness at the larger scale could represent a systematic trajectory of decline and could be highly detrimental to bird diversity if exurban growth continues and creates more compacted development.

Download Full-text

Global Thinking and Local Action: Agriculture, Tropical Forest Loss and Conservation in Southeast Nigeria BY UWEM E. ITE xv + 142 pp., 8 figs., 11 tables, 22.4 × 15.5 × 1.5 cm, ISBN 0 7546 1345 3 hardback, GB£ 37.50, Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2001

Environmental Conservation ◽

10.1017/s0376892902270162 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 263-270

Author(s):

John F. Oates

Keyword(s):

Tropical Forest ◽

Local Action ◽

Forest Loss ◽

Ashgate Publishing ◽

Publishing Limited

Download Full-text

Endemic avifaunal biodiversity and tropical forest loss in Makira, a mountainous Pacific island

Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography ◽

10.1111/j.1467-9493.2010.00386.x ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 100-114 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Finn Danielsen ◽

Christopher E. Filardi ◽

Knud A. Jønsson ◽

Victor Kohaia ◽

Niels Krabbe ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tropical Forest ◽

Forest Loss ◽

Pacific Island

Download Full-text

Effectiveness of protected areas in conserving tropical forest birds

10.1101/2020.01.21.912345 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Victor Cazalis ◽

Karine Princé ◽

Jean-Baptiste Mihoub ◽

Joseph Kelly ◽

Stuart H.M. Butchart ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tropical Forest ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Bird Species ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Forest Birds ◽

Bird Diversity ◽

Bird Species Richness ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Global Biodiversity ◽

Underlying Mechanisms

AbstractProtected areas are the cornerstones of global biodiversity conservation efforts1,2, but to fulfil this role they must be effective at conserving the ecosystems and species that occur within their boundaries. This is particularly imperative in tropical forest hotspots, regions that concentrate a major fraction of the world’s biodiversity while also being under intense human pressure3–5. But these areas strongly lack adequate monitoring datasets enabling to contrast biodiversity in protected areas with comparable unprotected sites6,7. Here we take advantage of the world’s largest citizen science biodiversity dataset – eBird8 – to quantify the extent to which protected areas in eight tropical forest biodiversity hotspots are effective at retaining bird diversity, and to understand the underlying mechanisms. We found generally positive effects of protection on the diversity of bird species that are forest-dependent, endemic to the hotspots, or threatened or Near Threatened, but not on overall bird species richness. Furthermore, we show that in most of the hotspots examined this is driven by protected areas preventing both forest loss and degradation. Our results support calls for increasing the extent and strengthening the management efforts within protected areas to reduce global biodiversity loss9–11.

Download Full-text

Tropical forest remnants as shelters of avian diversity within a tourism development matrix in Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Revista de Biología Tropical ◽

10.15517/rbt.v66i2.33410 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 66 (2) ◽

pp. 799

Author(s):

Jorge E. Ramírez-Albores ◽

Marlín Pérez-Suárez

Keyword(s):

Tropical Forest ◽

Diversity Index ◽

Bird Species ◽

Tourism Development ◽

Bird Community ◽

Quintana Roo ◽

Bird Diversity ◽

Point Counts ◽

Land Use Types ◽

Forest Remnants

Tropical forests have undergone extensive transformation because of increasing tourism development, in addition to historic clearing for agricultural and cattle grazing activities. Altogether, these activities have had an important effect on bird diversity, reducing the habitat available to many species. In this study, the role of tropical forest remnants located between different land use types was evaluated for species diversity, composition, and distribution of the bird community at Akumal region in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Point counts were used to quantify the avifauna by habitat, and Shannon´s and Simpson´s diversity index were used to determine bird diversity. Additionally, bird species were classified according to seasonality and trophic guild by type of habitat. A total of 160 species and 50 families was recorded, of which 100 species were permanent residents, 47 winter visitors and 11 transients. Mature tropical forest and tropical forest remnants had higher species richness than those of modified environments. This study supports the importance of tropical forest remnants as shelters for bird species in landscapes with tourism developments, and the relevance of these remnants to maintaining high bird diversity. Rev. Biol. Trop. 66(2): 799-813. Epub 2018 June 01.

Download Full-text