Regional deforestation drives the impact of forest cover and matrix quality on primate species richness

Abstract Great attention has been drawn to the impacts of habitat deforestation and fragmentation on wildlife species richness. In contrast, much less attention has been paid to assessing the impacts of chronic anthropogenic disturbance on wildlife species composition and behaviour. We focused on natural small rock pools (sartenejas), which concentrate vertebrate activity due to habitat’s water limitation, to assess the impact of chronic anthropogenic disturbance on the species richness, diversity, composition, and behaviour of medium and large-sized birds and mammals in the highly biodiverse forests of Calakmul, southern Mexico. Camera trapping records of fauna using sartenejas within and outside the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve (CBR) showed that there were no effects on species richness, but contrasts emerged when comparing species diversity, composition, and behaviour. These effects differed between birds and mammals and between species: (1) bird diversity was greater outside the CBR, but mammal diversity was greater within and (2) the daily activity patterns of birds differed slightly within and outside the CBR but strongly contrasted in mammals. Our study highlights that even in areas supporting extensive forest cover, small-scale chronic anthropogenic disturbances can have pervasive negative effects on wildlife and that these effects contrast between animal groups.

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Designing oil palm landscapes to retain biodiversity using insights from a key ecological indicator group

10.1101/204347 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Claudia L. Gray ◽

Eleanor M. Slade ◽

Darren J. Mann ◽

Owen T. Lewis

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Oil Palm ◽

Forest Restoration ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Dung Beetle ◽

Ecological Indicator ◽

Species Richness And Diversity ◽

Functional Richness ◽

Logged Forest ◽

The Impact

ABSTRACTOil palm expansion threatens biodiverse ecosystems across the tropics. However, palm oil is a widely used and profitable crop, so identifying strategies that mitigate the impact of oil palm expansion on biodiversity is important. Riparian reserves (strips of forest along rivers) are protected in many countries for hydrological reasons and also support species that would not otherwise persist in oil palm. However, management guidelines for riparian zones have been informed by relatively few ecological studies. We assessed how the structural features and landscape context of riparian reserves in Sabah, Malaysia affected dung beetle communities. We also tested the use of flight intercept traps to study movement of dung beetles along linear forest corridors. Overall, dung beetle abundance in riparian reserves was 54% lower than in logged forest areas, but all species observed in the logged forest were found in at least one riparian reserve site and both species richness and diversity increased with reserve width. Distance from a large block of continuous forest affected dung beetle community composition but not species richness, abundance, or functional diversity. The amount of forest cover in the surrounding landscape improved the retention of species within riparian reserves, and increases in vegetation complexity corresponded with higher functional richness and functional dispersion. The flight intercept traps did not indicate that there is net movement of individuals out of logged forest areas into the riparian reserves. The species richness of 30 m reserves (the suggested requirement of reserves in Sabah) was only 10% lower than in logged forest, but our data indicate that riparian reserves of at least 50 – 80 m are needed for species richness and diversity to equal that in nearby logged forest. These findings, particularly if they apply more widely to forest-dependent taxa, should be taken into account when setting policy and sustainability guidelines for oil palm plantations, both in areas undergoing conversion from forest and in existing oil palm plantations where forest restoration is required.

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Avian diversity in a fragmented landscape of central Indian forests (Bhopal Forest Circle)

Journal of Threatened Taxa ◽

10.11609/jott.6528.13.5.18177-18188 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 18177-18188

Author(s):

Amit Kumar ◽

Yogesh Dubey ◽

Advait Edgaonkar

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Anthropogenic Disturbance ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Community Dynamics ◽

Bird Species ◽

Vital Role ◽

Fragmented Landscape ◽

Forest Fragments ◽

Forest Patches ◽

The Impact

With increasing fragmentation of natural areas and a dramatic reduction of forest cover in several parts of the world, quantifying the impact of such changes on species richness and community dynamics has been a subject of much concern. Therefore, this study intends to assess avifaunal biodiversity in fragmented forests. Forest patches between the sizes of 10ha and 700ha were identified in Bhopal Forest Circle (BFC), which covers the Vindhyan plateau. Forest patches were classified based on their size and degree of isolation. A sample of 21 forest fragments was selected using proportional sampling. Bird surveys were conducted using the point count method at each site. Three replicates were taken at each site. Avian species richness of each patch was calculated. The results suggest that species richness is positively associated with the size of the forest patches. Larger forest patches such as Binapur (166ha, Chao 1= 73), Sayar (107ha, Chao 1= 78) and Kalyanpura (133ha, Chao 1= 80) had relatively high species richness, except for patches including Narsinghgarh (393ha, Chao 1= 28) and Singota (184ha, Chao 1= 45) with high levels of anthropogenic disturbance. Smaller forest patches were found to have fewer bird species, although small forest patches with lesser degrees of anthropogenic disturbance such as Lalghati (99ha, Chao 1 = 62), Lasudli (16ha, Chao 1 = 65), Ghot (36ha, Chao 1 = 53), and Nasipur (23ha, Chao 1 =52) were more diverse than other patches. These patches were more protected due to being sacred groves (Lalghati and Lasudli) or under private ownership (Ghot and Nasipur). A total of 131 bird species were recorded from all the sampled forest patches. These results suggest that forest patches embedded in an agrarian landscape play a vital role in conserving biodiversity, hence conservation efforts should also be focused on these forest fragments.

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Mega-dams and extreme rainfall: Disentangling the drivers of extensive impacts of a large flooding event on Amazon Forests

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0245991 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. e0245991

Author(s):

Washington Luis Oliveira ◽

Marcelo Brilhante Medeiros ◽

Pamela Moser ◽

Marcelo Fragomeni Simon

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Tree Mortality ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Remote Sensing Data ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Forest Loss ◽

Natural Habitats ◽

Extreme Flood ◽

The Impact

Extreme weather events and the presence of mega-hydroelectric dams, when combined, present an emerging threat to natural habitats in the Amazon region. To understand the magnitude of these impacts, we used remote sensing data to assess forest loss in areas affected by the extreme 2014 flood in the entire Madeira River basin, the location of two mega-dams. In addition, forest plots (26 ha) were monitored between 2011 and 2015 (14,328 trees) in order to evaluate changes in tree mortality, aboveground biomass (AGB), species composition and community structure around the Jirau reservoir (distance between plots varies from 1 to 80 km). We showed that the mega-dams were the main driver of tree mortality in Madeira basin forests after the 2014 extreme flood. Forest loss in the areas surrounding the reservoirs was 56 km2 in Santo Antônio, 190 km2 in Jirau (7.4–9.2% of the forest cover before flooding), and 79.9% above that predicted in environmental impact assessments. We also show that climatic anomalies, albeit with much smaller impact than that created by the mega-dams, resulted in forest loss along different Madeira sub-basins not affected by dams (34–173 km2; 0.5–1.7%). The impact of flooding was greater in várzea and transitional forests, resulting in high rates of tree mortality (88–100%), AGB decrease (89–100%), and reduction of species richness (78–100%). Conversely, campinarana forests were more flood-tolerant with a slight decrease in species richness (6%) and similar AGB after flooding. Taking together satellite and field measurements, we estimate that the 2014 flood event in the Madeira basin resulted in 8.81–12.47 ∙ 106 tons of dead biomass. Environmental impact studies required for environmental licensing of mega-dams by governmental agencies should consider the increasing trend of climatic anomalies and the high vulnerability of different habitats to minimize the serious impacts of dams on Amazonian biodiversity and carbon stocks.

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Large-scale Geographic Pattern of Primate Species Richness in Mainland China at Different Spatial Resolution and Its Relationship to Environmental Factors and Human Activities

Chinese Journal of Appplied Environmental Biology ◽

10.3724/sp.j.1145.2012.00954 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 954 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Xiaoqian LIN ◽

Yong HUANG ◽

Zhili ZUO ◽

Yueying CHEN

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Environmental Factors ◽

Spatial Resolution ◽

Human Activities ◽

Large Scale ◽

Mainland China ◽

Primate Species ◽

Geographic Pattern

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Evaluating Forest Cover and Fragmentation in Costa Rica with a Corrected Global Tree Cover Map

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12193226 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (19) ◽

pp. 3226

Author(s):

Daniel Cunningham ◽

Paul Cunningham ◽

Matthew E. Fagan

Keyword(s):

Costa Rica ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Forest Area ◽

Tree Cover ◽

Agricultural Crop ◽

Forest Change ◽

Alos Palsar ◽

Tropical Regions ◽

The Impact

Global tree cover products face challenges in accurately predicting tree cover across biophysical gradients, such as precipitation or agricultural cover. To generate a natural forest cover map for Costa Rica, biases in tree cover estimation in the most widely used tree cover product (the Global Forest Change product (GFC) were quantified and corrected, and the impact of map biases on estimates of forest cover and fragmentation was examined. First, a forest reference dataset was developed to examine how the difference between reference and GFC-predicted tree cover estimates varied along gradients of precipitation and elevation, and nonlinear statistical models were fit to predict the bias. Next, an agricultural land cover map was generated by classifying Landsat and ALOS PalSAR imagery (overall accuracy of 97%) to allow removing six common agricultural crops from estimates of tree cover. Finally, the GFC product was corrected through an integrated process using the nonlinear predictions of precipitation and elevation biases and the agricultural crop map as inputs. The accuracy of tree cover prediction increased by ≈29% over the original global forest change product (the R2 rose from 0.416 to 0.538). Using an optimized 89% tree cover threshold to create a forest/nonforest map, we found that fragmentation declined and core forest area and connectivity increased in the corrected forest cover map, especially in dry tropical forests, protected areas, and designated habitat corridors. By contrast, the core forest area decreased locally where agricultural fields were removed from estimates of natural tree cover. This research demonstrates a simple, transferable methodology to correct for observed biases in the Global Forest Change product. The use of uncorrected tree cover products may markedly over- or underestimate forest cover and fragmentation, especially in tropical regions with low precipitation, significant topography, and/or perennial agricultural production.

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The Effect of LiDAR Sampling Density on DTM Accuracy for Areas with Heavy Forest Cover

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12030265 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 265

Author(s):

Mihnea Cățeanu ◽

Arcadie Ciubotaru

Keyword(s):

Forest Cover ◽

Initial Point ◽

Ground Surface ◽

Digital Terrain Model ◽

Morphological Data ◽

Sampling Density ◽

Terrain Model ◽

Digital Terrain ◽

Point Density ◽

The Impact

Laser scanning via LiDAR is a powerful technique for collecting data necessary for Digital Terrain Model (DTM) generation, even in densely forested areas. LiDAR observations located at the ground level can be separated from the initial point cloud and used as input for the generation of a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) via interpolation. This paper proposes a quantitative analysis of the accuracy of DTMs (and derived slope maps) obtained from LiDAR data and is focused on conditions common to most forestry activities (rough, steep terrain with forest cover). Three interpolation algorithms were tested: Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW), Natural Neighbour (NN) and Thin-Plate Spline (TPS). Research was mainly focused on the issue of point data density. To analyze its impact on the quality of ground surface modelling, the density of the filtered data set was artificially lowered (from 0.89 to 0.09 points/m2) by randomly removing point observations in 10% increments. This provides a comprehensive method of evaluating the impact of LiDAR ground point density on DTM accuracy. While the reduction of point density leads to a less accurate DTM in all cases (as expected), the exact pattern varies by algorithm. The accuracy of the LiDAR-derived DTMs is relatively good even when LiDAR sampling density is reduced to 0.40–0.50 points/m2 (50–60 % of the initial point density), as long as a suitable interpolation algorithm is used (as IDW proved to be less resilient to density reductions below approximately 0.60 points/m2). In the case of slope estimation, the pattern is relatively similar, except the difference in accuracy between IDW and the other two algorithms is even more pronounced than in the case of DTM accuracy. Based on this research, we conclude that LiDAR is an adequate method for collecting morphological data necessary for modelling the ground surface, even when the sampling density is significantly reduced.

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India’s Commitments to Increase Tree and Forest Cover: Consequences for Water Supply and Agriculture Production within the Central Indian Highlands

Water ◽

10.3390/w13070959 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 959

Author(s):

Benjamin Clark ◽

Ruth DeFries ◽

Jagdish Krishnaswamy

Keyword(s):

Groundwater Recharge ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Hydrological Modeling ◽

Monsoon Season ◽

Forest Policy ◽

Central India ◽

Field Measurements ◽

Tree Cover ◽

Policy Goals ◽

The Impact

As part of its nationally determined contributions as well as national forest policy goals, India plans to boost tree cover to 33% of its land area. Land currently under other uses will require tree-plantations or reforestation to achieve this goal. This paper examines the effects of converting cropland to tree or forest cover in the Central India Highlands (CIH). The paper examines the impact of increased forest cover on groundwater infiltration and recharge, which are essential for sustainable Rabi (winter, non-monsoon) season irrigation and agricultural production. Field measurements of saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs) linked to hydrological modeling estimate increased forest cover impact on the CIH hydrology. Kfs tests in 118 sites demonstrate a significant land cover effect, with forest cover having a higher Kfs of 20.2 mm hr−1 than croplands (6.7mm hr−1). The spatial processes in hydrology (SPHY) model simulated forest cover from 2% to 75% and showed that each basin reacts differently, depending on the amount of agriculture under paddy. Paddy agriculture can compensate for low infiltration through increased depression storage, allowing for continuous infiltration and groundwater recharge. Expanding forest cover to 33% in the CIH would reduce groundwater recharge by 7.94 mm (−1%) when converting the average cropland and increase it by 15.38 mm (3%) if reforestation is conducted on non-paddy agriculture. Intermediate forest cover shows however shows potential for increase in net benefits.

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Facilitation Effects of Haloxylon salicornicum Shrubs on Associated Understory Annuals, and a Modified “Stress-Gradient” Hypothesis for Droughty Times

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants9121726 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (12) ◽

pp. 1726

Author(s):

Nasr H. Gomaa ◽

Ahmad K. Hegazy ◽

Arafat Abdel Hamed Abdel Latef

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Water Availability ◽

Stress Gradient ◽

Growing Season ◽

Annual Species ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Growing Seasons ◽

Dry Seasons ◽

The Impact ◽

Haloxylon Salicornicum

Perennial shrub-annual plant interactions play key roles in desert regions influencing the structure and dynamics of plant communities there. In the present study, carried out in northwestern Saudi Arabia, we examined the effect of Haloxylon salicornicum shrubs on their associated understory annual species across four consecutive growing seasons, along with a record of the seasonal rainfall patterns. We measured density and species richness of all the annual species in permanent quadrats located beneath individual shrubs, as well as in the spaces between shrubs. During wet growing season H. salicornicum shrubs significantly enhanced the density and species richness of sub-canopy species, whereas in the relatively dry seasons they exerted negative effects on the associated species. In all growing seasons, the presence of shrubs was associated with enhanced soil properties, including increased organic carbon content, silt + clay, and levels of nutrients (N, P and K). Shrubs improved soil moisture content beneath their canopies in the wet growing season, while in the dry seasons they had negative effects on water availability. Differences in effects of H. salicornicum on understory plants between growing seasons seem due to the temporal changes in the impact of shrubs on water availability. Our results suggest the facilitative effects of shrubs on sub-canopy annuals in arid ecosystems may switch to negative effects with increasing drought stress. We discuss the study in light of recent refinements of the well-known “stress-gradient hypothesis”.

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Capacity Development for Use of Remote Sensing for REDD+ MRV Using Online and Offline Activities: Impacts and Lessons Learned

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13112172 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 2172

Author(s):

Sarah Carter ◽

Martin Herold ◽

Inge Jonckheere ◽

Andres Espejo ◽

Carly Green ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Hybrid Approach ◽

Remote Sensing Data ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Multiple Partners ◽

Large Audience ◽

Forest Cover Changes ◽

The Impact ◽

And Training

Four workshops and a webinar series were organized, with the aim of building capacity in countries to use Earth Observation Remote Sensing data to monitor forest cover changes and measure emissions reductions for REDD+ results-based payments. Webinars and workshops covered a variety of relevant tools and methods. The initiative was collaboratively organised by a number of Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) partner institutions with funding from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). The collaborative approach with multiple partners proved to be efficient and was able to reach a large audience, particularly in the case of the webinars. However, the impact in terms of use of tools and training of others after the events was higher for the workshops. In addition, engagement with experts was higher from workshop participants. In terms of efficiency, webinars are significantly cheaper to organize. A hybrid approach might be considered for future initiatives; and, this study of the effectiveness of both in-person and online capacity building can guide the development of future initiatives, something that is particularly pertinent in a COVID-19 era.

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