Spatial variation in human disturbances and their effects on forest structure and biodiversity across an Afromontane forest

Beche, Dinkissa; Tack, Ayco J. M.; Nemomissa, Sileshi; Warkineh, Bikila; Lemessa, Debissa; Rodrigues, Patrícia; Fischer, Joern; Hylander, Kristoffer

doi:10.1007/s10980-021-01395-4

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…This indicates that humans seem to favor the use of more fragmented forest sites and closer to the forest edge when compared to less fragmented and forest interior locations, across seasons. This is a pattern of spatial use that is in line with the results of Beche et al (2022), which show that human-lead forest disturbance in this region of Ethiopia is stronger at the edges and declines with increasing distances from agricultural fields.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Apart from coffee, forests support livestock grazing and provide farmers with a diverse array of products, including firewood and timber, medicinal plants, spices, and honey. Thus, forests and forest products represent an important dimension of local livelihoods (Shumi et al 2019a) and human activity in the forest is ubiquitous (Beche et al 2022). In addition, this is a region where conflicts with wildlife are common (Ango et al 2017;Dorresteijn et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘The human shield effect’: Human-wildlife co-occurrence patterns in the coffee forests of southwestern Ethiopia

2023

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The human shield effect’: Human-wildlife co-occurrence patterns in the coffee forests of southwestern Ethiopia

2023

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“…The higher the proportion of land used for construction [75], the proportion of cultivated land [76], GDP [77,78], and the number of night-time lights [79], the higher the negative impact on the forest, which is consistent with previous findings. Beche et al showed that edge effects driven by human use of the forest depend on how the local community values and uses different forest resources [19]. The expansion of building sites has led to the destruction of many forests, and the development of agricultural and forestry economies has led to the expansion of villages and the destruction of forest resources.…”

Section: Direct and Indirect Impacts Of Factors On Forest Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beche studied the spatial variability of anthropogenic disturbances in African mountain forests and their effects on forest structure and biodiversity. The intersection between edge effects and forest degradation is context-specific and largely depends on how forests are used by a given society [19]. Lemus-Lauzon et al documented the link between human disturbance and stand composition and structure, arguing that changes in land use patterns due to anthropogenic demand change as a driver of forest dynamics in forested landscapes [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Traditional Ethnic Villages on Forest Structure Based on PLS-SEM: A Case Study of Miao Inhabited Area

Ma,

Zhang,

Guo

et al. 2023

Forests

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The activity characteristics of the village and its symbiotic relationship with the environment play an important role in the sustainable development of the surrounding environment. Miao villages have a long history. In the process of long-term interaction with the surrounding natural environment, Miao villages have formed a unique forest culture, which has an important impact on the distribution of the surrounding forests and plays a crucial role in local forest management. In this study, we took the Miao villages of China that are distributed in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture of China as an example and constructed a research framework to study the interaction between the natural environment and human activities around the Miao villages and its impact on forest change based on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and geographically weighted regression modeling (GWR) methods. The validity and reliability evaluations showed that the PLS-SEM model was reasonable. The results showed that the Miao villages were randomly distributed within 0–2 km and clustered in the 8–10 km buffer zone. The temporal variation of the forest landscape around the Miao villages was small, and the spatial heterogeneity was obvious. Within the 0~2 km buffer zone, the proportion of closed-canopy forest was the largest, and with the increase in the buffer zone radius, the proportion of closed-canopy forest gradually decreased, the open-canopy forest gradually grew, and the proportion of shrubbery and other forests showed an upward trend first and then a downward trend. Temporally, the four forest landscapes did not change much, with closed and open forests sliding, and shrubbery and other forests increasing. Regarding the drivers of forest structure change, topographic factors and landscape patterns had a positive effect on forest structure, while human activities had a negative effect. The influence of topography on human activities in the Miao villages weakened the direct positive effect of topography on forests and promoted the positive effect of the landscape pattern on forests. There were significant spatial differences in the GWR regression coefficients of the effects of different factors on forest structure in 2020, with a pivotal negative correlation between NDVI and night-time light data. In addition, the higher the elevation, the more unfavorable the distribution of open-canopy forests and the better the distribution of closed-canopy forests. The higher the slope, the higher the NDVI but the more unfavorable the distribution of closed-canopy forests. In general, the impacts of Miao villages on forest structure are highly complex and interactive, with both direct and indirect effects. Different factors interact to affect the structure of the forest. The study on the effect of Miao villages on forests is helpful for more targeted forest protection and the formulation of laws and regulations, so as to find a balance between human activities and forest management, in order to maintain the ecological balance of local areas. This study introduced the PLS-SEM model to investigate the impacts of Miao villages on forest structure, which effectively enhanced our understanding of the drivers and impacts of forest change and provides theoretical support and a basis for forest protection and management.

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“…However, in many forests at the right altitude the understory is totally dominated by coffee and other wild shrubs seem to be strongly held back. It is thus likely that continuous but minor management over the years also in the forest coffee system has created the composition that is seen today 119 . A common smallholder system is called (ii) ‘semi-forest coffee’.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons from Ethiopian coffee landscapes for global conservation in a post-wild world

Hylander,

Nemomissa,

Fischer

et al. 2024

Commun Biol

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The reality for conservation of biodiversity across our planet is that all ecosystems are modified by humans in some way or another. Thus, biodiversity conservation needs to be implemented in multifunctional landscapes. In this paper we use a fascinating coffee-dominated landscape in southwest Ethiopia as our lens to derive general lessons for biodiversity conservation in a post-wild world. Considering a hierarchy of scales from genes to multi-species interactions and social-ecological system contexts, we focus on (i) threats to the genetic diversity of crop wild relatives, (ii) the mechanisms behind trade-offs between biodiversity and agricultural yields, (iii) underexplored species interactions suppressing pest and disease levels, (iv) how the interactions of climate change and land-use change sometimes provide opportunities for restoration, and finally, (v) how to work closely with stakeholders to identify scenarios for sustainable development. The story on how the ecology and evolution of coffee within its indigenous distribution shape biodiversity conservation from genes to social-ecological systems can inspire us to view other landscapes with fresh eyes. The ubiquitous presence of human-nature interactions demands proactive, creative solutions to foster biodiversity conservation not only in remote protected areas but across entire landscapes inhabited by people.

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Spatial variation in human disturbances and their effects on forest structure and biodiversity across an Afromontane forest

Cited by 9 publications

References 69 publications

‘The human shield effect’: Human-wildlife co-occurrence patterns in the coffee forests of southwestern Ethiopia

‘The human shield effect’: Human-wildlife co-occurrence patterns in the coffee forests of southwestern Ethiopia

The Influence of Traditional Ethnic Villages on Forest Structure Based on PLS-SEM: A Case Study of Miao Inhabited Area

Lessons from Ethiopian coffee landscapes for global conservation in a post-wild world

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