The shrinkage of a forest: Landscape-scale deforestation leading to overall changes in local forest structure

Rocha‐Santos, Larissa; Pessoa, Michaele S.; Cassano, Camila Righetto; Talora, Daniela Custódio; Orihuela, Rodrigo Leonel Lozano; Mariano‐Neto, Eduardo; Morante‐Filho, José Carlos; Faria, Deborah; Cazetta, Eliana

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2016.01.028

Cited by 105 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…), also in the study region, where forest cover is negatively related to stem density, diameter, and basal area (Rocha‐Santos et al. ). The indirect effect that vegetation structure has on leaf damage was also found, but in studies performed in temperate forests at the local scale (Bereczki et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…In our study region, forest loss increases the percentage of pioneer stems (Appendix ), probably because of the increasing forest canopy openness in more deforested landscapes (Rocha‐Santos et al. ), which promotes microclimatic changes (e.g., increased light incidence and decreased humidity) that prevent seed germination, recruitment, and establishment of shade‐tolerant species, while favoring light‐demanding pioneers (Laurance et al. ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

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Tropical forest loss and its multitrophic effects on insect herbivory

Morante‐Filho

Arroyo‐Rodríguez

Lohbeck

et al. 2016

Ecology

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Forest loss threatens biodiversity, but its potential effects on multitrophic ecological interactions are poorly understood. Insect herbivory depends on complex bottom-up (e.g., resource availability and plant antiherbivore defenses) and top-down forces (e.g., abundance of predators and herbivorous), but its determinants in human-altered tropical landscapes are largely unknown. Using structural equation models, we assessed the direct and indirect effects of forest loss on insect herbivory in 40 landscapes (115 ha each) from two regions with contrasting land-use change trajectories in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest. We considered landscape forest cover as an exogenous predictor and (1) forest structure, (2) abundance of predators (birds and arthropods), and (3) abundance of herbivorous arthropods as endogenous predictors of insect leaf damage. From 12 predicted pathways, 11 were significant and showed that (1) leaf damage increases with forest loss (direct effect); (2) leaf damage increases with forest loss through the simplification of vegetation structure and its associated dominance of herbivorous insects (indirect effect); and further demonstrate (3) a lack of top-down control of herbivores by predators (birds and arthropods). We conclude that forest loss favors insect herbivory by undermining the bottom-up control (presumably reduced plant antiherbivore defense mechanisms) in forests dominated by fast-growing pioneer plant species, and by improving the conditions required for herbivores proliferation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Tropical forest loss and its multitrophic effects on insect herbivory

Morante‐Filho

Arroyo‐Rodríguez

Lohbeck

et al. 2016

Ecology

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“…This buffer size is large enough to include the wide variation of the explanatory variables (see Table S3), as well as being at a scale that comprises structural variation of trees (Rocha‐Santos et al . ), variation in alpha‐ and beta‐diversity of generalist and specialist bird species (Carrara et al . ), and variation in diversity, abundance and uniformity of bats (Arroyo‐Rodríguez et al .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of landscape configuration and composition on phylogenetic diversity of trees in a highly fragmented tropical forest

et al. 2016

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Summary1. Fragmentation of tropical forests is a major driver of the global extinction crisis. A key question is understanding how fragmentation impacts phylogenetic diversity, which summarizes the total evolutionary history shared across species within a community. Conserving phylogenetic diversity decreases the potential of losing unique ecological and phenotypic traits and plays important roles in maintaining ecosystem function and stability. 2. Our study was conducted in landscapes within the highly fragmented Brazilian Atlantic forest. We sampled living trees with d.b.h. ≥ 4.8 cm in 0.1 ha plots within 28 fragment interiors and 12 fragment edges to evaluate the impacts of landscape configuration, composition and patch size, as well as edge effects, on phylogenetic diversity indices (PD, a measure of phylogenetic richness; MPD, phylogenetic distance between individuals in a community in deep evolutionary time; and MNTD, phylogenetic distance between each individual and its nearest phylogenetic neighbour). 3. We found that PD and MPD were correlated with species richness, while MNTD was not. Best models suggest that MPD was positively related to edge density and negatively related to the number of forest patches, but that there was no effect of landscape configuration and composition metrics on PD or MNTD, or on standardized values of phylogenetic structure (sesPD, sesMPD and sesMNTD), which control for species richness. Considering all selected models for phylogenetic diversity and structure, edge density and number of forest patches were most frequently selected. 4. With increasing patch size, we found lower PD in interiors but no change at edges and lower sesMNTD regardless of habitat type. Additionally, PD and sesMNTD were higher in interiors than at edges. 5. Synthesis. Changes in MPD and sesMNTD suggest that extirpation of species at edges or in highly fragmented landscapes increases the dominance of species within a subset of clades (phylogenetic clustering), likely those adapted to disturbance. Smaller patch sizes are phylogenetically diverse and overdispersed, probably due to an invasion of edge-adapted species. Conservation must enhance patch area and connectivity via forest restoration; pivotally, even small forest patches are important reservoirs of phylogenetic diversity in the highly threatened Brazilian Atlantic forest.

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“…The mean tree height in our fragments is 10.4 m (Rocha‐Santos et al . ), which facilitates accurate fruit estimation. In our estimation, we searched for at least four branches with a good visualization, counted all fruits, and multiplied this by the number of fruiting branches.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fruit biomass availability along a forest cover gradient

et al. 2016

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Habitat loss is the main driver of the current high rate of species extinction, particularly in tropical forests. Understanding the factors associated with biodiversity loss, such as the extinction of species interactions and ecological functions, is an urgent priority. Here, our aim was to evaluate how landscape‐scale forest cover influences fruit biomass comparing different tree functional groups. We sampled 20 forest fragments located within landscapes with forest cover ranging from 2 to 93 percent in the Atlantic forest of southern Bahia, Brazil. In each fragment, we established five plots of 25 × 4 m and carried out phenological observations on fleshy fruit throughout 1 year on all trees ≥5 cm dbh. We estimated fruit availability by direct counting of all fruits and derived fruit biomass from this count. We used spatial mixed linear models to evaluate the effects of forest cover on species richness, abundance, and fruit biomass. Our results indicated that forest cover was the main explanatory variable and negatively influenced the total richness and abundance of zoochoric and shade‐tolerant but not shade‐intolerant species. A linear model best explained variations in richness and abundance of total and shade‐tolerant species. We also found that forest cover was positively correlated with the fruit biomass produced by all species and by the shade‐tolerant assemblages, with linear models best explaining both relationships. The loss of shade‐tolerant species and the lower fruit production in fragments with lower landscape‐scale forest cover may have implications for the maintenance of frugivore, seed dispersal service, and plant recruitment.

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The shrinkage of a forest: Landscape-scale deforestation leading to overall changes in local forest structure

Cited by 105 publications

References 83 publications

Tropical forest loss and its multitrophic effects on insect herbivory

Tropical forest loss and its multitrophic effects on insect herbivory

Effects of landscape configuration and composition on phylogenetic diversity of trees in a highly fragmented tropical forest

Fruit biomass availability along a forest cover gradient

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