Seth T. Wong, Azlan Mohamed, John Mathai, Jürgen Niedballa, Johnny Kissing, Peter Lagan, Alexander Y. L. Hastie, Andreas Wilting, Rahel Sollmann
{"title":"Changes in tropical terrestrial vertebrate communities along two anthropogenic gradients: Forest degradation and accessibility","authors":"Seth T. Wong, Azlan Mohamed, John Mathai, Jürgen Niedballa, Johnny Kissing, Peter Lagan, Alexander Y. L. Hastie, Andreas Wilting, Rahel Sollmann","doi":"10.1111/btp.13320","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Forest degradation and hunting are two major drivers of species declines in tropical forests, often associated with forest production activities and infrastructure. To assess how the medium-to-large bodied terrestrial vertebrate community varied across these two main gradients of anthropogenic impact, we conducted a camera-trap survey across three production forest reserves in central Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, each with different past and current logging regimes. We analyzed data from a 32-species community using a Bayesian community occupancy model, investigating the response of occurrence, diversity, and composition to forest degradation and accessibility (a proxy for hunting pressure). We found forest degradation to be a strong driver of occurrence of individual species. Such responses led to declines in diversity and shifts in community composition, where forest-dependent species decreased while disturbance-tolerant species increased in occupancy probability with increasing forest degradation. Accessibility had a weaker effect on community diversity and species occupancy, and low-level hunting pressure and management of access to our study sites likely played an important role in mitigating accessibility effects. Nonetheless, our results showed accessibility had compounding effects on a wildlife community already affected negatively by forest degradation. Despite the impacts of forest degradation and accessibility on the terrestrial vertebrate community, our results highlight how the application of more sustainable practices—reducing forest disturbance and managing unauthorized access to logging roads—resulted in more intact wildlife communities. Understanding how both disturbances combined affect the terrestrial vertebrate community is essential for evaluating and developing effective sustainability guidelines.</p><p>Abstract in malay is available with online material.</p>","PeriodicalId":8982,"journal":{"name":"Biotropica","volume":"56 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/btp.13320","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biotropica","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/btp.13320","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Forest degradation and hunting are two major drivers of species declines in tropical forests, often associated with forest production activities and infrastructure. To assess how the medium-to-large bodied terrestrial vertebrate community varied across these two main gradients of anthropogenic impact, we conducted a camera-trap survey across three production forest reserves in central Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, each with different past and current logging regimes. We analyzed data from a 32-species community using a Bayesian community occupancy model, investigating the response of occurrence, diversity, and composition to forest degradation and accessibility (a proxy for hunting pressure). We found forest degradation to be a strong driver of occurrence of individual species. Such responses led to declines in diversity and shifts in community composition, where forest-dependent species decreased while disturbance-tolerant species increased in occupancy probability with increasing forest degradation. Accessibility had a weaker effect on community diversity and species occupancy, and low-level hunting pressure and management of access to our study sites likely played an important role in mitigating accessibility effects. Nonetheless, our results showed accessibility had compounding effects on a wildlife community already affected negatively by forest degradation. Despite the impacts of forest degradation and accessibility on the terrestrial vertebrate community, our results highlight how the application of more sustainable practices—reducing forest disturbance and managing unauthorized access to logging roads—resulted in more intact wildlife communities. Understanding how both disturbances combined affect the terrestrial vertebrate community is essential for evaluating and developing effective sustainability guidelines.
Abstract in malay is available with online material.
期刊介绍:
Ranked by the ISI index, Biotropica is a highly regarded source of original research on the ecology, conservation and management of all tropical ecosystems, and on the evolution, behavior, and population biology of tropical organisms. Published on behalf of the Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation, the journal''s Special Issues and Special Sections quickly become indispensable references for researchers in the field. Biotropica publishes timely Papers, Reviews, Commentaries, and Insights. Commentaries generate thought-provoking ideas that frequently initiate fruitful debate and discussion, while Reviews provide authoritative and analytical overviews of topics of current conservation or ecological importance. The newly instituted category Insights replaces Short Communications.