Recovery after 25 years of the tree and palms species diversity on a selectively logged forest in a Venezuelan lowland ecosystem
Abstract
Aim of study: We evaluate palm and tree species diversity in a floodplain forest and the changes affecting the plots subjected to different intensities of selective logging.
Area of study: The western alluvial plains of Venezuela.
Materials and Methods: A randomized complete blocks design was established 25 years ago with three felling treatments (trees with diameter greater than 20 cm, 40 cm and 60 cm). Each treatment had three replications, using 1 ha permanent plots. We have measured all trees and palms bigger than over 10 cm in diameter. The data set was used to calculate the Importance Value Index of each species, the Shannon-Wiener index, the Hill Numbers and the Chao-Sørensen index.
Main results: Disturbance increases the importance value index of pioneer species like Cecropia peltata, Ochroma pyramidale and Triplaris americana. All treatments produce changes on the floristic diversity but most of them are not significant. Only the high impact treatment causes a decrease in the species richness, but after 5 year of recovery this parameter is close to its previous levels (N0= 43.5). In logged forests, species loss (9.2%) is lower than in the control plots (11.7%) and is also lower than the rate of occurrence of species input (14.6%).
Research highlights: In these logged forests restoration of diversity is acceptable because is higher than 91% (Chao-Sørensen index). Selective logging, with low and medium intensity, is a disturbance that works in a similar way to natural disturbances. All the diversity indexes recovered the pre-harvest level values.
Keywords: Caparo - Venezuela; ecological restoration; forest dynamics; forest management; forest succession; Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis; permanent plots.
Downloads
References
References
Arets E, 2005. Long-term responses of populations and communities of trees to selective logging in tropical rain forests in Guyana. Tropenbos, Georgetown, Guyana. 186 pp.
Berry N, Phillips O, Ong R, Hamer K, 2008. Impacts of selective logging on tree diversity across a rainforest landscape: the importance of spatial scale. Landscape Ecol 23: 915–929. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10980-008-9248-1
Bongers F, Poorter L, Hawthorne W, Sheil D, 2009. The intermediate disturbance hypothesis applies to tropical forests, but disturbance contributes little to tree diversity. Ecol Lett 12: 798-805. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01329.x
Burslem D, Whitmore T, 1999. Species diversity, susceptibility to disturbance and tree population dynamics in tropical rain forests. J Veg Sci 10: 767-776. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3237301
Butler C, Corvalan C, Koren H, 2005. Human health, well-being, and global ecological scenarios. Ecosystems 8: 153-162. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-004-0076-0
Campbell D, Stone J, Rosas A, 1992. A comparison of the phytosociology and dynamics of three floodplain (Várzea) forests of known ages, rio Juruá, western Brazilian Amazon. Bot J Linn Soc 108: 213–237. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.1992.tb00240.x
Cannon Ch, Peart P, Leighton M, 1998. Tree Species Diversity in Commercially Logged Bornean Rainforest. Science 281: 1366-1368. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.281.5381.1366
Castro-Luna A, Castillo-Campos G, Sosa, V, 2011. Effects of selective logging and shifting cultivation on the structure and diversity of a tropical evergreen forest in south-eastern Mexico. J Trop For Sci 23: 17–34.
Chao A, Chazdon R, Colwell R, Shen T, 2005. A new statistical approach for assessing similarity of species composition with incidence and abundance data. Ecol Lett 8: 148–159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00707.x
Colwell R. 2013. EstimateS: Statistical estimation of species richness and shared species from samples. Version 9. http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/estimates/
Connell J, 1978. Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199: 1302-1310. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.199.4335.1302
Curtis J, Mcintosh R, 1951. An upland forest continuum in the prairie-forest border region of Wisconsin. Ecology 32: 476-496. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1931725
Dajoz R, 2002. Tratado de Ecología. Mundi Prensa. Madrid. 600 pp.
Damasceno-Junior G, Semir J, Maës F, de Freitas H, 2005. Structure, distribution of species and inundation in a riparian forest of Rio Paraguai, Pantanal, Brazil. Flora 200: 119-135. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.flora.2004.09.002
Decocq G, Beinaa D, Jamoneaua A, Gourlet-Fleury S, Closset-Kopp D, 2014. Don't miss the forest for the trees! Evidence for vertical differences in the response of plant diversity to disturbance in a tropical rain forest. Perspect Plant Ecol 16: 279–287. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2014.09.001
de Oliveira L, 2005. Efeito da exploração da madeira e de diferentes intensidades de desbastes sobre a dinâmica da vegetação de uma área de 156 ha na Floresta Nacional do Tapajós. PhD thesis, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo.
de Oliveira A, Schiavini I, do Vale V, de Faria S, de Silverio C, Gusson A, Prado J, Dias-Neto O, 2014. Mortality, recruitment and growth of the tree communities in three forest formations at the Panga Ecological Station over ten years (1997-2007). Acta Bot Bras 28: 234-248. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-33062014000200010
Denslow J, 1980. Gap partitioning among tropical rainforest trees. Biotropica 12 (Suppl): 47-55. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2388156
DeWalt S, Maliakala S, Denslow J, 2003. Changes in vegetation structure and composition along a tropical forest chronosequence: implications for wildlife. Forest Ecol Manag 182: 139–151. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(03)00029-X
Edwards D, Tobias J, Sheil D, Meijaard E, Laurance W, 2014. Maintaining ecosystem function and services in logged tropical forests. Trends Ecol Evol 29: 511–520. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2014.07.003
Faber-Lagendoen D, 1992. Ecological constraints on rain forest management at Bajo Calima, western Colombia. Forest Ecol Manag 53: 213-244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0378-1127(92)90044-A
Felton A, Felton AM, Wood J, Lindenmayer D, 2006. Vegetation structure, phenology, and regeneration in the natural and anthropogenic tree-fall gaps of a reduced-impact logged subtropical Bolivian forest. Forest Ecol Manag 235: 186-193. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006.08.011
Ferreira L, Prance G, 1999. Ecosystem recovery in terra firme forests after cutting and burning: a comparison on species richness, floristic composition and forest structure in the Jau´ National Park, Amazonia. Bot J Linn Soc 130: 97–110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.1999.tb00514.x
Fox J, 2013. The intermediate disturbance hypothesis should be abandoned. Trends Ecol Evol 28: 86-92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2012.08.014
Franco W, 1982. Estudio y levantamiento de sitios con fines de manejo forestal en la Unidad Uno de la Reserva Forestal Caparo, Estado Barinas. Universidad de Los Andes. Mérida, Venezuela. 183 pp.
García-Berthou E, Alcaraz C, Benejam L, Benito J, 2009. Dise-o experimental y análisis de datos. In: Conceptos y técnicas en ecología fluvial (Elosegui A, Sabater S, eds). Fundación BBVA. Espa-a. pp: 397-412.
Gourlet-Fleury S, Beina D, Fayolle A, Ouédraogo D, Mortier F, Bénédet F, Closset-Kopp D, Decocq G, 2013. Silvicultural disturbance has little impact on tree species diversity in a Central African moist forest. Forest Ecol Manag 304: 322–332. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2013.05.021
Guariguata M, Ostertag R, 2001. Neotropical secondary forest succession: changes in structural and functional characteristics. Forest Ecol Manag 148: 185–206. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(00)00535-1
Guevara J, 2001. Recursos fitogenéticos y relaciones florísticas de la flórula arbórea de las comunidades Forestales en la Estación Experimental Caparo, Estado Barinas. Master thesis. Universidad Central de Venezuela. Maracay, Venezuela.
Hamilton L, 1988. Minimizing the adverse impacts of harvesting in humid tropical forests. In: Ecological Development in the Humid Tropics (Lugo A, Clark J, Child R, eds). Winrock International, Arkansas, USA. pp: 191-235.
Hartshorn G, 1980. Neotropical forest dynamics. Biotropica 12 (Suppl): 23-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2388152
Hays W, 1988. Statistics. Holt, Rineheart and Winston. New York. 1029 pp.
Johnson N, Cabarle B, 1995. Sobreviviendo a la tala: manejo del bosque natural en los trópicos húmedos. World Resources Institute, Consejo Centroamericano de Bosques y Áreas Protegidas, Comisión Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo. Washington. 72 pp.
Jurgenson O, 1994. Mapa de vegetación y uso actual del Área Experimental de la Reserva Forestal de Caparo, Estado Barinas. Cuaderno del Comodato ULA-MARNR No 22. Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela. 44 pp.
Kammesheidt L, 1994. Estructura y diversidad en bosques explotados de los llanos venezolanos occidentales considerando algunas características autoecológicas de las especies más importantes. Doctoral thesis. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany.
Kammesheidt L, 1998. Stand structure and spatial pattern of commercial species in logged and unlogged Venezuelan forest. Forest Ecol Manag 109: 163-174. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(98)00245-X
Kammesheidt L, 2000. Some autecological characteristics of early to late successional tree species in Venezuela. Acta Oecol 21: 37–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1146-609X(00)00108-9
Kammesheidt L, Torres A, Franco W, Plonczak M, 2001a. History of logging and silvicultural treatments in the western Venezuelan plain forests and the prospect for sustainable forest management. Forest Ecol Manag 148: 1-20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(00)00529-6
Kammesheidt L, Köhler P, Huth A, 2001b. Sustainable timber harvesting in Venezuela: a modelling approach. Journal of Applied Ecology 38: 756–770. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2664.2001.00629.x
Kariuki M, Kooyman R, Smith R, Wardell-Johnson G, Vanclay J, 2006. Regeneration changes in tree species abundance, diversity and structure in logged and unlogged subtropical rainforest over a 36-year period. Forest Ecol Manag 236: 162-176. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006.09.021
Kershaw H, Mallik A, 2013. Predicting plant diversity response to disturbance: applicability of the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis and Mass Ratio Hypothesis. Crit Rev Plant Sci 32: 383-395. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07352689.2013.791501
Kier G, Mutke J, Dinerstein E, Ricketts T, Küper W, Kreft H, Barthlott W, 2005. Global patterns of plant diversity and floristic knowledge. J Biogeogr 32: 1–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01272.x
Knab-Vispo C, Berry P, Rodriguez G, 1999. Floristic and structural characterization of a lowland rain forest in the lower Caura watershed, Venezuelan Guayana. Acta Botanica Venezuelica 22: 325–359.
Kovach Computer Services, 2004. Multi Variate Statistical Package (MVSP Version 3.13I). http://www.kovcomp.co.uk/mvsp/.
Lohbeck M, 2014. Functional Ecology of Tropical Forest Recovery. Doctoral thesis. Wageningen University, Netherlands.
Lozada JR, 2008. Sucesión vegetal en bosques aprovechados de la Reserva Forestal Caparo y Reserva Forestal Imataca, Venezuela. PhD thesis, Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
Lozada JR, Arends E, Sánchez D, Villarreal A, Soriano P, Costa M, 2009. Cambios de composición florística en bosques aprovechados de la Estación Experimental Caparo. Revista Forestal Latinoamericana 24: 35-50.
Lozada JR, Lugo L, Sánchez D, Villarreal A, Soriano P, Costa M, 2010. Influencia del suelo sobre las variaciones del sotobosque, en patios de rolas abandonados, Estación Experimental Caparo, Venezuela. Revista Forestal Latinoamericana 25: 36-56.
Lozada JR, Arends E, Sánchez D, Villarreal A, Soriano P, Costa M, 2012. Vegetation succession of logged forest in the western alluvial plains of Venezuela. J Trop For Sci 24(3): 300–311.
Magnusson W, de Lima O, Reis F, Higuchi N, Ferreira J, 1999. Logging activity and tree regeneration in an amazonian forest. Forest Ecol Manag 113: 67–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(98)00418-6
Magurran A, 1988. Ecological diversity and its measurement. Croom and Helm, London. 188 pp. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7358-0
Molles M, 2006. Ecología: Conceptos y aplicaciones. Mc Graw Hill, Barcelona, Espa-a. 671 pp.
Montgomery D, 1991. Dise-o y análisis de experimentos. Grupo Editorial Iberoamericana. México DF. 589 pp.
Moret A, Valera L, Mora A, Garay V, Jerez M, Plonczak M, Ramírez N, Hernández D, 2008. Estructura horizontal y vertical de Pachira quinata (Jacq.) W.S. Alverson (Bombacaceae), en el Bosque Universitario "El Caimital", Barinas, Venezuela. Ecotrópicos 21: 62–74.
Odum E, 1972. Ecología. Interamericana, México. 639 pp.
Odum E, Warret G, 2006. Fundamentos de Ecología. Thomson, México. 598 pp.
Pacheco C, Aguado I, Mollicone D, 2011. Las causas de la deforestación en Venezuela: un estudio retrospectivo. BioLlania (Edición Esp) 10: 281-292.
Plonczak M, 1993. Estructura y Dinámica de Desarrollo de Bosques Naturales Manejados Bajo la Modalidad de Concesiones en los Llanos Occidentales de Venezuela. Instituto Forestal Latinoamericano, Mérida, Venezuela. 139 pp.
Plumptre A, 1996. Changes following 60 years of selective timber harvesting in the Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda. Forest Ecol Manag 89: 101-113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(96)03854-6
Putz F, Zuidema P, Synnott T, Pe-a-Claros M, Pinard M, Sheil D, Vanclay J, Sist P, Gourlet-Fleury S, Griscom B, Palmer J, Zagt R, 2012. Sustaining conservation values in selectively logged tropical forests: the attained and the attainable. Conservation Letters 5: 296–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2012.00242.x
Rivas-Martínez S, 2004. Clasificación Bioclimática de la Tierra. http://www.ucm.es/info/cif/
Roche L, 1997. Forestry as seen by the foresters. Unasylva 48: 79-86.
Ruschel A, 2008. Dinâmica da Composição Florística e do Crescimento de uma Floresta Explorada há 18 Anos na Flona Tapajós, PA. Documentos 341. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária, Belém.
Rutten G, Ensslin A, Hemp A, Fischer M, 2015. Forest structure and composition of previously selectively logged and non-logged montane forests at Mt. Kilimanjaro. Forest Ecol Manag 337: 61–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.10.036
Saatchi S, Buermann W, ter Steege H, Mori S, Smith T, 2008. Modeling distribution of Amazonian tree species and diversity using remote sensing measurements. Remote Sens Environ 112: 2000-2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2008.01.008
Sagar R, Raghubanshi A, Singh J, 2003. Tree species composition, dispersion and diversity along a disturbance gradient in a dry tropical forest region of India. Forest Ecol Manag 186: 61–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(03)00235-4
Schargel R, 2005. Geomorfología y suelos de los llanos venezolanos. In: Tierras Llaneras de Venezuela (Hétier J, López R, eds). IRD, CIDIAT, UNELLEZ. Venezuela. pp: 57-113.
Sheil D, Burslem D, 2013. Defining and defending Connell's intermediate disturbance hypothesis: a response to Fox. Trends Ecol Evol 28: 571-572. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2013.07.006
Smith R, Smith T, 2007. Ecología. Pearson, Madrid. 777 pp.
SPSS. 2006. SPSS para Windows. Versión 15.0.1.
Strasburger E, Noll F, Schenk, H, Schimper A, 2004. Tratado de Botánica. Actualizado por Sitte P, Weiler E, Kadereit J, Bresinski A, Körner C. Omega, Barcelona. 1134 pp.
ter Steege H, Welch I, Zagt R, 2002. Long term effect of timber harvesting in the Bartica Triangle, Central Guyana. Forest Ecol Manag 170: 127-144. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(01)00777-0
ter Steege H, Pitman N, Sabatier D, Castellanos H, Van Der Hout P, Daly D, Silveira M, Phillips O, Vasquez R, Van Andel T et al., 2003. A spatial model of tree α-diversity and tree density for the Amazon. Biodivers Conserv 12: 2255-2277. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1024593414624
Van Andel T, 2001. Floristic composition and diversity of mixed primary and secondary forests in northwest Guyana. Biodivers Conserv 10: 1645–1682. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1012069717077
Vásquez-Yanes C, Guevara S, 1985. Caracterización de los grupos ecológicos de árboles de la selva húmeda. In: Investigaciones sobre la Regeneración de Selvas Altas en Veracruz, México (Gómez-Pompa A, Del Amo S, eds). Alhambra Mexicana. México. Vol II. pp: 67-78.
Verburg R, van Eijk-Bos C, 2003. Effects of selective logging on tree diversity, composition and plant functional type patterns in a Bornean rain forest. J Veg Sci 14: 99–110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1654-1103.2003.tb02132.x
Zimmermann R, 1992. Impactos Ambientales de las Actividades Forestales. Guía de Conservación No. 7, FAO. Roma. 80 pp.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the printed and online versions of this Journal are the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.
All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a “Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International” (CC BY 4.0) License. You may read here the basic information and the legal text of the license. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 License must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the published by the Editor, is not allowed.
