Land-sharing logging is more profitable than land sparing in the Brazilian Amazon

Bousfield, Christopher G.; Massam, Mike R.; Acosta, Ileana Arce; Peres, Carlos A.; Edwards, David P.

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac2b5f

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Gilroy, et al, 2014) would be less detrimental to maintaining tree species diversity across a large forest landscape than land sparing, supporting similar conclusions from a theoretical study (Ramage et al, 2013). While such an approach would also be more profitable (Bousfield et al, 2021), it could be damaging for other important biological groups such as birds and dung-beetles (Edwards, Gilroy, et al, 2014;França et al, 2017), thus highlighting a trade-off in forest management.…”

Section: Selective Logging Has Minimal Impacts On the Beta-diversity ...supporting

confidence: 68%

“…Additional timber harvests (after the 30–35 year minimum cycle time) and those conducted using Conventional Logging techniques will cause further damage to the tree canopy community not simulated here. Preference for large, valuable trees—our harvest model assumes that trees are harvested preferentially in order of their value, which typically results in the largest individuals of commercial species being harvested first. Beta‐diversity impacts will therefore be skewed towards trees in larger size classes, although to structure logging around smaller or less‐valuable species would likely be uneconomic (Bousfield et al, 2021). Road and skid trail damage—our simulations of the damage caused by road and skid trail creation are conservative.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To simulate a typical logging cycle within logged plots, we used financial data from Bousfield et al (2021) to estimate the value of each individual tree within the logged plots (accounting for the estimated volume of each tree, and species-specific processing yields and selling prices). Assuming loggers would preferentially log the most valuable stems first, we then ranked all trees within the logged plots (≥50 cm DBH following legal limits) based on their estimated value.…”

Section: Simulating Logging Of the Forestmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• Preference for large, valuable trees-our harvest model assumes that trees are harvested preferentially in order of their value, which typically results in the largest individuals of commercial species being harvested first. Beta-diversity impacts will therefore be skewed towards trees in larger size classes, although to structure logging around smaller or less-valuable species would likely be uneconomic (Bousfield et al, 2021).…”

Section: Harvest Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Targeted harvesting of the largest, most valuable trees over multiple harvest cycles thus risks large-scale canopy tree community shifts, thereby calling for improved conservation and protection of these very large tree communities during logging. This could be achieved through the introduction of a maximum cutting diameter or the enforced retention of a greater proportion of the largest trees of each species within the forest (Bousfield et al, 2021;Mazzei et al, 2010;Sist et al, 2014).…”

Section: Con Clus Ionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Large‐scale impacts of selective logging on canopy tree beta‐diversity in the Brazilian Amazon

Bousfield

Massam

Peres

et al. 2023

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Selective logging is one of the largest drivers of tropical forest degradation. While logged forests often retain high alpha‐diversity of tropical trees at local spatial scales, understanding how selective logging impacts tree beta‐diversity and community composition across far larger spatial scales remains a key unresolved question. We leverage large datasets of more than 155,000 adult trees over 35 cm DBH covering 3100 ha of Amazonian rainforest to inform simulations of selective logging harvests across a gradient of logging intensity (0–40 m3 ha−1). These simulations incorporate real world price data, account for all forest damage throughout the harvest process and assume preferential harvest of the most valuable stems. We use the simulations to assess how selective logging affects canopy tree beta‐diversity and composition across large spatial scales, whether nestedness or turnover of species best explains variation in communities across space, and how the spatial scale of sampling influences observed beta‐diversity effects. Selective logging had minimal impacts on beta‐diversity across the canopy tree community, but caused substantial subtractive heterogenization in community composition for larger trees, in particular very large trees over 110 cm DBH. Turnover is the dominant component of tree beta‐diversity in unlogged and logged forests. Increasing the spatial grain of sampling reduced the observed importance of logging in explaining patterns of beta‐diversity in very large tree communities. Synthesis and applications. Minimal impacts on tree beta‐diversity across large spatial scales points towards the retention of substantial conservation value in logged tropical forests. Strong subtractive heterogenization in very large trees indicates the breakdown of broad scale patterns of composition with potential negative consequences for recruitment processes, fauna reliant upon emergent trees, and other ecosystem functions and services. Avoiding large‐scale erosion of very large tree community composition in the Amazon requires stronger conservation policies, including enforced retention or maximum cutting diameters.

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