Land‐sharing versus land‐sparing logging: reconciling timber extraction with biodiversity conservation

Abstract

Selective logging is a major driver of rainforest degradation across the tropics. Two competing logging strategies are proposed to meet timber demands with the least impact on biodiversity: land sharing, which combines timber extraction with biodiversity protection across the concession; and land sparing, in which higher intensity logging is combined with the protection of intact primary forest reserves. We evaluate these strategies by comparing the abundances and species richness of birds, dung beetles and ants in Borneo, using a protocol that allows us to control for both timber yield and net profit across strategies. Within each taxonomic group, more species had higher abundances with land-sparing than land-sharing logging, and this translated into significantly higher species richness within land-sparing concessions. Our results are similar when focusing only on species found in primary forest and restricted in range to Sundaland, and they are independent of the scale of sampling. For each taxonomic group, land-sparing logging was the most promising strategy for maximizing the biological value of logging operations.

How Should Beta-Diversity Inform Biodiversity Conservation?

“…However, 325 most studies have focused on much smaller spatial extents than the regional biota that they seek to conserve. Encouragingly, the few studies that have looked at betadiversity in a land-sparing versus land-sharing context have largely found that alpha-scale conclusions are unchanged [27,92]. Classically, land-sharing and landsparing are compared on the basis of population changes across species, rather than 330 species richness [34].…”

“…Studies of beta-diversity can quantify biodiversity loss [20] and inform the placement of protected areas [21,22], the management of biological invasions [23], and the design of wildlife-friendly 65 landscapes [24][25][26][27]. However, the existence of many different metrics for betadiversity, each suited to subtly different questions, has been a source of confusion and debate in the ecological literature (Box 1) [13, [28][29][30].…”

Source-Sink Dynamics: a Neglected Problem for Landscape-Scale Biodiversity Conservation in the Tropics

“…Importantly, quantitative studies that have examined the relative biodiversity benefits of the two strategies in a trade-off framework (e.g. [40,45]) have invariably used data on population density or incidence across gradients of agricultural intensity (typically measured as yield per hectare). In the trade-off framework proposed by Green et al [39] and applied by Phalan et al [40] and others, species with concave densityyield responses are assumed to benefit from land-sharing practices (e.g.…”

Ant assemblages (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) associated to environments of a rural property in the extreme western region of the state of Santa Catarina

“…The conversion of natural environments into agricultural areas (TANENTZAP et al, 2015) has led to a growing concern about the impacts on biological communities caused by monocultures, habitat fragmentation and pesticide use (GALINDO-LEAL;CÂMARA, 2003;EDWARDS et al, 2014). However, little is known about the impacts of conventional agricultural crops on the richness and abundance of organisms inhabiting directly affected areas.…”