Profound impoverishment of the large-tree stand in a hyper-fragmented landscape of the Atlantic forest

Oliveira, Marcondes Albuquerque de; Santos, André Maurício Melo; Tabarelli, Marcelo

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2008.07.014

Cited by 113 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(82 reference statements)

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“…In addition, due to the similarity of the edge habitats, it is likely that only the best performing subset of pioneers will dominate the edge habitats throughout the landscape. Although some studies have found a higher diversity in edges than in the corresponding interior [82,83] we believe, in view of the large number of recent studies and reviews [15,28,[84][85][86] that support our findings, that the opposite might be the usual pattern in forest fragments, at least in tropical southeast Brazil. A higher diversity of edge habitats may exist shortly after edge creation, when some elements of the original tree flora are still present, although not reproducing, and pioneer species are beginning to proliferate [77,87].…”

Section: Patterns and Underlying Mechanismssupporting

confidence: 75%

Floristic Composition and Edge-Induced Homogenization in Tree Communities in the Fragmented Atlantic Rainforest of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Thier

Wesenberg

2016

Tropical Conservation Science

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This study investigates the changes of tree species composition and diversity along the gradient from fragment edge to interior, and between edge and interior habitats, on a regional scale, in nine Atlantic forest fragments (6-120 ha), in southeastern Brazil. A total of 1980 trees (dbh ≥ 5 cm) comprising 252 species, 156 genera and 57 families were surveyed using the point-centered quarter method. From the fragment edge towards the interior the proportion of shade-tolerant trees increased continuously. The majority of all trees within the first 100 m from the edge belonged to the pioneer-guild. Floristic dissimilarity was found to be higher among interior habitats of different fragments than among the corresponding edge areas or among different small fragments. Species diversity increased along the edge-interior gradient 1.5 times within the first 250 m. Our results support previous findings that the establishment of edge-affected habitats leads to tree species impoverishment and homogenization via the dominance and proliferation of pioneer species in the forest edges of severely fragmented tropical landscapes. We argue that conservation strategies which include the creation of buffer zones between forest edges and the matrix will be more efficient than the establishment of narrow corridors to connect fragments and protected areas.Keywords: Atlantic forest; biotic homogenization; pioneer species; forest fragmentation; edge effects ResumoO estudo investiga as mudanças na composição e diversidade das espécies arbóreas ao longo do gradiente bordainterior e entre habitats na borda e no interior a escala regional em nove fragmentos florestais da Mata Atlântica (6-120 ha) no sudeste do Brasil. Um total de 1980 árvores (dap ≥ 5 cm) pertencentes a 252 espécies, 156 gêneros e 57 famílias foram investigadas utilizando-se o método de ponto-quadrante. A proporção de árvores tolerantes à sombra aumenta continuamente ao longo do gradiente borda-interior. Dentro dos primeiros 100 metros a partir da borda florestal, a maioria das árvores pertence à guilda das pioneiras. A dissimilaridade florística foi maior entre as áreas do interior de diferentes fragmentos que entre as áreas de borda correspondentes ou entre diferentes fragmentos pequenos. Nos primeiros 250 metros, ao longo gradiente borda-interior, a diversidade de espécies aumentou 1.5 vezes. Nossos resultados sustentam conclusões prévias de que o estabelecimento de habitats afetados pelos efeitos de borda leva ao empobrecimento e homogeneização das espécies arbóreas através da dominância e proliferação das espécies pioneiras nas bordas florestais de paisagens tropicais severamente fragmentadas. Concluímos que estratégias de conservação que incluam o estabelecimento de zonas de amortecimento entre bordas florestais e a matriz poderiam ser mais eficientes do que o estabelecimento de corredores estreitos para conectar fragmentos e áreas protegidas.

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Section: Patterns and Underlying Mechanismssupporting

confidence: 75%

Floristic Composition and Edge-Induced Homogenization in Tree Communities in the Fragmented Atlantic Rainforest of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Thier

Wesenberg

2016

Tropical Conservation Science

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“…R. Soc. B 282: 20142844 lower tree height in fragmented forest [47,48]. Similarly, the mean value for fruit consumers increased with forest loss ( p ¼ 0.004; figure 2; electronic supplementary material, table S3) despite the loss of community integrity within the fruit-consumer community ( figure 4; electronic supplementary material, table S3).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Thus, communities with higher integrity do not necessarily provide more functions, they just provide different functions. Average values of two traits (dead foliage and air), on the other hand, decreased with habitat loss, but this should not necessarily imply a loss of function, because specific ecological functions may no longer be required in a forest with a modified structure [11,48,51]. For instance, dead-foliage foragers decline with habitat loss ( p ¼ 0.005; figure 2; electronic supplementary material, table S3; [52]), but dead trees are often rare in secondary forest patches such as the ones included in this study [29].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atlantic forest bird communities provide different but not fewer functions after habitat loss

2015

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Habitat loss often reduces the number of species as well as functional diversity. Dramatic effects to species composition have also been shown, but changes to functional composition have so far been poorly documented, partly owing to a lack of appropriate indices. We here develop three new community indices (i.e. functional integrity, community integrity of ecological groups and community specialization) to investigate how habitat loss affects the diversity and composition of functional traits and species. We used data from more than 5000 individuals of 137 bird species captured in 57 sites in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, a highly endangered biodiversity hotspot. Results indicate that habitat loss leads to a decrease in functional integrity while measures of functional diversity remain unchanged or are even positively affected. Changes to functional integrity were caused by (i) a decrease in the provisioning of some functions, and an increase in others; (ii) strong within-guild species turnover; and (iii) a replacement of specialists by generalists. Hence, communities from more deforested sites seem to provide different but not fewer functions. We show the importance of investigating changes to both diversity and composition of functional traits and species, as the effects of habitat loss on ecosystem functioning may be more complex than previously thought. Crucially, when only functional diversity is assessed, important changes to ecological functions may remain undetected and negative effects of habitat loss underestimated, thereby imperiling the application of effective conservation actions.

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“…In the more extreme scenario of a hyper-fragmented Northeast Brazilian Atlantic forest (i.e. a landscape composed of pastures, monoculture plantations and a few small native forest fragments), tree species and reproductive trait diversity are lost (Lopes et al, 2009;Oliveira et al, 2008), whereas early successional trees can proliferate in small forest remnants ). An expansion of pioneer species in the edge dominated habitats can be associated with changes in functional reproductive traits, diurnal pollination systems, and loss of long-distance flying pollinators, self-…”

Section: Box 2 Habitat Fragmentation and Its Effect On Brazilian Atlamentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity, Species Interactions and Ecological Networks in a Fragmented World

Hagen

Kissling

Rasmussen

et al. 2012

Advances in Ecological Research

364

352

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Profound impoverishment of the large-tree stand in a hyper-fragmented landscape of the Atlantic forest

Cited by 113 publications

References 59 publications

Floristic Composition and Edge-Induced Homogenization in Tree Communities in the Fragmented Atlantic Rainforest of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Floristic Composition and Edge-Induced Homogenization in Tree Communities in the Fragmented Atlantic Rainforest of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Atlantic forest bird communities provide different but not fewer functions after habitat loss

Biodiversity, Species Interactions and Ecological Networks in a Fragmented World

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