Successional patterns of plant species and community diversity in a semi‐deciduous tropical forest under shifting cultivation

N’dja, Justin Kassi; Decocq, Guillaume

doi:10.3170/2008-8-18453

Cited by 36 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…First, mean cultivation duration in the Ngurus was ∼11 years. This is long compared to the 1-3 years cropping periods usually reported for shifting cultivation systems (Kassi N'dja and Decocq, 2008;Mertz et al, 2008). Subjecting fields to long cultivation cycles usually has the effect of depleting soil nutrients (Buschbacher et al, 1988;Hughes et al, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The effects of cultivation history on forest recovery in fallows in the Eastern Arc Mountain, Tanzania

Mwampamba

Schwartz

2011

Forest Ecology and Management

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The effects of cultivation history on forest recovery in fallows in the Eastern Arc Mountain, Tanzania

Mwampamba

Schwartz

2011

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…7) Because we calculated selected indices in order to assure comparability of studies, we needed raw data in the form of a floristic table of abundance of each species in each plot (not just aggregated data per successional age). Studies measuring only species occurrence or cover‐abundance (Kassi N'Dja and Decocq ) were not considered. The inclusion of a study was ultimately dependent on the agreement of authors to provide raw data.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience of tropical dry forests – a meta‐analysis of changes in species diversity and composition during secondary succession

Derroire

Balvanera²,

Castellanos-Castro

et al. 2016

Oikos

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Assessing the recovery of species diversity and composition after major disturbance is key to understanding the resilience of tropical forests through successional processes, and its importance for biodiversity conservation. Despite the specifi c abiotic environment and ecological processes of tropical dry forests, secondary succession has received less attention in this biome than others and changes in species diversity and composition have never been synthesised in a systematic and quantitative review. Th is study aims to assess in tropical dry forests 1) the directionality of change in species richness and evenness during secondary succession, 2) the convergence of species composition towards that of old-growth forest and 3) the importance of the previous land use, precipitation regime and water availability in infl uencing the direction and rate of change. We conducted meta-analyses of the rate of change in species richness, evenness and composition indices with succession in 13 tropical dry forest chronosequences. Species richness increased with succession, showing a gradual accumulation of species, as did Shannon evenness index. Th e similarity in species composition of successional forests with old-growth forests increased with succession, yet at a low rate. Tropical dry forests therefore do show resilience of species composition but it may never reach that of old-growth forests. We found no signifi cant diff erences in rates of change between diff erent previous land uses, precipitation regimes or water availability. Our results show high resilience of tropical dry forests in term of species richness but a slow recovery of species composition. Th ey highlight the need for further research on secondary succession in this biome and better understanding of impacts of previous land-use and landscape-scale patterns.Succession has been a major focus of plant community ecology for more than a century (McIntosh 1999), yet the processes underlying assembly of secondary forests continue to be actively researched (Norden et al. 2015). Th e early view of Clements (1916) (monoclimax hypothesis) and initial fl oristic composition model of Egler (1954) were further formalized by the three models of Connell and Slatyer (1977). Th ese deterministic models are all based on the idea that tradeoff s between traits promote success in diff erent stages of succession (Huston and Smith 1987). However, none of these models accounts for stochastic events or historical contingencies (Young et al. 2005). Lawton (1987) proposed a model of succession based only on random survival of established species and colonization by new species, paving the way for the neutral theory of community assembly (Hubbell 2001). Although deterministic niche-based and neutral models of succession have often been treated as mutually exclusive explanations for empirical patterns, a growing body of literature evidences the importance of the integration of the two (Chave 2004, Gravel et al. 2006, Tilman 2004. A major focus of research is now to assess the res...

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“…Although fertility is high (Chazdon, 2003;Kassi et al, 2008). Generally, A3 represented the forest formation that followed roads and clear-cut forests.…”

Section: Classification Into Plant Associationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floristic Composition, Diversity and Structure of the Rainforest in the Mayoko District, Republic of Congo

Rooyen¹,

Rooyen²,

Miabangana³

et al. 2019

OJF

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Botanically, the Mayoko district is known only through anecdotal descriptions made in the colonial era. The present study was undertaken as part of the prerequisite for a mining feasibility study where a benchmark of the floristic composition, diversity and structure of the vegetation was needed to evaluate potential biodiversity offset areas and to guide species selection for post-mining re-vegetation. The study area comprised approximately 160,000 ha and 235 sample sites were surveyed using the Braun-Blanquet method of phytosociology. Diversity of each plant association was expressed in terms of various diversity parameters. Twelve associations were described and mapped. The associations ranged from highly disturbed and degraded to fairly intact forest associations. A wet to dry gradient and permanently inundated to temporary inundated gradient could also be distinguished. The approach followed here proved remarkably robust in illustrating the complexity in a topographically complex region of the Chaillu Massif. The data provided a high level of insight into the possible dynamics of the rainforest and indications as to possible successional pathways. This information provides a better level of understanding of forest structure and evolution potential than studies limited to trees, remote sensing carbon assessments, or time change series.

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Successional patterns of plant species and community diversity in a semi‐deciduous tropical forest under shifting cultivation

Cited by 36 publications

References 52 publications

The effects of cultivation history on forest recovery in fallows in the Eastern Arc Mountain, Tanzania

The effects of cultivation history on forest recovery in fallows in the Eastern Arc Mountain, Tanzania

Resilience of tropical dry forests – a meta‐analysis of changes in species diversity and composition during secondary succession

Floristic Composition, Diversity and Structure of the Rainforest in the Mayoko District, Republic of Congo

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