Urban or rural areas: which types of surrounding land use induce stronger edge effects on the functional traits of tropical forests plants?

Abstract

Questions Which types of land use adjacent to Atlantic Tropical Forests induce the strongest edge effects in terms of the functional responses of arboreal and understorey plants? Which functional traits respond to stress imposed by each land‐use type in the two forest layers? Location Full‐protection conservation areas in the metropolitan region of Recife, Pernambuco State, Brazil. Methods We calculated the proportions of species and individuals of woody plants in terms of their functional traits (seed size, maximum height, dispersal syndrome and regeneration strategy) along the edge and in the interior of tropical Atlantic Forest remnants exposed to different degrees of adjacent urbanization along their borders (urban, suburban and rural) by establishing 120 sampling points (60 plots considering the arboreal components and 60 subplots considering woody understorey plants).The degree of urbanization adjacent to the edges of the remnant forests were determined by mapping the sites based on satellite images. The intensities of the edge effects on functional composition, and the differences in the functional traits were assessed using multivariate analysis. Results Functional composition along the edges and within the forest interiors of remnants with the highest densities of urban areas around them demonstrated the greatest variability of both the arboreal and understorey components. The arboreal component of the forest sites adjacent to rural areas (intense agricultural activities) tended to demonstrate intermediate intensity edge effects. Species showing shade intolerance, with smaller maximum heights, producing small seeds and with abiotic dispersion were present in high proportions in forests bordering heavily urbanized areas. Biotic dispersal predominated in the arboreal component of the rural remnant. Conclusions From a functional point of view, the forest with the most highly urbanized border is more impacted by edge effects than forests bordering on suburban or rural areas. Nonetheless, in an urban–rural gradient, intense agricultural activity was observed to create intermediate pressure in terms of the intensities of its edge effects. These edge effects differentially impact the functional traits of the arboreal and understorey components, influencing different traits, depending on the type of border.

Forest edge landscape context affects mosquito community composition and risk of pathogen emergence

“…In our study, mosquito communities were similar at treefall gaps and in continuous forest, while composition at rural edges was intermediate between interior forest and urban edges. Our findings are consistent with studies of plant communities showing that increased habitat contrast at forest edges negatively impacts suitability for specialist forest species 27,50 . In agreement, we sampled more forest mosquitoes at rural edges than at urban edges, which were dominated by ground dwelling Limatus and Aedes species.…”

“…Although the likely importance of forest edges for spillover is well recognized, they are often treated as uniform interfaces, regardless of their landscape context. However, forest edges with high habitat contrast, such as those bordering urban land cover, may experience strong edge effects 27 including a loss of large trees 28 providing large fruits preferred by larger monkeys 29 , as well as oviposition sites for tree- hole breeding Haemagogus and Sabethes mosquitoes 30 . Conversely, forest edges with lower habitat contrast, such as those bordering rural or agricultural land cover, may experience weaker edge effects 27 , allowing habitat to remain suitable for forest interior species 31 including known arbovirus vectors.…”

Effects of urban ecosystem under the diversity and structure of two forest ecotones in Maranhão state

“…In 2012, an asphalt expressway was built that links the center of the city of São Luís to outer neighborhoods, which further fragmented Sítio Santa Eulália that currently has approximately 167 ha of vegetation (Silva et al 2022). Therefore, this site was considered an urban area because it is surrounded by residential, commercial and industrial buildings, and roads and highways, which result in anthropogenic impacts (Guerra et al 2017).…”

Overgrazing on unmanaged grassland interfered with the restoration of adjacent grazing-banned grassland by affecting soil properties and microbial community

“…Light, energy utilization rate, soil temperature, and soil physicochemical properties in such areas changed with the changes in the biological community (Schmidt et al, 2017;Koelemeijer et al, 2023). Thus, edge effects induced by anthropogenic interference have been confirmed to negatively influence species diversity, community dynamics, and ecosystem functions (Guerra et al, 2017;Krishnadas et al, 2018;Fischer et al, 2021;Blanchard et al, 2023;Lapola et al, 2023).…”