Thresholds for adding degraded tropical forest to the conservation estate

Robert M. Ewers and C. David L. Orme and William D. Pearse and Nursyamin Zulkifli and Genevieve Yvon-Durocher and Kalsum M. Yusah and Natalie Yoh and Darren C. J. Yeo and Anna Wong and Joseph Williamson and Clare L. Wilkinson and Fabienne Wiederkehr and Bruce L. Webber and Oliver R. Wearn and Leona Wai and Maisie Vollans and Joshua P. Twining and Edgar C. Turner and Joseph A. Tobias and Jack Thorley and Elizabeth M. Telford and Yit Arn Teh and Heok Hui Tan and Tom Swinfield and Martin Svátek and Matthew Struebig and Nigel Stork and Jani Sleutel and Eleanor M. Slade and Adam Sharp and Adi Shabrani and Sarab S. Sethi and Dave J. I. Seaman and Anati Sawang and Gabrielle Briana Roxby and J. Marcus Rowcliffe and Stephen J. Rossiter and Terhi Riutta and Homathevi Rahman and Lan Qie and Elizabeth Psomas and Aaron Prairie and Frederica Poznansky and Rajeev Pillay and Lorenzo Picinali and Annabel Pianzin and Marion Pfeifer and Jonathan M. Perrett and Ciar D. Noble and Reuben Nilus and Nazirah Mustaffa and Katherine E. Mullin and Simon Mitchell and Amelia R. Mckinlay and Sarah Maunsell and Radim Matula and Michael Massam and Stephanie Martin and Yadvinder Malhi and Noreen Majalap and Catherine S. Maclean and Emma Mackintosh and Sarah H. Luke and Owen T. Lewis and Harry J. Layfield and Isolde Lane-Shaw and Boon Hee Kueh and Pavel Kratina and Oliver Konopik and Roger Kitching and Lois Kinneen and Victoria A. Kemp and Palasiah Jotan and Nick Jones and Evyen W. Jebrail and Michal Hroneš and Sui Peng Heon and David R. Hemprich-Bennett and Jessica K. Haysom and Martina F. Harianja and Jane Hardwick and Nichar Gregory and Ryan Gray and Ross E. J. Gray and Natasha Granville and Richard Gill and Adam Fraser and William A. Foster and Hollie Folkard-Tapp and Robert J. Fletcher and Arman Hadi Fikri and Tom M. Fayle and Aisyah Faruk and Paul Eggleton and David P. Edwards and Rosie Drinkwater and Rory A. Dow and Timm F. Döbert and Raphael K. Didham and Katharine J. M. Dickinson and Nicolas J. Deere and Tijmen de Lorm and Mahadimenakbar M. Dawood and Charles W. Davison and Zoe G. Davies and Richard G. Davies and Martin Dančák and Jeremy Cusack and Elizabeth L. Clare and Arthur Chung and Vun Khen Chey and Philip M. Chapman and Lauren Cator and Daniel Carpenter and Chris Carbone and Kerry Calloway and Emma R. Bush and David F. R. P. Burslem and Keiron D. Brown and Stephen J. Brooks and Ella Brasington and Hayley Brant and Michael J. W. Boyle and Sabine Both and Joshua Blackman and Tom R. Bishop and Jake E. Bicknell and Henry Bernard and Saloni Basrur and Maxwell V. L. Barclay and Holly Barclay and Georgina Atton and Marc Ancrenaz and David C. Aldridge and Olivia Z. Daniel and Glen Reynolds and Cristina Banks-Leite (2024) Thresholds for adding degraded tropical forest to the conservation estate. Nature, 631. pp. 808-813. ISSN 0028-0836

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Abstract

Logged and disturbed forests are often viewed as degraded and depauperate environments compared with primary forest. However, they are dynamic ecosystems¹ that provide refugia for large amounts of biodiversity²,³ so we cannot afford to underestimate their conservation value⁴. Here we present empirically defined thresholds for categorizing the conservation value of logged forests, using one of the most comprehensive assessments of taxon responses to habitat degradation in any tropical forest environment. We analysed the impact of logging intensity on the individual occurrence patterns of 1,681 taxa belonging to 86 taxonomic orders and 126 functional groups in Sabah, Malaysia. Our results demonstrate the existence of two conservation-relevant thresholds. First, lightly logged forests (<29% biomass removal) retain high conservation value and a largely intact functional composition and are therefore likely to recover their pre-logging values if allowed to undergo natural regeneration. Second, the most extreme impacts occur in heavily degraded forests with more than two-thirds (>68%) of their biomass removed, and these are likely to require more expensive measures to recover their biodiversity value. Overall, our data confirm that primary forests are irreplaceable5, but they also reinforce the message that logged forests retain considerable conservation value that should not be overlooked.

Item Type:	Article
Keyword:	Tropical forest, Primary forest, Biodiversity
Subjects:	Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301-705.5 Biology (General) > QH540-549.5 Ecology S Agriculture > SD Forestry > SD1-669.5 Forestry
Department:	INSTITUTE > Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation
Depositing User:	SITI AZIZAH BINTI IDRIS -
Date Deposited:	06 Dec 2024 13:28
Last Modified:	06 Dec 2024 13:28
URI:	https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/42141

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