Conservation value of tropical forests: Distance to human settlements matters more than management in Central Africa

Biodiversity; Conservation value; Dung beetle; Forest allocation; Mammal; Tropical forest; Cameroon; Central Africa; Coleoptera; Mammalia; Biodiversité; Conservation; Bousier; Affectation des terres; Mammifère; Forêt tropicale; Cameroun; Afrique centrale; Coléoptère

Abstract :

[en] Tropical forests in Central Africa host unique biodiversity threatened by human degradation of habitats and defaunation. Forests allocated to conservation, production and community management are expected to have different conservation values. Here, we aimed to identify the determinants of the conservation value of tropical forests in southeastern Cameroon, by disentangling the effects of forest allocations, proximity to human settlements, and local habitat. We inventoried two taxonomical groups: mammal species with camera traps (3464 independent detection events) and dung beetle species with pitfall traps (4475 individuals). We used an integrated analytical approach, examining both species richness and composition. For both mammals and dung beetles, species richness decreased from the protected area to the community forests, and the logging concession showed intermediate richness. Species richness of both groups was negatively correlated to the proximity to human settlements and disturbance, with a decreasing gradient of body mass and the loss of the most threatened species. The replacement (i.e., spatial turnover) of both mammal and dung beetle species among forest allocations suggest an integration of conservation initiatives to a large number of different sites, with a priority on protected and remote areas of high biodiversity. These results confirm the high conservation value of protected areas and their essential role in conservation strategies, ecologically connected with well-managed production forests with variable conservation value mainly depending on accessibility. Community forests located close to villages are much more degraded but not totally defaunated and still provide bushmeat to local populations. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

Disciplines :

Life sciences: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Environmental sciences & ecology
Zoology
Entomology & pest control

Author, co-author :

Lhoest, Simon ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Terra

Fonteyn, Davy ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Gestion des ressources forestières et des milieux naturels

Daïnou, Kasso ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Laboratoire de Foresterie des régions trop. et subtropicales

Delbeke, Laetitia ; Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Passage des Déportés 2, Gembloux, 5030, Belgium

Doucet, Jean-Louis ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Laboratoire de Foresterie des régions trop. et subtropicales

Dufrêne, Marc ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Biodiversité et Paysage

Josso, Jean-François; Association Catharsius, Rue Baudoin 10, Paris, 75013, France

Ligot, Gauthier ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Laboratoire de Foresterie des régions trop. et subtropicales

Oszwald, Johan; Department of Geography/Planning, UFR Social Sciences, University of Rennes, Place du Recteur Henri Le Moal CS 24307, Rennes cedex, 35043, France

Rivault, Erwan; Department of Geography/Planning, UFR Social Sciences, University of Rennes, Place du Recteur Henri Le Moal CS 24307, Rennes cedex, 35043, France

More authors (4 more)

Language :

English

Title :

Conservation value of tropical forests: Distance to human settlements matters more than management in Central Africa

Alternative titles :

[fr] Valeur de conservation des forêts tropicales : La distance aux routes et villages importe plus que la gestion en Afrique centrale

Publication date :

2020

Journal title :

Biological Conservation

ISSN :

0006-3207

Publisher :

Elsevier Ltd

Volume :

241

Issue :

108351

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320719312571

Name of the research project :

F.R.S.-FNRS. Grant numbers 5125916F and 5110318F; AFRITIMB project; P3FAC project

Funders :

FRIA - Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture
FRFS - Fonds pour la Recherche Fondamentale Stratégique
FWB - Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles
ARES - Académie de Recherche et d'Enseignement Supérieur
Nature+
Fonds Léopold III pour l'Exploration et la Conservation de la Nature
FFEM - Fonds Français pour l'Environnement Mondial

Available on ORBi :

since 26 February 2020

Statistics

Number of views

463 (84 by ULiège)

Number of downloads

727 (33 by ULiège)

More statistics

Scopus citations^®

Scopus citations^®
without self-citations

OpenCitations

OpenAlex citations

Bibliography

Abernethy, K., Maisels, F., White, L.J.T., Environmental issues in Central Africa. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 41 (2016), 1–33, 10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085415.
Abernethy, K.A., et al. Extent and ecological consequences of hunting in Central African rainforests in the twenty-first century. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B, 368, 2013, 20120303, 10.1098/rstb.2012.0303.
Ahumada, J.A., Hurtado, J., Lizcano, D., Monitoring the status and trends of tropical forest terrestrial vertebrate communities from camera trap data: a tool for conservation. PLoS One, 8, 2013, e73707, 10.1371/journal.pone.0073707.
Andresen, E., Effect of forest fragmentation on dung beetle communities and functional consequences for plant regeneration. Ecography 26 (2003), 87–97, 10.1034/j.1600-0587.2003.03362.x.
Baselga, A., Partitioning the turnover and nestedness components of beta diversity. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 19 (2010), 134–143, 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2009.00490.x.
Baselga, A., Orme, C.D.L., betapart: an R package for the study of beta diversity. Methods Ecol. Evol. 3 (2012), 808–812, 10.1111/j.2041-210X.2012.00224.x.
Beirne, C., et al. Participatory monitoring reveals village-centered gradients of mammalian defaunation in Central Africa. Biol. Conserv. 233 (2019), 228–238, 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.02.035.
Benítez-López, A., et al. The impact of hunting on tropical mammal and bird populations. Science 356 (2017), 180–183, 10.1126/science.aaj1891.
Berkes, F., Folke, Carl, Gadgill, M., 1994. Traditional ecological knowledge, biodiversity, resilience and sustainability, in: Perrings, C.A., Maler, K.G., Folke, C., Holling, C.S., Jansson, B.O. (Eds.), Biodiversity Conservation. Dordrecht, pp. 281–299.
Bicknell, J.E., et al. Dung beetles as indicators for rapid impact assessments: evaluating best practice forestry in the neotropics. Ecol. Indic. 43 (2014), 154–161, 10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.02.030.
Bicknell, J.E., Gaveau, D.L.A., Davies, Z.G., Struebig, M.J., Saving logged tropical forests: closing roads will bring immediate benefits: peer-reviewed letter. Front. Ecol. Environ. 13 (2015), 73–74, 10.1890/15.WB.001.
Blomley, T., Lessons learned from community forestry in Africa and their relevance for REDD+. 2013, USAID-supported Forest Carbon, Markets and Communities (FCMC) Program, Washington, FC, USA.
Brodie, J.F., Giordano, A.J., Zipkin, E.F., Bernard, H., Mohd-Azlan, J., Ambu, L., Correlation and persistence of hunting and logging impacts on tropical rainforest mammals: logging, hunting, and mammal diversity. Conserv. Biol. 29 (2015), 110–121, 10.1111/cobi.12389.
Bruce, T., et al. Using camera trap data to characterise terrestrial larger-bodied mammal communities in different management sectors of the Dja Faunal Reserve, Cameroon. Afr. J. Ecol. 56 (2018), 759–776, 10.1111/aje.12574.
Burivalova, Z., Şekercioğlu, Ç., Koh, L.P., Thresholds of logging intensity to maintain tropical forest biodiversity. Curr. Biol. 24 (2014), 1893–1898, 10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.065.
Cajaiba, R.L., Périco, E., da Silva, W.B., Santos, M., Can dung beetles (Scarabaeinae) indicate the status of Amazonia's ecosystems? Insights integrating anthropogenic disturbance with seasonal patterns. Anim. Biol. 67 (2017), 301–318, 10.1163/15707563-00002538.
Chazdon, R.L., et al. Beyond reserves: a research agenda for conserving biodiversity in human-modified tropical landscapes. Biotropica 41 (2009), 142–153, 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2008.00471.x.
Clark, C.J., Poulsen, J.R., Malonga, R., ELKAN, Jr., P.W., 2009. Logging concessions can extend the conservation estate for Central African tropical forests. Conserv. Biol. 23, 1281–1293. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01243.x.
Cottenie, K., De Meester, L., Comment to Oksanen (2001): reconciling Oksanen (2001) and Hurlbert (1984). Oikos 100 (2003), 394–396, 10.1034/j.1600-0706.2003.11953.x.
Critchlow, R., et al. Improving law-enforcement effectiveness and efficiency in protected areas using ranger-collected monitoring data. Conserv. Lett. 10 (2017), 572–580, 10.1111/conl.12288.
Davis, A.L.V., Philips, T.K., Effect of deforestation on a Southwest Ghana dung beetle assemblage (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) at the periphery of Ankasa conservation area. Environ. Entomol., 34, 2005, 8.
Dirzo, R., Raven, P.H., Global state of biodiversity and loss. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 28 (2003), 137–167, 10.1146/annurev.energy.28.050302.105532.
Duguma, L.A., et al. Community forestry frameworks in sub-Saharan Africa and the impact on sustainable development. Ecol. Soc., 23, 2018, 10.5751/ES-10514-230421.
Edwards, D.P., et al. Maintaining ecosystem function and services in logged tropical forests. Trends Ecol. Evol. 29 (2014), 511–520, 10.1016/j.tree.2014.07.003.
Edwards, F.A., et al. Does logging and forest conversion to oil palm agriculture alter functional diversity in a biodiversity hotspot?: functional diversity and land-use change in Borneo. Anim. Conserv. 17 (2014), 163–173, 10.1111/acv.12074.
Edwards, F.A., et al. The impact of logging roads on dung beetle assemblages in a tropical rainforest reserve. Biol. Conserv. 205 (2017), 85–92, 10.1016/j.biocon.2016.11.011.
Fayolle, A., et al. Patterns of tree species composition across tropical African forests. J. Biogeogr. 41 (2014), 2320–2331, 10.1111/jbi.12382.
Gardner, T.A., et al. The cost-effectiveness of biodiversity surveys in tropical forests. Ecol. Lett. 11 (2008), 139–150, 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01133.x.
Gardner, T.A., et al. Prospects for tropical forest biodiversity in a human-modified world. Ecol. Lett. 12 (2009), 561–582, 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01294.x.
Gibson, L., et al. Primary forests are irreplaceable for sustaining tropical biodiversity. Nature 478 (2011), 378–381, 10.1038/nature10425.
Gotelli, N.J., Colwell, R.K., Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness. Ecol. Lett. 4 (2001), 379–391.
Hijmans, R.J., et al. Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. Int. J. Climatol. 25 (2005), 1965–1978, 10.1002/joc.1276.
Hosaka, T., et al. Effects of logging road networks on the ecological functions of dung beetles in Peninsular Malaysia. For. Ecol. Manag. 326 (2014), 18–24, 10.1016/j.foreco.2014.04.004.
Hurlbert, S.H., Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecol. Monogr. 54 (1984), 187–211.
Kellert, S.R., Mehta, J.N., Ebbin, S.A., Lichtenfeld, L.L., Community natural resource management: promise, rhetoric, and reality. Soc. Nat. Resour. 13 (2000), 705–715, 10.1080/089419200750035575.
Kingdon, J., The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. 2015, Bloomsbury Publishing.
Kingdon, J., et al. Black, A., (eds.) Mammals of Africa, 2013, Bloomsbury Publishing, London.
Klein, B.C., Effects of forest fragmentation on dung and carrion beetle communities in Central Amazonia. Ecology 70 (1989), 1715–1725, 10.2307/1938106.
Kleinschroth, F., Healey, J.R., Impacts of logging roads on tropical forests. Biotropica 49 (2017), 620–635, 10.1111/btp.12462.
Kleinschroth, F., Healey, J.R., Gourlet-Fleury, S., Sparing forests in Central Africa: re-use old logging roads to avoid creating new ones. Front. Ecol. Environ. 14 (2016), 9–10, 10.1002/FEEKleinscrothletter.1.
Kleinschroth, F., et al. Road expansion and persistence in forests of the Congo Basin. Nat. Sustain. 2 (2019), 628–634.
Koerner, S.E., et al. Vertebrate community composition and diversity declines along a defaunation gradient radiating from rural villages in Gabon. J. Appl. Ecol. 54 (2017), 805–814, 10.1111/1365-2664.12798.
Kurten, E.L., Cascading effects of contemporaneous defaunation on tropical forest communities. Biol. Conserv. 163 (2013), 22–32, 10.1016/j.biocon.2013.04.025.
Larsen, T.H., Forsyth, A., Trap spacing and transect design for dung beetle biodiversity studies. Biotropica 37 (2005), 322–325, 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2005.00042.x.
Laurance, W.F., et al. Impacts of roads and hunting on central African rainforest mammals. Conserv. Biol. 20 (2006), 1251–1261, 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00420.x.
Laurance, W.F., Goosem, M., Laurance, S.G.W., Impacts of roads and linear clearings on tropical forests. Trends Ecol. Evol. 24 (2009), 659–669, 10.1016/j.tree.2009.06.009.
Laurance, W.F., et al. Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas. Nature 489 (2012), 290–294, 10.1038/nature11318.
Lê Cao, K.-A., González, I., Déjean, S., integrOmics: an R package to unravel relationships between two omics datasets. Bioinformatics 25 (2009), 2855–2856, 10.1093/bioinformatics/btp515.
Lescuyer, G., et al. Are community forests a viable model for the Democratic Republic of Congo?. Ecol. Soc., 24, 2019, 10.5751/ES-10672-240106.
Lhoest, S., et al. Perceptions of ecosystem services provided by tropical forests to local populations in Cameroon. Ecosyst. Serv., 38, 2019, 100956, 10.1016/j.ecoser.2019.100956.
Malhi, Y., et al. Tropical forests in the Anthropocene. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 39 (2014), 125–159, 10.1146/annurev-environ-030713-155141.
Maryudi, A., et al. Back to basics: considerations in evaluating the outcomes of community forestry. For. Policy Econ. 14 (2012), 1–5, 10.1016/j.forpol.2011.07.017.
Mayaux, P., Bartholomé, E., Fritz, S., Belward, A., A new land-cover map of Africa for the year 2000. J. Biogeogr. 31 (2004), 861–877.
Minang, P.A., et al. Evolution of community forestry in Cameroon: an innovation ecosystems perspective. Ecol. Soc., 24, 2019, 10.5751/ES-10573-240101.
Nasi, R., Taber, A., Van Vliet, N., Empty forests, empty stomachs? Bushmeat and livelihoods in the Congo and Amazon Basins. Int. For. Rev. 13 (2011), 355–368, 10.1505/146554811798293872.
Nasi, R., Billand, A., Vanvliet, N., Managing for timber and biodiversity in the Congo Basin. For. Ecol. Manag. 268 (2012), 103–111, 10.1016/j.foreco.2011.04.005.
Nervo, B., et al. Ecological functions provided by dung beetles are interlinked across space and time: evidence from 15N isotope tracing. Ecology 98 (2017), 433–446, 10.1002/ecy.1653.
Nichols, E., et al. Global dung beetle response to tropical forest modification and fragmentation: a quantitative literature review and meta-analysis. Biol. Conserv. 137 (2007), 1–19.
Nichols, E., et al. Ecological functions and ecosystem services provided by Scarabaeinae dung beetles. Biol. Conserv. 141 (2008), 1461–1474, 10.1016/j.biocon.2008.04.011.
Nichols, E., Gardner, T.A., Peres, C.A., Spector, S., The Scarabaeinae Research Network, Co-declining mammals and dung beetles: an impending ecological cascade. Oikos 118 (2009), 481–487, 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2008.17268.x.
Nichols, E., et al. Human-induced trophic cascades along the fecal detritus pathway. PLoS One, 8, 2013, e75819, 10.1371/journal.pone.0075819.
Nummelin, M., Hanski, I., Dung beetles of the Kibale Forest, Uganda; comparison between virgin and managed forests. J. Trop. Ecol. 5 (1989), 349–352, 10.1017/S0266467400003758.
Oksanen, J., et al. vegan: Community Ecology Package. 2018.
Oyono, P.R., et al. Allocation and use of forest land: current trends, issues and perspectives. de Wasseige, C., Flynn, J., Louppe, D., Hiol Hiol, F., Mayaux, P., (eds.) The Forests of the Congo Basin - State of the Forest 2013, 2014, 215–240 Neufchâteau, Belgique.
Panlasigui, S., et al. Impacts of certification, uncertified concessions, and protected areas on forest loss in Cameroon, 2000 to 2013. Biol. Conserv. 227 (2018), 160–166, 10.1016/j.biocon.2018.09.013.
Peres, C.A., Dolman, P.M., Density compensation in neotropical primate communities: evidence from 56 hunted and nonhunted Amazonian forests of varying productivity. Oecologia 122 (2000), 175–189, 10.1007/PL00008845.
Poulsen, J.R., Clark, C.J., Mavah, G., Elkan, P.W., Bushmeat supply and consumption in a tropical logging concession in northern Congo. Conserv. Biol. 23 (2009), 1597–1608, 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01251.x.
Poulsen, J.R., Clark, C.J., Bolker, B.M., Decoupling the effects of logging and hunting on an Afrotropical animal community. Ecol. Appl. 21 (2011), 1819–1836, 10.1890/10-1083.1.
Poulsen, J.R., Clark, C.J., Palmer, T.M., Ecological erosion of an Afrotropical forest and potential consequences for tree recruitment and forest biomass. Biol. Conserv. 163 (2013), 122–130, 10.1016/j.biocon.2013.03.021.
Poulsen, J.R., et al. Ecological consequences of forest elephant declines for Afrotropical forests: forest elephant declines. Conserv. Biol. 32 (2018), 559–567, 10.1111/cobi.13035.
Putz, F.E., Sist, P., Fredericksen, T., Dykstra, D., Reduced-impact logging: challenges and opportunities. For. Ecol. Manag. 256 (2008), 1427–1433, 10.1016/j.foreco.2008.03.036.
Putz, F.E., et al. Sustaining conservation values in selectively logged tropical forests: the attained and the attainable: sustaining tropical forests with forestry. Conserv. Lett. 5 (2012), 296–303, 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2012.00242.x.
R Core Team, R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. 2018, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.
Redford, K.H., The empty forest. BioScience 42 (1992), 412–422, 10.2307/1311860.
Rentsch, D., Damon, A., Prices, poaching, and protein alternatives: an analysis of bushmeat consumption around Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Ecol. Econ. 91 (2013), 1–9, 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.03.021.
Ribot, J.C., Democratic decentralisation of natural resources: institutional choice and discretionary power transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Public Adm. Dev. 23 (2003), 53–65, 10.1002/pad.259.
Robinson, J.G., Redford, K.H., Bennett, E.L., Wildlife harvest in logged tropical forests. Science 284 (1999), 595–596, 10.1126/science.284.5414.595.
Rowcliffe, J.M., et al. Quantifying the sensitivity of camera traps: an adapted distance sampling approach: quantifying camera trap sensitivity. Methods Ecol. Evol. 2 (2011), 464–476, 10.1111/j.2041-210X.2011.00094.x.
Slade, E.M., Mann, D.J., Lewis, O.T., Biodiversity and ecosystem function of tropical forest dung beetles under contrasting logging regimes. Biol. Conserv. 144 (2011), 166–174, 10.1016/j.biocon.2010.08.011.
Sonké, B., Études floristiques et structurales des forêts de la Réserve de Faune du Dja (Cameroun). (Thèse de doctorat), 1998, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculté des Sciences, Laboratoire de Botanique Systématique et de Phytosociologie, Bruxelles, Belgique.
TEAM Network, Terrestrial vertebrate (camera trap) monitoring protocol implementation manual. 2011.
Terborgh, J., et al. Tree recruitment in an empty forest. Ecology 89 (2008), 1757–1768, 10.1890/07-0479.1.
Tobler, M.W., Camera Base Version 1.7, User guide. Retrieved from http://www.atrium-biodiversity.org/tools/camerabase/, 2015.
Tobler, M.W., et al. An evaluation of camera traps for inventorying large- and medium-sized terrestrial rainforest mammals. Anim. Conserv. 11 (2008), 169–178, 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2008.00169.x.
Tranquilli, S., et al. Protected areas in tropical Africa: assessing threats and conservation activities. PLoS One, 9, 2014, e114154, 10.1371/journal.pone.0114154.
Vermeulen, C., Julve, C., Doucet, J.-L., Monticelli, D., Community hunting in logging concessions: towards a management model for Cameroon's dense forests. Biodivers. Conserv. 18 (2009), 2705–2718, 10.1007/s10531-009-9614-6.
van Vliet, N., Nasi, R., Hunting for livelihood in northeast Gabon: patterns, evolution, and sustainability. Ecol. Soc., 13, 2008, 10.5751/ES-02560-130233.
Watkins, E., Kitching, R.L., Nakamura, A., Stork, N.E., Beetle assemblages in rainforest gaps along a subtropical to tropical latitudinal gradient. Biodivers. Conserv. 26 (2017), 1689–1703, 10.1007/s10531-017-1326-8.
Watson, J.E.M., Dudley, N., Segan, D.B., Hockings, M., The performance and potential of protected areas. Nature 515 (2014), 67–73, 10.1038/nature13947.
Wilkie, D.S., et al. Role of prices and wealth in consumer demand for Bushmeat in Gabon, Central Africa. Conserv. Biol. 19 (2005), 268–274, 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2005.00372.x.
Wittemyer, G., et al. Accelerated human population growth at protected area edges. Science 321 (2008), 123–126.
Wright, S.J., The myriad consequences of hunting for vertebrates and plants in tropical forests. Perspect. Plant Ecol. Evol. Syst. 6 (2003), 73–86, 10.1078/1433-8319-00043.
Ziegler, S., et al. Mapping bushmeat hunting pressure in Central Africa. Biotropica 48 (2016), 405–412, 10.1111/btp.12286.