Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS) and College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, 4878, Australia.
Estacion Biologica de Doñana, (EBD-CSIC), Seville, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2017 Jul 20;7(1):6071. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-06590-5.
Human-induced forest fragmentation poses one of the largest threats to global diversity yet its impact on rattans (climbing palms) has remained virtually unexplored. Rattan is arguably the world's most valuable non-timber forest product though current levels of harvesting and land-use change place wild populations at risk. To assess rattan response to fragmentation exclusive of harvesting impacts we examined rattan abundance, demography and ecology within the forests of northeastern, Australia. We assessed the community abundance of rattans, and component adult (>3 m) and juvenile (≤3 m) abundance in five intact forests and five fragments (23-58 ha) to determine their response to a range of environmental and ecological parameters. Fragmented forests supported higher abundances of rattans than intact forests. Fragment size and edge degradation significantly increased adult rattan abundance, with more in smaller fragments and near edges. Our findings suggest that rattan increase within fragments is due to canopy disturbance of forest edges resulting in preferential, high-light habitat. However, adult and juvenile rattans may respond inconsistently to fragmentation. In managed forest fragments, a rattan abundance increase may provide economic benefits through sustainable harvesting practices. However, rattan increases in protected area forest fragments could negatively impact conservation outcomes.
人为导致的森林破碎化对全球多样性构成了最大的威胁之一，但它对藤本植物（攀援棕榈）的影响实际上尚未得到探索。藤本植物可以说是世界上最有价值的非木材森林产品，但目前的采伐和土地利用变化水平使野生种群面临风险。为了评估藤本植物对破碎化的反应，而不考虑采伐的影响，我们在澳大利亚东北部的森林中检查了藤本植物的丰富度、动态和生态学。我们评估了 5 个完整森林和 5 个片段（23-58 公顷）中的藤本植物群落丰富度以及成年（>3 m）和幼年（≤3 m）个体的组成部分丰富度，以确定它们对一系列环境和生态参数的反应。与完整森林相比，破碎化森林中藤本植物的丰富度更高。片段大小和边缘退化显著增加了成年藤本植物的数量，而在较小的片段和靠近边缘的地方数量更多。我们的研究结果表明，由于森林边缘的树冠干扰导致偏好高光生境，藤本植物在片段中增加。然而，成年和幼年藤本植物可能对破碎化的反应不一致。在管理良好的森林片段中，通过可持续的采伐实践，藤本植物的增加可能会带来经济效益。然而，在保护区森林片段中藤本植物的增加可能会对保护结果产生负面影响。
