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Reduced abundance of late-successional trees but not of seedlings in heavily compared with lightly logged sites of three East African tropical forests

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2010

Jasper Mbae Kirika ,
Katrin Böhning-Gaese ,
Bonny Dumbo  and
Nina Farwig
Jasper Mbae Kirika
Affiliation:
Department of Ornithology, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya Institut für Zoologie, Abt. V. – Ökologie, Johannes-Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Becherweg 13, 55128 Mainz, Germany
Katrin Böhning-Gaese
Affiliation:
Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Department of Biological Sciences, Siesmayerstr. 70, D-60323 Frankfurt (Main), Germany Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt (Main), Germany
Bonny Dumbo
Affiliation:
P.O. Box 143, Kakamega, Kenya
Nina Farwig*
Affiliation:
Department of Ornithology, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya Institut für Zoologie, Abt. V. – Ökologie, Johannes-Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Becherweg 13, 55128 Mainz, Germany
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] Present address: Dept. Ecology – Conservation Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Str. 8, 35032 Marburg, Germany.
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Abstract:

Logged forests form an increasingly large proportion of tropical landscapes but disproportionately few studies have studied the impact of forest disturbance, e.g. lightly vs. heavily logged, on tree and seedling communities simultaneously. We sampled all trees (on 1 ha) and all recently germinated seedlings (on 90 m2) in three lightly and three heavily logged sites in each of the following three East African tropical forests: Budongo Forest and Mabira Forest in Uganda and Kakamega Forest in Kenya. We analysed species richness, diversity, abundance and community composition of late- and early-successional trees and seedlings. We recorded no difference in species richness or diversity of late-successional or early-successional trees between lightly and heavily logged sites. However, the abundance of late-successional species was lower in heavily than lightly logged sites. Moreover, there was no difference in species richness or diversity of trees among the three forests. Yet, abundances of late-successional trees were higher in Budongo Forest than in Mabira Forest and Kakamega Forest. Species richness, diversity and abundance of seedlings did not differ between lightly and heavily logged sites. Only the abundance of seedlings of late-successional species differed among the forests with more individuals in Budongo Forest than in Mabira Forest. This was corroborated by non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) showing clear differences in composition of tree and seedling communities among the three forests. Thus, both, the tree and seedling communities differed significantly among the three forests but not between lightly and heavily logged sites.

Keywords

canopy opennessearly-successional treesforest regenerationlate-successional treesselective loggingtropical forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 26 , Issue 5 , September 2010 , pp. 533 - 546
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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