Logging and topographic effects on tree community structure and habitat associations in a tropical upland evergreen forest, Ghana

Abstract

We determined the response of tree community structure to logging disturbance and topography, and the patterns of tree-habitat associations in Tano Offin Forest Reserve, Ghana. We sampled trees in 27 20 m × 20 m plots randomly and equally distributed in three topographic habitats (slope, valley, and hilltop) in each of two forests: logged and unlogged. Two topographic features, altitude and degree of slope, were measured and related with species composition. Overall, there were significant effects of logging and topographic habitat and their interaction on species diversity and composition, with the unlogged forest and valley habitat supporting higher diversity. Tree diversity varied among the topographic habitats in the logged but not in the unlogged forest. There were topographic effects on abundance of individual species but not on tree community abundance and basal area. Logging and its interaction with topographic habitat showed significant effects on tree abundance and basal area. Some species were associated with specific topographic habitats or a combination in the logged and unlogged forests. However, the patterns of habitat associations of the species differed between the logged and unlogged forests.

Keywords

Altitude / Community structure / Disturbance / Habitat heterogeneity / Slope / Topographic position

References

[1] Addo-Fordjour P, Owusu-Boadi K. Linear edge effects on liana and tree communities in two tropical forest ecosystems in Ghana. Ecol Res, 2016, 31: 709-718.

[2] Ademoh FO, Muoghalu JI, Onwumere B. Temporal pattern of tree community dynamics in a secondary forest in southwestern Nigeria 29 years after a ground fire. Glob Ecol Conserv, 2017, 9: 148-170.

[3] Arbonnier M. Trees, shrubs and lianas of West African dry zones, 2004, Montpellier: CIRAD 574

[4] Armesto JJ, Pickett STA. Experimental studies of disturbance in oldfield plant communities: impact on species richness and abundance. Ecology, 1985, 66: 230-240.

[5] Basnet K. Effect of topography on the pattern of trees in Tabonuco (Dacryodes excelsa) dominated rain forest of Puerto Rico. Biotropica, 1992, 24: 31-42.

[6] Beck H. Fath B. Tropical ecology. Encyclopedia of ecology, 2019 2 Amsterdam: Elsevier 671 677

[7] Bentos TV, Nascimento HEM, Vizcarra MA, Williamson GB. Effects of lightgaps and topography on Amazon secondary forest: changes in species richness and community composition. For Ecol Manage, 2017, 396: 124-131.

[8] Brenes-Arguedas T, Roddy AB, Coley PD, Kursar TA. Do differences in understory light contribute to species distributions along a tropical rainfall gradient?. Oecologia, 2011, 166: 443-456.

[9] Carreño-Rocabado G, Penã-Claros M, Bongers F, Alarcón A, Licona JC, Poorter L. Effects of disturbance intensity on species and functional diversity in a tropical forest. J Ecol, 2012, 100: 1453-1463.

[10] Chen Y, Yuan Z, Bi S, Wang X, Ye Y, Svenning JC. Macrofungal species distributions depend on habitat partitioning of topography, light, and vegetation in a temperate mountain forest. Sci Rep, 2018, 8: 13589.

[11] Cramer MJ, Willig MR. Habitat heterogeneity, habitat associations, and rodent species diversity in a sand-shinnery-oak landscape. J Mammal, 2002, 83: 743-753.

[12] Cui W, Zheng XX. Spatial heterogeneity in tree diversity and forest structure of evergreen broadleaf forests in southern China along an altitudinal gradient. Forests, 2016, 7: 216.

[13] De Cáceres M (2013) How to use the indicspecies package (ver. 1.6.7). Available http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/indicspecies/vignettes/indicspeciesTutorial.pdf

[14] De Cáceres M, Legendre P. Associations between species and groups of sites: indices and statistical inference. Ecology, 2009, 90: 3566-3574.

[15] De Cáceres M, Legendre P, Moretti P. Improving indicator species analysis by combining groups of sites. Oikos, 2010, 119: 1674-1684.

[16] Feng G, Svenning JC, Mi X, Jia Q, Rao M, Ren H, Bebber DP, Ma K. Anthropogenic disturbance shapes phylogenetic and functional tree community structure in a subtropical forest. For Ecol Manage, 2014, 313: 188-198.

[17] Fujita N, Amartuvshin N, Yamada Y, Matsui K, Sakai S, Yamamura N. Positive and negative effects of livestock grazing on plant diversity of Mongolian nomadic pasturelands along a slope with soil moisture gradient. Grassl Sci, 2009, 55: 126-134.

[18] Geekiyanage N, Goodale UM, Cao K, Kitajima K. Leaf trait variations associated with habitat affinity of tropical karst tree species. Ecol Evol, 2017, 8: 286-295.

[19] Guo Y, Wang B, Mallik AU, Huang F, Xiang W, Ding T, Wen S, Lu S, Li D, He Y, Li X. Topographic species-habitat associations of tree species in a heterogeneous tropical forest. J Plant Ecol, 2017, 57: 1-10.

[20] Hall JS, Harris DJ, Medjibe V, Ashton PMS. The effects of selective logging on forest structure and tree species composition in a Central African forest: implications for management of conservation areas. For Ecol Manage, 2003, 183: 249-264.

[21] Hawthorne, WD (1990) Field guide to the forest trees of Ghana. Ghana Forestry Series 1. Chatham, Kent: Natural Resources Institute, for the Overseas Development Administration, pp 1–276

[22] Hawthorne WD (1995) Ecological profiles of ghanaian forest trees. Tropical Forestry Paper 29. Oxford Forestry Institute, Oxford, pp 142–144

[23] Hawthorne WD, Jongkind C. Woody plants of western African forests: a guide to the forest trees, shrubs and lianes from Senegal to Ghana, 2006, Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens 1 1023

[24] Homeier J, Breckle SW, Günter S, Rollenbeck RT, Leuschner C. Tree diversity, forest structure and productivity along altitudinal and topographical gradients in a species-rich Ecuadorian montane rain forest. Biotropica, 2010, 42: 140-148.

[25] Hsieh TC, Ma KH, Chao A (2016) iNEXT: an R package for interpolation and extrapolation of species diversity (Hill numbers). Methods Ecol Evol 7: 1451–1456. http://www.rstudio.com/

[26] Inada T, Kitajima K, Hardiwinoto S, Kanzaki M. The effect of logging and strip cutting on forest floor light condition and following change. Forests, 2017, 8: 425.

[27] Jucker T, Bongalov B, Burslem DFRP, Nilus R, Dalponte M, Lewis SL, Phillips OL, Qie L, Coomes DA. Topography shapes the structure, composition and function of tropical forest landscapes. Ecol Lett, 2018, 21: 989-1000.

[28] Kasenene JM, Murphy PG. Post-logging tree mortality and major branch losses in Kibale Forest, Uganda. For Ecol Manage, 1991, 46: 3-4.

[29] Kideghesho JR. Miodrag Z. Realities on deforestation in Tanzania–trends, drivers, implications and the way forward. Precious forests–precious earth, 2015, Rijeka: Intech Open Science/Open Minds 21 47

[30] Kubota Y, Murata H, Kikuzawa K. Effects of topographic heterogeneity on tree species richness and stand dynamics in a subtropical forest in Okinawa Island, southern Japan. J Ecol, 2004, 92: 230-240.

[31] Lewis OT, Basset Y. Stewart AJA, New TR, Lewis OT. Insect conservation in tropical forests. Insect conservation biology, 2007, Wallingford: The Royal Entomological Society and CABI 34 56

[32] Liu Q, Bi L, Song G, Wang Q, Jin G. Species–habitat associations in an old-growth temperate forest in northeastern China. BMC Ecol, 2018, 18: 20.

[33] Lookingbill TR, Urban DL. Gradient analysis, the next generation: towards more plant-relevant explanatory variables. Can J For Res, 2005, 35: 1744-1753.

[34] Lu J, Jiang L, Yu L, Sun Q. Local factors determine plant community structure on closely neighbored islands. PLoS ONE, 2011 6 5 e19762

[35] Lyons A, Ashton PA, Powell I, Oxbrough A. Habitat associations of epigeal spiders in upland calcareous grassland landscapes: the importance for conservation. Biodivers Conserv, 2018, 27: 1201-1219.

[36] Méndez-Toribio M, Meave JA, Zermeño-Hernãndez I, Ibarra-Manríquez G. Effects of slope aspect and topographic position on environmental variables, disturbance regime and tree community attributes in a seasonal tropical dry forest. J Veg Sci, 2016, 27: 1094-1103.

[37] Méndez-Toribio MG, Ibarra-Manríquez G, Navarrete-Segueda A, Paz H. Topographic position, but not slope aspect, drives the dominance of functional strategies of tropical dry forest trees. Environ Res Lett, 2017, 12: 85002.

[38] Mesquita CPB, Tillmann LS, Bernard CD, Rosemond KC, Molotch NP, Suding KN. Topographic heterogeneity explains patterns of vegetation response to climate change (1972–2008) across a mountain landscape, Niwot Ridge, Colorado, USA. Arct Antarct Alp Res, 2018, 50: 1.

[39] Mooney PF. Villacampa Y, Brebbia CA. The effect of human disturbance on site habitat diversity and avifauna community composition in suburban conservation areas. Ecosystems and sustainable development VIII, 2011, Southampton: WIT Press 13 26

[40] Morris RJ. Anthropogenic impacts on tropical forest biodiversity: a network structure and ecosystem functioning perspective. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 2010, 365: 3709-3718.

[41] Mouillot D, Culioli JM, Chi TD. Indicator species analysis as a test of non-random distribution of species in the context of marine protected areas. Environ Conserv, 2002, 29: 385-390.

[42] Myers N. Wilson EO, Peter FM. Tropical forests and their species. Biodiversity, 1988, Washington: National Academies Press 28 35

[43] Ofosu-Bamfo B, Addo-Fordjour P, Belford EJD. Does road-edge affect liana community structure and liana-host interactions in evergreen rainforests in Ghana?. Acta Oecol, 2019, 101: 103476.

[44] Opuni-Frimpong E, Opoku SM, Storer AJ, Burton AJ, Yeboah D. Productivity, pest tolerance and carbon sequestration of Khaya grandifoliola in the dry semi-deciduous forest of Ghana: a comparison in pure stands and mixed stands. New Forest, 2013, 44: 863-879.

[45] Poorter L, Bongers F, Kouamé FN, Hawthorne WD. Biodiversity of West African forests: an ecological atlas of woody plant species, 2004, Oxford: CABI publishers 1 528

[46] Qui Y, Fu B, Wang J, Chen L. Soil moisture variation in relation to topography and land use in a hillslope catchment of the Loess Plateau, China. J Hydrol, 2001, 240: 243-263.

[47] R Core Team (2020) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R foundation for statistical computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/

[48] Regmi NR, Giardino JR, McDonald EV, Vitek JD. Giardino J, Houser C. A review of mass movement processes and risk in the critical zone of earth. Principles and dynamics of the critical zone. Volume 19: Developments in Earth Surface Processes, 2015, Amsterdam: Elsevier 319 362

[49] Saiful I, Latiff A. Effects of selective logging on tree species composition, richness and diversity in a hill dipterocarp forest in Malaysia. J Trop For Sci., 2014, 26: 188-202.

[50] Schleuning M, Farwig N, Peters MK, Bergsdorf T, Bleher B, Brandl R Forest fragmentation and selective logging have inconsistent effects on multiple animal-mediated ecosystem processes in a tropical forest. PLoS ONE, 2011, 6: e27785.

[51] Shima K, Yamada T, Okuda T, Fletcher C, Kassim AR. Stand structure, floristic composition and species diversity along altitudinal gradients of a Bornean mountain range 30 years after selective logging. Sci Rep, 2018, 8: 1024.

[52] Soepadmo E. Tropical rain forests as carbon sinks. Chemosphere, 1993, 27: 1025-1039.

[53] Solefack MCM, Fedoung EF, Temgoua LF. Factors determining floristic composition and functional diversity of plant communities of Mount Oku forests, Cameroon. J Asia Pac Biodivers, 2018, 11: 284-293.

[54] Torimaru T, Akada S, Ishida K, Narita M, Higaki D. Species habitat associations in an old-growth beech forest community organised by landslide disturbances. J For Res, 2017, 23: 98-104.

[55] Toyama H, Kajisa T, Tagane S, Mase K, Chhang P, Samreth V, Ma V, Sokh H, Ichihashi R, Onoda Y, Mizoue N, Yahara T. Effects of logging and recruitment on community phylogenetic structure in 32 permanent forest plots of Kampong Thom, Cambodia. Phil Trans R Soc B, 2015, 370: 20140008.

[56] Wang XG, Ye J, Li BH, Zhang J, Lin F, Hao ZQ. Spatial distributions of species in an old-growth temperate forest, northeastern China. Can J For Res, 2010, 40(6): 1011-1019.

[57] Wang Q, Punchi-Manage R, Lu Z, Franklin SB, Wang Z, Li Y, Chi X, Bao D, Guo Y, Lu Y, Xu Y, Qiao X, Jiang M. Effects of topography on structuring species assemblages in a subtropical forest. J Plant Ecol, 2017, 10: 440-449.

[58] Wilcox BA. Tropical forest resources and biodiversity: assessing the risks of forest loss and degradation. Unasylva, 1995, 181: 43-49.

[59] Yamada T, Zuidema PA, Itoh A, Yamakura T, Ohkubo T, Kanzaki M, Tan S, Ashton PS. Strong habitat preference of a tropical rain forest tree does not imply large differences in population dynamics across habitats. J Ecol, 2007, 95: 332-342.

[60] Zhang S, Zhang X, Huffman T, Liu X, Yang J. Influence of topography and land management on soil nutrients variability in northeast China. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst, 2011, 89: 427-438.

[61] Zhang C, Li X, Chen L, Xie G, Liu C, Pei S. Effects of topographical and edaphic factors on tree community structure and diversity of subtropical mountain forests in the lower Lancang River Basin. Forests, 2016, 7: 222.