Tropical logging and deforestation impacts multiple scales of weevil beta-diversity
File(s)Biological_Conservation_Manuscript.REV.docx (359.24 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Sharp, Adam C
Barclay, Maxwell VL
Chung, Arthur YC
Ewers, Robert M
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Half of Borneo's forest has been logged and oil palm plantations have replaced millions of hectares of forest since the 1970's. While this extensive land-use change has been shown to reduce species richness across landscapes, there is limited current knowledge on how deforestation affects the spatial arrangement of ecological communities. Identifying responses of beta-diversity to land-use change may reveal processes which could mitigate total biodiversity loss. We sampled weevils (superfamily: Curculionoidea) at multiple spatial scales across a land-use gradient at the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) Project in Sabah, Malaysia, in 2011–2012. We caught 160 taxa of weevil and calculated the response of alpha-diversity (1-ha scale) and beta-diversity (10-, 100-, and 1000-ha scales) to disturbance. Alpha-diversity of weevils was greatest in unlogged forest but landscape-level beta-diversity (100- and 1000-ha scale) was maintained across logged and unlogged due to high rates of spatial turnover. Turnover at smallest spatial scales (10-ha) in unlogged forest was highest in rough, flat terrain but smooth, sloping terrain had highest turnover in logged forest. Logging of flat terrain at small spatial scales has potential to decrease beta-diversity at greater scales. Beta-diversity at landscape-level in oil palm plantation remained high but was propagated by abundance shifts of few species instead of spatial turnover of many species. High temporal beta-diversity in unlogged forest was evident through periodic fluxes in abundance of many weevil species. We conclude that unlogged forest is irreplaceable for high beetle biodiversity but increased spatial turnover in some terrains may help conserve beetle communities in heavily-degraded landscapes.
Date Issued
2019-06-01
Date Acceptance
2019-03-15
Citation
Biological Conservation, 2019, 234, pp.172-179
ISSN
0006-3207
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
172
End Page
179
Journal / Book Title
Biological Conservation
Volume
234
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Sponsor
Rainforest Research Sdn Bhd
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000468718500020&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
LBEE_P34395
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biodiversity Conservation
Ecology
Environmental Sciences
Biodiversity & Conservation
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Beetles
Conservation
Logging
Oil palm plantations
Topography
Tropical forests
OIL PALM
HABITAT HETEROGENEITY
FOREST FRAGMENTATION
SPECIES RICHNESS
NORTHERN BORNEO
RAIN-FORESTS
BIODIVERSITY
MICROCLIMATE
DEGRADATION
COMMUNITIES
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2019-03-29