Seeing the woods through the saplings: Using wood density to assess the recovery of human-modified Amazonian forests
Seeing the woods through the saplings: Using wood density to assess the recovery of human-modified Amazonian forests
复制标题
DOI：
10.1111/1365-2745.12991
复制
发表时间：
2018-11-01
影响因子：
5.5
通讯作者：
Barlow, Jos
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Berenguer, Erika;Gardner, Toby Alan;Barlow, Jos
1.世界上剩余的热带森林大多受到选择性砍伐、林下火灾、破碎化的影响，或者在以前被砍伐的地区重新生长。尽管这些人类改造的森林无处不在，但我们对其恢复与生态系统过程和后续服务相关的关键特征的潜力的了解有限。在这里，我们提供了来自31，095棵树木和树苗的数据，这些树木和树苗分布在亚马逊东部未受干扰和干扰的原始森林以及次生林的121个地块中。我们研究了一个重要的植物功能性状，木材密度的干扰后恢复轨迹。我们测试了人类改造的亚马逊森林是否正在经历这种特征的快速或缓慢甚至受阻的恢复，这与提供基本的生态系统服务-碳储存有关。正如预期的那样，我们发现，图级木材密度的树木和树苗在干扰的原始和次生林显着低于未受干扰的森林。然而，有被干扰的原始和次生林之间的幼树的平均木材密度没有显着差异，可能表明次生化的过程。我们还发现证据表明，由于边缘效应（在受干扰的原始林的情况下）和高藤本植物密度（在受干扰的原始林和次生林的情况下），在人为改造的森林木材密度的恢复受到严重干扰。令人惊讶的是，这两个因素是更重要的预测木材密度恢复比过去的时间，因为干扰事件。合成.人类改造的亚马逊森林中的植物群落似乎没有恢复一个关键的功能特性-木材密度，这反过来可能会影响它们未来储存碳的能力。如果热带森林保护计划的目的是维持现有的生态系统功能、过程和服务，那么他们必须集中精力避免在目前未受干扰的森林地区受到人为干扰。同样重要的是，要防止人为改造的森林受到进一步干扰，以免进一步破坏森林的恢复。
1. Most of the world's remaining tropical forests have been affected by either selective logging, understorey fires, fragmentation or are regrowing in areas that were previously deforested. Despite the ubiquity of these human-modified forests, we have a limited knowledge of their potential to recover key traits linked to ecosystem processes and consequent services.2. Here we present data from 31,095 trees and saplings distributed across 121 plots of undisturbed and disturbed primary forests as well as secondary forests in the eastern Amazon. We examined the post-disturbance recovery trajectory of an important plant functional trait, wood density. We tested whether human-modified Amazonian forests are experiencing a rapid or a slow, or even impeded, recovery of this trait, which is associated with the provision of a fundamental ecosystem service-carbon storage.3. As expected, we found that the plot-level wood density of trees and saplings in disturbed primary and secondary forests was significantly lower than in undisturbed forests. However, there was no significant difference in the average wood density of saplings between disturbed primary and secondary forests, possibly indicating a process of secondarization. We also found evidence that the recovery of wood density in human-modified forests is being severely disrupted due to edge effects (in the case of disturbed primary forests) and high liana densities (in the case of both disturbed primary and secondary forests). Surprisingly, these two factors were more important predictors of wood density recovery than the time elapsed since the disturbance event.4. Synthesis. Plant communities in human-modified Amazonian forests appear to not be recovering a key functional property-wood density, which in turn may affect their ability to store carbon in the future. If the aim of conservation programs in tropical forests is to maintain existing rates of ecosystem functions, processes and services, then they must concentrate efforts on avoiding anthropogenic disturbance in areas of currently undisturbed forests. It is also vital to prevent further disturbance in human-modified forests to avoid disrupting even more their recovery.