Effects of disturbances by forest elephants on diversity of trees and insects in tropical rainforests on Mount Cameroon.
Effects of disturbances by forest elephants on diversity of trees and insects in tropical rainforests on Mount Cameroon.
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森林象干扰对喀麦隆山热带雨林树木和昆虫多样性的影响。
DOI：
10.1038/s41598-020-78659-7
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发表时间：
2020-12-10
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Tropek R
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Maicher V;Delabye S;Murkwe M;Doležal J;Altman J;Kobe IN;Desmist J;Fokam EB;Pyrcz T;Tropek R
自然干扰对热带森林的生物多样性至关重要。在非洲热带地区，大型食草动物在最近的衰退之前发挥了关键作用。与草原大象相比，森林大象对生态系统的影响仍然研究得很少。几十年前，喀麦隆山的森林被熔岩流分割，直到现在才有当地的森林大象穿过。我们评估社区的树木，蝴蝶和两个行会的飞蛾在干扰和未受干扰的森林分裂最长的熔岩流。调查了32个样地，记录树木97种2025株，昆虫437种7853只。干扰的森林不同，减少树木密度，高度和高冠层覆盖，并在增加胸径。森林象的选择性浏览和觅食也减少了树种的丰富度，改变了它们的组成。大象干扰增加了蝴蝶物种丰富度，并对昆虫类群的物种丰富度和组成产生了各种影响。这些变化很可能是由干扰驱动的栖息地和树木的物种组成的改变。此外，大象对森林的遗弃导致了当地范围有限的蝴蝶的减少。最近非洲热带地区森林大象数量的减少可能导致森林生物多样性发生类似的变化，应该通过保护行动加以反映。
Natural disturbances are essential for tropical forests biodiversity. In the Afrotropics, megaherbivores have played a key role before their recent decline. Contrastingly to savanna elephants, forest elephants’ impact on ecosystems remains poorly studied. Few decades ago, forests on Mount Cameroon were divided by lava flows, not being crossed by a local population of forest elephants until now. We assessed communities of trees, butterflies and two guilds of moths in the disturbed and undisturbed forests split by the longest lava flow. We surveyed 32 plots, recording 2025 trees of 97 species, and 7853 insects of 437 species. The disturbed forests differed in reduced tree density, height, and high canopy cover, and in increased DBH. Forest elephants’ selective browsing and foraging also decreased tree species richness and altered their composition. The elephant disturbance increased butterfly species richness and had various effects on species richness and composition of the insect groups. These changes were likely caused by disturbance-driven alterations of habitats and species composition of trees. Moreover, the abandonment of forests by elephants led to local declines of range-restricted butterflies. The recent declines of forest elephants across the Afrotropics probably caused similar changes in forest biodiversity and should be reflected by conservation actions.