Logging and topographic effects on tree community structure and habitat associations in a tropical upland evergreen fore
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Logging and topographic effects on tree community structure and habitat associations in a tropical upland evergreen forest, Ghana P. Addo‑Fordjour1 · E. K. Boakye1 · Z. B. Rahmad2
Received: 1 March 2020 / Accepted: 16 April 2020 © Northeast Forestry University 2020
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 Project funding: There is no project funding. The online version is available at http://www.springerlink.com. Corresponding editor: Zhu Hong Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-020-01203-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * P. Addo‑Fordjour [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, College of Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
2
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
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
Introduction Tropical forests provide critical ecological services to sustain human life and wellbeing. Specifically, they store about 46% of terrestrial carbon, thus playing an important role in global carbon storage and sequestration (Soepadmo 1993). They also produce approximately 40% of global oxygen (Beck 2019). Tropical forest ecosystems contain considerable amounts of the world’s biodiversity, harboring over 50% of the world’s terrestrial species (Myers 1988). In different parts of the world, these ecosystems provide tangible services for humans. For example, they provide timber, medicinal plants, fuel and food. Furthermore, they serve as habitats for numerous wildlife species. For instance, almost one million insect species have been identified although a higher number (5
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