Effects of illegal logging on Amazonian medium and large-sized terrestrial vertebrates
Date of Publication
2020 12:00 AM
Security Theme
Environmental Security
Keywords
Illegal Logging, srhreports, Amazonia Forest, vertebrates, Gurupi Biological Reserve, tropical forests
Description
Selective logging is a major form of land use in tropical rainforests, with more than half of the world’s tropical forest already explored. In the Brazilian Amazon, most logging operations are illegal and highly damaging to forests. However, the effects of illegal logging on wildlife are poorly studied. Here we investigate the effects of illegal logging on the assemblage of medium- to large-bodied terrestrial vertebrates at the Gurupi Biological Reserve, a protected area in extreme eastern Amazonia that has been subjected to three decades of illegal logging. We used camera traps to survey the terrestrial vertebrate assemblage and visual interpretation of Landsat time series data (1984–2016) to assess the history of illegal logging (number of logging bouts and recovery time) for each camera trap site. Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities (HMSC) indicates that logging had a minor effect on both the assemblage composition and individual species abundance. At the local level, the study demonstrates that the reserve effectively safeguards a significant portion of the regional biodiversity even though it suffered degradation by illegal logging. At a wider scale, the results suggest that illegally logged forests can retain much of their conservation value, if they are protected from further anthropogenic impacts such as hunting, fragmentation and fires. However, our study represents a best-case scenario, unlikely to be met in most other illegally logged areas in the tropics, where logging is usually followed by secondary effects that amplify its impacts.
Report Location
Effects of illegal logging on Amazonian medium and large-sized terrestrial vertebrates
Selective logging is a major form of land use in tropical rainforests, with more than half of the world’s tropical forest already explored. In the Brazilian Amazon, most logging operations are illegal and highly damaging to forests. However, the effects of illegal logging on wildlife are poorly studied. Here we investigate the effects of illegal logging on the assemblage of medium- to large-bodied terrestrial vertebrates at the Gurupi Biological Reserve, a protected area in extreme eastern Amazonia that has been subjected to three decades of illegal logging. We used camera traps to survey the terrestrial vertebrate assemblage and visual interpretation of Landsat time series data (1984–2016) to assess the history of illegal logging (number of logging bouts and recovery time) for each camera trap site. Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities (HMSC) indicates that logging had a minor effect on both the assemblage composition and individual species abundance. At the local level, the study demonstrates that the reserve effectively safeguards a significant portion of the regional biodiversity even though it suffered degradation by illegal logging. At a wider scale, the results suggest that illegally logged forests can retain much of their conservation value, if they are protected from further anthropogenic impacts such as hunting, fragmentation and fires. However, our study represents a best-case scenario, unlikely to be met in most other illegally logged areas in the tropics, where logging is usually followed by secondary effects that amplify its impacts.
