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Research | Open Access

Harvesting of forest products and implications for Afrotemperate bird communities in a montane forest of the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Jessica Leaver1 ( ), Johann C. Carstens2, Michael I. Cherry1
Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
Wild Bird Trust, Cape Parrot Project, 20 Loch Avenue, Parktown 2193, South Africa
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Abstract

Background

Harvesting of forest products is a widespread driver of disturbance in developing nations, where policies are increasingly aimed at managing natural forests for sustainable use. There is thus need for research aimed at understanding the impact of resource use on forest habitats and concomitant effects on biodiversity. Afromontane forests in the Eastern Cape, South Africa are harvested informally for poles and medicinal bark and occur along elevational gradients of 800-1600?m above sea level. Patterns of spatial diversity and human disturbance are expected to be affected by elevation. Furthermore, species' responses to disturbance are expected to vary depending on their level of habitat specialisation. Understanding harvest impacts on forest biodiversity thus requires disentangling the separate effects of elevation and disturbance, and considering forest-specialist and forest-generalist species separately. This study comprises two components. First, harvest activities, resultant harvest-mediated habitat heterogeneity, and avifaunal species richness, composition and beta-diversity were compared across two elevational zones in a harvested forest. Second, the role of harvest-mediated habitat heterogeneity in driving patterns of avifaunal diversity were assessed, while controlling for elevation, and considering forest-specialist and forest-generalist species separately.

Results

Harvest rates were higher, and activities more varied in the lower elevation zone, with significant impacts of harvesting on habitat features resulting in higher harvest-mediated habitat heterogeneity at lower elevations. Harvest-mediated increases in habitat heterogeneity positively affected forest-generalist species richness, while forest-specialist richness was negatively affected. While species composition of both groups differed across elevational zones, variation in harvest-mediated habitat heterogeneity did not fully account for this, suggesting that factors other than disturbance shape avifaunal communities along the elevation gradient. However, variation in harvest-mediated habitat heterogeneity accounted for the amount of beta-diversity attributed to species turnover in the forest-specialist assemblage, indicating that harvest disturbances affect the mechanisms driving beta-diversity of this group.

Conclusion

Spatial patterns of avifaunal diversity are affected by elevation over a 300-m gradient. Harvesting results in increased habitat heterogeneity, which variably affects avifaunal communities at the forest-scale, with positive effects for forest generalists and negative effects for forest-specialists.

Keywords

ElevationHuman disturbanceBeta-diversityHabitat heterogeneityHabitat modificationGeneralist speciesForest-specialist species

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Forest Ecosystems
Volume 6 Issue 4,
December 2019
Article number: 48
DOI: 10.1186/s40663-019-0207-x
Cite this article:
Leaver J, Carstens JC, Cherry MI. Harvesting of forest products and implications for Afrotemperate bird communities in a montane forest of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Forest Ecosystems, 2019, 6(4): 48. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40663-019-0207-x

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Received: 19 July 2019
Accepted: 28 October 2019
Published: 16 November 2019
© The Author(s) 2019.

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