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18 results for “chronic anthropogenic disturbance”
Data from: Plant protection services mediated by extrafloral nectaries decline with aridity but are not influenced by chronic anthropogenic disturbance in Brazilian Caatinga
<p>1. Most terrestrial species occur in human-modified landscapes that are experiencing climate change. In addition to direct impacts on species, both anthropogenic disturbance and climate change can have important effects through changes in species interactions, including the disruption of ecological services provided by them.</p> <p>2. Here we investigate how chronic anthropogenic disturbance (CAD) and aridity affect the effectiveness of plant protection services provided by ants to plants bearing extrafloral nectaries (EFNs).</p> <p>3. The study was conducted across 13 01-ha plots distributed along CAD and aridity gradients in Caatinga vegetation of northeastern Brazil. We focused on Pityrocarpa moniliformis, the most abundant and widely distributed EFN-bearing tree species occurring in our study area, and used experimental attack rates on termites as a measure of effectiveness of ant protection services. We investigated the relative roles of nectar production (volume and concentration) and ant species composition in mediating the effects of CAD and aridity on the effectiveness of protection services.</p> <p>4. Attack rates by ants declined with increasing aridity but were not related to CAD. The volume of extrafloral nectar declined with increasing CAD but was not affected by aridity, whereas the concentration was not related to either CAD or aridity. The composition of attendant ant species varied with aridity but not with CAD.</p> <p>5. Synthesis: The decline in ant-protection services with increased aridity was therefore mediated by changes in the composition of attendant ant species rather than by changes in the production of extrafloral nectar. Our findings suggest that CAD does not affect plant-protection services provided by ants but highlights the vulnerability of EFN-bearing plants to climate change through decreased predation of herbivores.</p>
Chronic anthropogenic disturbance mediates the biodiversity-productivity relationship across stand ages in a large temperate forest region
<div>Temperate forests, especially those in the densely populated regions of the world, are experiencing increasing levels of habitat degradation and biological impoverishment due to subtle but pervasive chronic anthropogenic disturbances including frequent and continuous grazing and extraction of non-timber forest products. However, the effects of these subtle, chronic disturbances on the biodiversity-productivity relationship have rarely been examined especially in forests at different development stages. Accordingly, this study explores how chronic anthropogenic disturbance affects the relationship between tree species diversity and forest productivity at different stand development stages in a large temperate forest region.</div> <div> </div> <div>We used the human footprint index as a proxy for chronic human disturbance. Hierarchical Bayesian models were employed to assess the effects of chronic human disturbance on the relationship between tree diversity and forest productivity across different stand age. Several measures of diversity were employed, including taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity.</div> <div> </div> <div>Forest productivity consistently increased with taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic biodiversity; these biodiversity facets were the main drivers of forest productivity compared to stand age, chronic human disturbance, and climate. However, the magnitude at which productivity increases with the increments of taxonomic and functional diversity diminishes with the increasing chronic disturbance, especially in younger stands. The effects of phylogenetic diversity on productivity did not vary with chronic disturbance, regardless of stand age.</div> <div> </div> <div> <strong>Synthesis and applications:</strong> Chronic human disturbance in a large temperate forest region reduces the increase in community productivity due to different facets of biodiversity, especially in young forests. The evidence suggests that the mitigation of chronic human disturbance and the conservation of biodiversity will be effective in sustaining essential ecosystem functions.</div>
Data from: Plant protection services mediated by extrafloral nectaries decline with aridity but are not influenced by chronic anthropogenic disturbance in Brazilian Caatinga
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Chronic anthropogenic disturbance mediates the biodiversity-productivity relationship across stand ages in a large temperate forest region
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Data from: Chronic anthropogenic disturbance drives the biological impoverishment of the Brazilian Caatinga vegetation
1. In addition to acute transformations of ecosystems caused by deforestation, old-growth forests worldwide are being increasingly altered by low-intensity but chronic human disturbance. Overgrazing and the continuous extraction of forest products are important drivers of chronic disturbance, which can lead to the gradual local extinction of species and the alteration of vegetation structure. 2. We tested this hypothesis in the Brazilian Caatinga vegetation, one of the most species-rich and populated semi-arid regions of the world. Using a multi-model averaging approach we examined the impact of five recognized indicators of chronic disturbance (i.e. proximity to urban centre, houses, roads, density of people and livestock) on the diversity, abundance and evenness of 30 woody plant communities. We separately tested the response of seedlings, saplings, and adults to identify the ontogenetic stages that are most susceptible to chronic disturbance. 3. We recorded over 11 000 individuals belonging to 51 plant species. As expected, most indicators of chronic disturbance were negatively related to species diversity and stem abundance, with a variable effect on community evenness. The density of people and livestock were the main factors driving changes in plant communities, with a stronger negative impact on seedling and sapling diversities. Species composition also varied significantly with disturbance indicators, irrespective of ontogeny. 4. Our results show the potential negative impact that chronic disturbance can have on Caatinga plant assemblages and highlight the fact that disturbance resulting from an extractivism-based and subsistence economy are probably driving old-growth forest stands towards shrub-dominated secondary stands. 5. Synthesis and applications. These findings indicate that chronic disturbance should not continue to be neglected and we argue for (1) research and rural programs able to support better practices in terms of land use and sustainable exploitation of forest resources, (2) improved governance and law enforcement to shift extractivism towards sustainable standards, and (3) expanding the coverage and effective implementation of strictly protected areas.
Data from: Functional diversity and composition of Caatinga woody flora are negatively impacted by chronic anthropogenic disturbance
Tropical plant assemblages can be taxonomically and phylogenetically impoverished by chronic anthropogenic disturbance (CAD), such as firewood collection and extensive grazing. However, to what extent the functional dimension responds to CAD is still unclear. Such knowledge is urgently required for predicting, preventing or even reversing the impacts of CAD. Chronic anthropogenic disturbance may operate as an ecological filter by selecting functional trait values (e.g. low wood density), thereby altering the functional composition and diversity of plant assemblages. We tested this hypothesis using 29 woody plant assemblages across three ontogenetic stages (seedlings, saplings and adults) in a 220‐km2 landscape of the Caatinga, northeast Brazil. We adopted a CAD index consisting of four indicators (proximity to urban centre and houses and the density of both people and livestock) and tested how well it explained the functional diversity and effect sizes (richness, evenness and dispersion) and composition (community‐weighted mean). Chronic anthropogenic disturbance affected several functional metrics across the three ontogenetic stages. However, CAD effects were stronger in adult communities by negatively affecting functional richness, dispersion and their effect sizes. CAD also altered the functional composition of leaf mass per area, woody density and leaf area of adult assemblages. Sapling communities were affected in terms of functional composition (leaf area, leaf dry matter and wood density), with positive and negative effects, while seedling assemblages responded positively to CAD only in terms of functional evenness and its effect size. Some changes in functional metrics were influenced by dominant Euphorbiaceae species across ontogenetic stages, especially in terms of leaf area and woody density. Synthesis. Chronic anthropogenic disturbance is an important driver of plant‐community functional organization across ontogenetic stages in the Caatinga. Adult assemblages are particularly sensitive and tend to lose functional niche space and support more acquisitive rather than conservative strategies as chronic anthropogenic disturbance increases. The proliferation of Euphorbiaceae disturbance‐adapted species can explain part of the community responses to chronic anthropogenic disturbance. Our findings highlight the ecological effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance and show that it is a key influence on tropical biotas. Changes in plant functional traits associated with plant resource use are likely to affect ecosystem functioning and services provided by Caatinga.
Data from: Individual and interactive effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance and rainfall on taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic composition and diversity of extrafloral nectary-bearing plants in Brazilian Caatinga
<p>Chronic anthropogenic disturbance (CAD) and climate change represent two of the major threats to biodiversity globally, but their combined effects are not well understood. Here we investigate the individual and interactive effects of increasing CAD and decreasing rainfall on the composition and taxonomic (TD), functional (FD) and phylogenetic diversity (PD) of plants possessing extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) in semi-arid Brazilian Caatinga. EFNs attract ants that protect plants against insect herbivore attack and are extremely prevalent in the Caatinga flora. EFN-bearing plants were censused along gradients of disturbance and rainfall in Catimbau National Park in north-eastern Brazil. We recorded a total of 2,243 individuals belonging to 21 species. Taxonomic and functional composition varied along the rainfall gradient, but not along the disturbance gradient. There was a significant interaction between increasing disturbance and decreasing rainfall, with CAD leading to decreased TD, FD and PD in the most arid areas, and to increased TD, FD and PD in the wettest areas. We found a strong phylogenetic signal in the EFN traits we analysed, which explains the strong matching between patterns of FD and PD along the environmental gradients. The interactive effects of disturbance and rainfall revealed by our study indicate that the decreased rainfall forecast for Caatinga under climate change will increase the sensitivity of EFN-bearing plants to anthropogenic disturbance. This has important implications for the availability of a key food resource, which would likely have cascading effects on higher trophic levels.</p>
Data for: Aridity and chronic anthropogenic disturbance as organizing forces of fruit-feeding butterfly assemblages in a Caatinga dry forest
<p><span>Anthropogenic disturbances and climate change are expected to reorganize biodiversity on multiple ecological levels from populations to ecosystems, especially in arid and semiarid regions due to environmental filtering imposed by water stress. This paper examines the individual and combined effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance and increased aridity on the structure of fruit-feeding butterfly assemblages in a human-modified landscape of Caatinga dry forest, in the northeast of Brazil. Butterflies were recorded monthly across old-growth forest stands and their assemblages were described in terms of taxonomic and functional community-level attributes confronted with different levels of chronic disturbance and aridity. Butterfly assemblages were species-poor but had high species replacement (turnover) along both the chronic disturbance and aridity gradients. We observed a negative effect of aridity on the alpha and beta diversity of butterfly assemblages. Butterfly assemblages across forest stands exposed to high levels of chronic disturbance and aridity had a nested structure. Functional diversity (Rao's Q) and the community-weighted means (CWM) of ocellus-bearing species and monocot-feeding larvae were negatively and positively affected by increased aridity and chronic disturbance, respectively. Our findings suggest that aridity and its combination with chronic disturbance have a drastic effect on the structure of butterfly assemblages in the Caatinga dry forest. These findings highlight that rainfall and chronic disturbances as major drivers of biological reorganization in human-modified landscapes. As aridity increases, Caatinga tends to support taxonomically and functionally impoverished and highly distorted assemblages.</span></p>
Data from: Functional diversity and composition of Caatinga woody flora are negatively impacted by chronic anthropogenic disturbance
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Data from: Individual and interactive effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance and rainfall on taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic composition and diversity of extrafloral nectary-bearing plants in Brazilian Caatinga
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Data from: Related plant species respond similarly to chronic anthropogenic disturbance: implications for conservation decision-making
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Chronic anthropogenic disturbance on Caatinga dry forest fragments
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Data from: Chronic anthropogenic disturbance drives the biological impoverishment of the Brazilian Caatinga vegetation
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Data for: Aridity and chronic anthropogenic disturbance as organizing forces of fruit-feeding butterfly assemblages in a Caatinga dry forest
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Data from: Effects of increasing aridity and chronic anthropogenic disturbance on seed dispersal by ants in Brazilian Caatinga
1. Anthropogenic disturbance and climate change are the main drivers of biodiversity loss and ecological services around the globe. There is concern that climate change will exacerbate the impacts of disturbance and thereby promote biotic homogenization, but its consequences for ecological services are unknown. 2. We investigated the individual and interactive effects of increasing chronic anthropogenic disturbance (CAD) and aridity on seed dispersal services provided by ants in Caatinga vegetation of northeastern Brazil. 3. The study was conducted in Catimbau National Park, Pernambuco, Brazil. Within an area of 214 km2, we established nineteen 50 x 20 m plots that encompassed gradients of both CAD and aridity. We offered diaspores of six plant species, three myrmecochorous diaspores and three fleshy fruits that are secondarily dispersed by ants. We then quantified the number of interactions, seed removal rate and dispersal distances, and noted the identities of interacting ant species. Finally, we used pitfall trap data to quantify the abundances of ant disperser species in each plot. 4. Our results show that overall composition of ant disperser species varied along the gradients of CAD and aridity, but the composition of high-quality dispersers varied only with aridity. The total number of interactions, rates of removal and mean distance of removal all declined with increasing aridity, but they were not related to CAD. These same patterns were found when considering only high-quality disperser species, driven by the responses of the dominant disperser Dinoponera quadriceps. We found little evidence of interactive effects of CAD and aridity on seed dispersal services by ants. 5. Our study indicates that CAD and aridity act independently on ant-mediated seed dispersal services in Caatinga, such that the impacts of anthropogenic disturbance are unlikely to change under the forecast climate of increased aridity. However, our findings highlight the vulnerability of seed dispersal services provided by ants in Caatinga under an increasingly arid climate due to low functional redundancy in high-quality disperser species. Given the large number of plant species dependent on ants for seed dispersal, this has important implications for future plant recruitment and, consequently, for the composition of Caatinga plant communities.
Data from: Effects of increasing aridity and chronic anthropogenic disturbance on seed dispersal by ants in Brazilian Caatinga
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Data from: Effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance and rainfall on the specialization of ant-plant mutualistic networks in the Caatinga, a Brazilian dry forest
1. Anthropogenic disturbance and climate change might negatively affect the ecosystem services provided by mutualistic networks. However, the effects of such forces remain poorly characterized. They may be especially important in dry forests, which (1) experience chronic anthropogenic disturbances (CADs) as human populations exploit forest resources and (2) are predicted to face a 22% decline in rainfall under climate change. 2. In this study, we investigated the separate and combined effects of CADs and rainfall levels on the specialization of mutualistic networks in the Caatinga, a seasonally dry tropical forest typical of northeastern Brazil. More specifically, we examined interactions between plants bearing extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) and ants. We analyzed whether differences in network specialization could arise from environmentally mediated variation in the species composition, namely via the replacement of specialist by generalist species. 3. We characterized these ant-plant networks in 15 plots (20 x 20 m) that varied in CAD intensity and mean annual rainfall. We quantified CAD intensity by calculating three indices related to the main sources of disturbance in the Caatinga: livestock grazing (LG), wood extraction (WE), and miscellaneous resource use (MU). We determined the degree of ant-plant network specialization using four metrics: generality, vulnerability, interaction evenness, and H2'. 4. Our results indicate that CADs differentially influenced network specialization: we observed positive, negative, and neutral responses along LG, MU, and WE gradients, respectively. The pattern was most pronounced with LG. Rainfall also shaped network specialization, markedly increasing it. While LG and rainfall were associated with changes in network species composition, this trend was not related to the degree of species specialization. This result suggests that shifts in network specialization might be related to changes in species behavior, not species composition. 5. Our study highlights the vulnerability of such dry forest ant-plant networks to climate change. Moreover, dry forests experience highly heterogeneous anthropogenic disturbances, creating a geographic mosaic of selective forces that may shape the coevolution of interactions between ants and EFN-bearing plants.
Data from: Effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance and rainfall on the specialization of ant-plant mutualistic networks in the Caatinga, a Brazilian dry forest
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