Dataset Information

Degradation of Root Community Traits as Indicator for Transformation of Tropical Lowland Rain Forests into Oil Palm and Rubber Plantations.

ABSTRACT: Conversion of tropical forests into intensely managed plantations is a threat to ecosystem functions. On Sumatra, Indonesia, oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantations are rapidly expanding, displacing rain forests and extensively used rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) agro-forests. Here, we tested the influence of land use systems on root traits including chemical traits (carbon, nitrogen, mineral nutrients, potentially toxic elements [aluminium, iron] and performance traits (root mass, vitality, mycorrhizal colonization). Traits were measured as root community-weighed traits (RCWTs) in lowland rain forests, in rubber agro-forests mixed with rain forest trees, in rubber and oil palm plantations in two landscapes (Bukit Duabelas and Harapan, Sumatra). We hypothesized that RCWTs vary with land use system indicating increasing transformation intensity and loss of ecosystem functions. The main factors found to be related to increasing transformation intensity were declining root vitality and root sulfur, nitrogen, carbon, manganese concentrations and increasing root aluminium and iron concentrations as well as increasing spore densities of arbuscular mycorrhizas. Mycorrhizal abundance was high for arbuscular and low for ectomycorrhizas and unrelated to changes in RCWTs. The decline in RCWTs showed significant correlations with soil nitrogen, soil pH and litter carbon. Thus, our study uncovered a relationship between deteriorating root community traits and loss of ecosystem functionality and showed that increasing transformation intensity resulted in decreasing root nutrition and health. Based on these results we suggest that land management that improves root vitality may enhance the ecological functions of intense tropical production systems.

SUBMITTER: Sahner J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4569261 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Degradation of Root Community Traits as Indicator for Transformation of Tropical Lowland Rain Forests into Oil Palm and Rubber Plantations.

Sahner Josephine J Budi Sri Wilarso SW Barus Henry H Edy Nur N Meyer Marike M Corre Marife D MD Polle Andrea A

PloS one 20150914 9

Conversion of tropical forests into intensely managed plantations is a threat to ecosystem functions. On Sumatra, Indonesia, oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantations are rapidly expanding, displacing rain forests and extensively used rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) agro-forests. Here, we tested the influence of land use systems on root traits including chemical traits (carbon, nitrogen, mineral nutrients, potentially toxic elements [aluminium, iron] and performance traits (root mass, vitality, mycor ...[more]

PMID: 26366576

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Project description:BackgroundIn the last decades, Southeast Asia has experienced massive conversion of rainforest into rubber and oil palm monoculture plantations. The effects of this land-use change on canopy arthropods are still largely unknown. Arboreal Collembola are among the most abundant canopy arthropods in tropical forests, potentially forming a major component of the canopy food web by contributing to the decomposition of arboreal litter and being an important prey for canopy arthropod predators. We investigated abundance, richness, and community composition of, as well as the influence of a series of environmental factors on, canopy Collembola communities in four land-use systems in Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia: (1) lowland rainforest, (2) jungle rubber (rubber agroforest), and monoculture plantations of (3) rubber and (4) oil palm.ResultsUsing canopy fogging in 32 research plots in both the dry and rainy seasons in 2013, we collected 77,104 specimens belonging to 68 (morpho) species. Generally, Collembola communities were dominated by few species including two species of the genus Salina (Paronellidae; 34% of total individuals) and two species of Lepidocyrtinae (Entomobryidae; 20%). The abundance of Collembola in lowland rainforest (53.4 ± 30.7 ind. m-2) was more than five times higher than in rubber plantations, and more than ten times higher than in oil palm plantations; abundances in jungle rubber were intermediate. Collembola species richness was highest in rainforest (18.06 ± 3.60 species) and jungle rubber (16.88 ± 2.33 species), more than twice that in rubber or oil palm. Collembola community composition was similar in rainforest and jungle rubber, but different from monoculture plantations which had similar Collembola community composition to each other. The environmental factors governing community composition differed between the land-use systems and varied between seasons.ConclusionsOverall, this is the first in-depth report on the structure of arboreal Collembola communities in lowland rainforest and agricultural replacement systems in Southeast Asia. The results highlight the potentially major consequences of land-use change for the functioning of arboreal arthropod food webs.

Project description:Tropical forests in the Americas are undergoing rapid conversion to commercial agriculture, and many migratory bird species that use these forests have experienced corresponding populations declines. Conservation research for migratory birds in the tropics has focused overwhelmingly on shade coffee plantations and adjacent forest, but both cover types are now in decline, creating an urgent need to evaluate conservation opportunities in other agricultural systems. Here we compare how a community of 42 Neotropical migratory bird species and a subset of five conservation-priority species differ in usage and habitat associations among a secondary forest baseline and four expanding commercial plantation systems in Guatemala: African oil palm, teak, rubber, and mixed-native hardwoods. We found that mixed-native hardwood plantations supported the highest richness and diversity of all migrants and that the three hardwood plantation types generally outperformed oil palm in richness and diversity metrics. Despite this, oil palm supported high abundance of several common and widespread species also experiencing range-wide population declines and may therefore play an important role in conserving common species. Mature secondary forest hosted low abundance and diversity of the full migratory community, but high abundance and richness of conservation priority migrants along with native hardwood and teak plantations. Likewise, the percentage of forest cover on the landscape was positively associated with priority migrant abundance and richness but negatively associated with the abundance of migrants in general, highlighting how individual species within the broad group of Neotropical migratory landbirds respond differently to anthropogenic changes in land use. Across all cover types, the retention of tall overstory trees increased the abundance, richness, and diversity of all migrants, which indicates that vertical structural diversity and remnant trees are important habitat features for birds in agricultural landscapes. Our findings show that conservation opportunities exist in hardwood and oil palm plantations, though the species likely to benefit from conservation action will vary among plantation types. For the subset of conservation priority migrants, our results suggest that conservation efforts should combine strategies that retain and restore secondary forest, promote the adoption of native hardwood and teak plantations, and promote the retention of tall, remnant trees in agricultural landscapes.

Project description:Protists, abundant but enigmatic single-celled eukaryotes, are important soil microbiota providing numerous ecosystem functions. We employed high-throughput sequencing of environmental DNA, targeting the V4 region of the 18S rRNA gene, to characterize changes in their abundance, species richness, and community structure with conversion of lowland rainforest into rubber agroforest (jungle rubber), and rubber and oil palm plantations; typical agricultural systems in Sumatra, Indonesia. We identified 5,204 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) at 97% identity threshold of protists from 32 sites. Protists species richness was similar in rainforest, jungle rubber and oil palm plantations but significantly lower in rubber plantations. After standardization, 4,219 OTUs were assigned to five trophic groups, and inspected for effects of land-use change, and potential biotic and abiotic driving factors. The most abundant trophic group was phagotrophs (52%), followed by animal parasites (29%), photoautotrophs (12%), plant parasites (1%), and symbionts (<1%). However, the relative abundance and OTU richness of phagotrophs and photoautotrophs increased significantly with increasing land-use intensity. This was similar, but less pronounced, for the relative abundance of symbionts. Animal and plant parasites decreased significantly in abundance and species richness with increasing land-use intensity. Community compositions and factors affecting the structure of individual trophic groups differed between land-use systems. Parasites were presumably mainly driven by the abundance and species richness of their hosts, while phagotrophs by changes in soil pH and increase in Gram-positive bacteria, and photoautotrophs by light availability. Overall, the results show that relative species richness, relative abundance, and community composition of individual trophic groups of protists in tropical lowland rainforest significantly differ from that in converted ecosystems. This is likely associated with changes in ecosystem functioning. The study provides novel insight into protist communities and their changes with land-use intensity in tropical lowland ecosystems. We show, that trophic groups of protists are powerful indicators reflecting changes in the functioning of ecosystems with conversion of rainforest into monoculture plantations.

Project description:Rainforest conversion and expansion of plantations in tropical regions are associated with changes in animal communities and biodiversity decline. In soil, Collembola are one of the most numerous invertebrate groups that affect the functioning of microbial communities and support arthropod predators. Despite that, information on the impact of changes in land use in the tropics on species and trait composition of Collembola communities is very limited. We investigated the response of Collembola to the conversion of rainforest into rubber agroforestry ("jungle rubber"), rubber, and oil palm plantations in Jambi Province (Sumatra, Indonesia), a region which experienced one of the strongest recent deforestation globally. Collembola were sampled in 2013 and 2016 from the litter and soil layer using heat extraction, and environmental factors were measured (litter C/N ratio, pH, water content, composition of microbial community and predator abundance). In the litter layer, density and species richness in plantation systems were 25%-38% and 30%-40% lower, respectively, than in rainforest. However, in the soil layer, density, species richness, and trait diversity of Collembola were only slightly affected by land-use change, contrasting the response of many other animal groups. Species and trait composition of Collembola communities in litter and soil differed between each of the land-use systems. Water content and pH were identified as main factors related to the differences in species and trait composition in both litter and soil, followed by the density of micro- and macropredators. Dominant species of Collembola in rainforest and jungle rubber were characterized by small body size, absence of furca, and absence of intense pigmentation, while in plantations, larger species with long furca and diffuse or patterned pigmentation were more abundant. Overall, land-use change negatively affected Collembola communities in the litter layer, but its impact was lower in the soil layer. Several pantropical genera of Collembola (i.e., Isotomiella, Pseudosinella, and Folsomides) dominated across land-use systems, reflecting their high environmental adaptability and/or efficient dispersal, calling for studies on their ecology and genetic diversity. The decline in species richness and density of litter-dwelling Collembola with the conversion of rainforest into plantation systems calls for management practices mitigating negative effects of the deterioration of the litter layer in rubber plantations, but even more in oil palm plantations.

Dataset Information

Degradation of Root Community Traits as Indicator for Transformation of Tropical Lowland Rain Forests into Oil Palm and Rubber Plantations.

Publications

Degradation of Root Community Traits as Indicator for Transformation of Tropical Lowland Rain Forests into Oil Palm and Rubber Plantations.

Similar Datasets

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