Journal
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
Volume 153, Issue -, Pages 32-40Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2012.04.028
Keywords
Avian frugivore; Hunting; Logging; North-east India; Seed dispersal; Seed size; Visitation rate
Funding
- Department of Biotechnology at the National Centre for Biological Sciences [6324]
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Logging is one of the most pervasive threats to biodiversity in tropical forests. In this study, we concurrently examined the responses of the avian frugivore community and the community of fruiting trees to past logging in a tropical forest in northeastern India. We predicted that the abundance of, and visitation by large-bodied frugivores would be lower in logged forests, resulting in reduced seed dispersal and recruitment of biotically dispersed species (especially large-seeded species). Data were collected from two logged and unlogged sites using (a) belt transects for estimating avian frugivore abundance (b) fruiting tree watches to quantify frugivore visitation and (c) vegetation plots to characterize recruitment. Our results show that differences in the abundance of bird species between logged and unlogged sites was correlated with body mass, with larger species being scarcer and smaller species more abundant in logged areas. Correspondingly, visitation rates by large avian frugivores was lower in logged compared with unlogged sites. Finally, biotically dispersed tree species, especially large-seeded species, had lower recruitment in logged forests, potentially due to lowered visitation rates and decreased fruit removal by large bodied avian frugivores. In the long term, these differences in recruitment may result in a tree community shift towards small-seeded biotically dispersed species and abiotically dispersed species in logged areas. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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