Bird Responses to Lowland Rainforest Conversion in Sumatran Smallholder Landscapes, Indonesia

Prabowo, Walesa Edho; Darras, Kevin; Clough, Yann; Toledo-Hernandez, Manuel; Arlettaz, Raphaël; Mulyani, Yeni A.; Tscharntke, Teja (2016). Bird Responses to Lowland Rainforest Conversion in Sumatran Smallholder Landscapes, Indonesia. PLoS ONE, 11(5), e0154876. Public Library of Science 10.1371/journal.pone.0154876

[img]
Preview
Text
Prabowo_PLoSONE2016.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY).

Download (2MB) | Preview

Rapid land-use change in the tropics causes dramatic losses in biodiversity and associated functions. In Sumatra, Indonesia, lowland rainforest has mainly been transformed by smallholders into oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) and rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) monocultures, interspersed with jungle rubber (rubber agroforests) and a few forest remnants. In two regions of the Jambi province, we conducted point counts in 32 plots of four different land-use types (lowland rainforest, jungle rubber, rubber plantation and oil palm plantation) as well as in 16
nearby homegardens, representing a small-scale, traditional agricultural system. We analysed total bird abundance and bird abundance in feeding guilds, as well as species richness per point count visit, per plot, and per land-use system, to unveil the conservation importance and functional responses of birds in the different land-use types. In total, we identified 71 species from 24 families. Across the different land-use types, abundance did not significantly differ, but both species richness per visit and per plot were reduced in plantations.
Feeding guild abundances between land-use types were variable, but homegardens were dominated by omnivores and granivores, and frugivorous birds were absent from monoculture rubber and oil palm. Jungle rubber played an important role in harbouring forest bird species and frugivores. Homegardens turned out to be of minor importance for conserving birds due to their low sizes, although collectively, they are used by many bird species. Changes in functional composition with land-use conversion may affect important ecosystem functions such as biological pest control, pollination, and seed dispersal. In conclusion,
maintaining forest cover, including degraded forest and jungle rubber, is of utmost
importance to the conservation of functional and taxonomic bird diversity.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) > Conservation Biology
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE)

UniBE Contributor:

Arlettaz, Raphaël

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
500 Science > 590 Animals (Zoology)

ISSN:

1932-6203

Publisher:

Public Library of Science

Language:

English

Submitter:

Olivier Roth

Date Deposited:

02 Feb 2017 14:58

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:01

Publisher DOI:

10.1371/journal.pone.0154876

PubMed ID:

27224063

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.93845

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/93845

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback