Effects of disturbances by forest elephants on diversity of trees and insects in tropical rainforests on Mount Cameroon

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12310%2F20%3A43901708" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12310/20:43901708 - isvavai.cz</a>

Nalezeny alternativní kódy

RIV/60077344:_____/20:00535669 RIV/67985939:_____/20:00535669 RIV/00216208:11310/20:10421041

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-78659-7.pdf" target="_blank" >https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-78659-7.pdf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78659-7" target="_blank" >10.1038/s41598-020-78659-7</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Effects of disturbances by forest elephants on diversity of trees and insects in tropical rainforests on Mount Cameroon

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

Natural disturbances are essential for tropical forests biodiversity. In the Afrotropics, megaherbivores have played a key role before their recent decline. Contrastingly to savanna elephants, forest elephants&apos; impact on ecosystems remains poorly studied. Few decades ago, forests on Mount Cameroon were divided by lava flows, not being crossed by a local population of forest elephants until now. We assessed communities of trees, butterflies and two guilds of moths in the disturbed and undisturbed forests split by the longest lava flow. We surveyed 32 plots, recording 2025 trees of 97 species, and 7853 insects of 437 species. The disturbed forests differed in reduced tree density, height, and high canopy cover, and in increased DBH. Forest elephants&apos; selective browsing and foraging also decreased tree species richness and altered their composition. The elephant disturbance increased butterfly species richness and had various effects on species richness and composition of the insect groups. These changes were likely caused by disturbance-driven alterations of habitats and species composition of trees. Moreover, the abandonment of forests by elephants led to local declines of range-restricted butterflies. The recent declines of forest elephants across the Afrotropics probably caused similar changes in forest biodiversity and should be reflected by conservation actions.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Effects of disturbances by forest elephants on diversity of trees and insects in tropical rainforests on Mount Cameroon

Popis výsledku anglicky

Natural disturbances are essential for tropical forests biodiversity. In the Afrotropics, megaherbivores have played a key role before their recent decline. Contrastingly to savanna elephants, forest elephants&apos; impact on ecosystems remains poorly studied. Few decades ago, forests on Mount Cameroon were divided by lava flows, not being crossed by a local population of forest elephants until now. We assessed communities of trees, butterflies and two guilds of moths in the disturbed and undisturbed forests split by the longest lava flow. We surveyed 32 plots, recording 2025 trees of 97 species, and 7853 insects of 437 species. The disturbed forests differed in reduced tree density, height, and high canopy cover, and in increased DBH. Forest elephants&apos; selective browsing and foraging also decreased tree species richness and altered their composition. The elephant disturbance increased butterfly species richness and had various effects on species richness and composition of the insect groups. These changes were likely caused by disturbance-driven alterations of habitats and species composition of trees. Moreover, the abandonment of forests by elephants led to local declines of range-restricted butterflies. The recent declines of forest elephants across the Afrotropics probably caused similar changes in forest biodiversity and should be reflected by conservation actions.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10618 - Ecology

Projekt

Výsledek vznikl pri realizaci vícero projektů. Více informací v záložce Projekty.

Návaznosti

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach<br>I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Rok uplatnění

2020

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Scientific Reports

ISSN

2045-2322

e-ISSN

—

Svazek periodika

10

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

1

Stát vydavatele periodika

GB - Spojené království Velké Británie a Severního Irska

Počet stran výsledku

11

Strana od-do

—

Kód UT WoS článku

000609190100016

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85097493770