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Heavily logged forests still valuable for tropical wildlife

2013-09-17
(Press-News.org) According to principal investigators, Dr Matthew Struebig and Anthony Turner from the University of Kent's Durrell Institute of Conservation Ecology (DICE), these findings challenge a long-held belief that there is limited, if any, value of heavily logged forests for conservation.

The research, which monitored bats as an indicator for environmental change on Borneo, is the first of its kind to have wildlife in forests logged more than two times. The findings are particularly important because across the tropics forest that has been intensively harvested is frequently targeted for conversion to agriculture and is perceived to hold little value for timber, carbon or biodiversity.

Dr Struebig, Lecturer in Biological Conservation from DICE, explains: 'Recent studies have emphasised similar numbers of species living in unlogged and logged sites, but what surprised us was just how resilient some species were, even in sites almost unrecognisable as rainforest.'

Only by viewing forest sites along a gradient of logging disturbance, ranging from pristine to heavily degraded, were the team able to detect a gradual decline of some key bat species.

The research confirmed the most vulnerable bats were those that tend to live in the cavities of old growth trees. By linking bat captures with vegetation measurements from nearby plots, the researchers were able to reveal how these animals declined as successive rounds of logging took their toll on forest structure, and crucially, the availability of tree cavities.

Although logging damage was clearly detrimental to some of the species studied, the findings also offer some hope for forest restoration efforts.

'Across the tropics there is increasing investment to restore the timber and wildlife in logged rainforests.' says Dr Struebig. 'For biodiversity, simple measures, such as setting artificial nest boxes for bats and birds may, if guided by research, help bring some species back to the numbers found in unlogged areas', he said.

The research, titled: 'Quantifying the Biodiversity Value of Repeatedly Logged Rainforests: Gradient and Comparative Approaches from Borneo' is published in Advances in Ecological Research, Volume 48, and includes the efforts of Malaysian, Indonesian and Canadian researchers in addition to scientists from the University of Kent and the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK.

This study is the first field data to be published from the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems Project in Sabah, Malaysia – a new landscape experiment which combines the efforts of more than 100 researchers around the world to investigate the impacts of logging, deforestation and forest fragmentation in the natural world. With support from the Sime Darby oil palm company and the Malaysian government, the aim is to produce a set of science-based recommendations for more sustainable practices in the logging and agriculture industries in tropical countries.

### DICE is part of the University of Kent's School of Anthropology and Conservation. The field research was supported by grants from The Leverhulme Trust, Bat Conservation International, Chester Zoo, and the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund. For more information on the research paper, visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-417199-2.00003-3.

For further information or interview requests contact Katie Scoggins in the Press Office at the University of Kent Tel: 01227 823581/01634 888879 Email: k.scoggins@kent.ac.uk News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent

Note to editors

The University of Kent – the UK's European University – was established at Canterbury in 1965. It has almost 20,000 students and operates campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome. It has long-standing partnerships with more than 100 major European universities and many others across the world, including institutions in Argentina, China, Japan, USA, Canada, Malaysia and Peru.

Kent is one of the few universities to be consistently rated by its own students as one of the best in the UK for the quality of its teaching and academic provision. This includes its position amongst the top 10 multi-faculty universities for overall satisfaction in the 2013 National Student Survey, positioning it within a select band of institutions that have achieved an overall satisfaction rate of 90% and above. It was also ranked 20th in the 2014 Guardian University Guide, 28th in the Sunday Times University League Table 2013, and 28th in the Complete University Guide 2014.

In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, Kent placed 24th out of 159 participating institutions in the UK for its world-leading research, while 97% of its academic staff work in schools or centres where the research is rated as either internationally or nationally excellent.

It is worth £0.6 billion to the economy of the South East, with its students contributing £211 million to that total. The University also supports directly or indirectly almost 6,800 jobs in the South East (source: Viewforth Consulting, 2009-10).

In 2012, Kent launched a campaign to celebrate its 50th anniversary.


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[Press-News.org] Heavily logged forests still valuable for tropical wildlife