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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Yit Arn TehORCiD, Professor Marion PfeiferORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2024. The Author(s). Logged and disturbed forests are often viewed as degraded and depauperate environments compared with primary forest. However, they are dynamic ecosystems1 that provide refugia for large amounts of biodiversity2,3, so we cannot afford to underestimate their conservation value4. Here we present empirically defined thresholds for categorizing the conservation value of logged forests, using one of the most comprehensive assessments of taxon responses to habitat degradation in any tropical forest environment. We analysed the impact of logging intensity on the individual occurrence patterns of 1,681 taxa belonging to 86 taxonomic orders and 126 functional groups in Sabah, Malaysia. Our results demonstrate the existence of two conservation-relevant thresholds. First, lightly logged forests (<29% biomass removal) retain high conservation value and a largely intact functional composition, and are therefore likely to recover their pre-logging values if allowed to undergo natural regeneration. Second, the most extreme impacts occur in heavily degraded forests with more than two-thirds (>68%) of their biomass removed, and these are likely to require more expensive measures to recover their biodiversity value. Overall, our data confirm that primary forests are irreplaceable5, but they also reinforce the message that logged forests retain considerable conservation value that should not be overlooked.
Author(s): Ewers RM, Orme CDL, Pearse WD, Zulkifli N, Yvon-Durocher G, Yusah KM, Yoh N, Yeo DCJ, Wong A, Williamson J, Wilkinson CL, Wiederkehr F, Webber BL, Wearn OR, Wai L, Vollans M, Twining JP, Turner EC, Tobias JA, Thorley J, Telford EM, Teh YA, Tan HH, Swinfield T, Svatek M, Struebig M, Stork N, Sleutel J, Slade EM, Sharp A, Shabrani A, Sethi SS, Seaman DJI, Sawang A, Roxby GB, Rowcliffe JM, Rossiter SJ, Riutta T, Rahman H, Qie L, Psomas E, Prairie A, Poznansky F, Pillay R, Picinali L, Pianzin A, Pfeifer M, Parrett JM, Noble CD, Nilus R, Mustaffa N, Mullin KE, Mitchell S, Mckinlay AR, Maunsell S, Matula R, Massam M, Martin S, Malhi Y, Majalap N, Maclean CS, Mackintosh E, Luke SH, Lewis OT, Layfield HJ, Lane-Shaw I, Kueh BH, Kratina P, Konopik O, Kitching R, Kinneen L, Kemp VA, Jotan P, Jones N, Jebrail EW, Hrones M, Heon SP, Hemprich-Bennett DR, Haysom JK, Harianja MF, Hardwick J, Gregory N, Gray R, Gray REJ, Granville N, Gill R, Fraser A, Foster WA, Folkard-Tapp H, Fletcher RJ, Fikri AH, Fayle TM, Faruk A, Eggleton P, Edwards DP, Drinkwater R, Dow RA, Dobert TF, Didham RK, Dickinson KJM, Deere NJ, de Lorm T, Dawood MM, Davison CW, Davies ZG, Davies RG, Dancak M, Cusack J, Clare EL, Chung A, Chey VK, Chapman PM, Cator L, Carpenter D, Carbone C, Calloway K, Bush ER, Burslem DFRP, Brown KD, Brooks SJ, Brasington E, Brant H, Boyle MJW, Both S, Blackman J, Bishop TR, Bicknell JE, Bernard H, Basrur S, Barclay MVL, Barclay H, Atton G, Ancrenaz M, Aldridge DC, Daniel OZ, Reynolds G, Banks-Leite C
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Nature
Year: 2024
Volume: 631
Issue: 8022
Pages: 808-813
Print publication date: 25/07/2024
Online publication date: 17/04/2024
Acceptance date: 04/06/2024
Date deposited: 21/06/2024
ISSN (print): 0028-0836
ISSN (electronic): 1476-4687
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07657-w
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07657-w
PubMed id: 39020163
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