Tropical forest regeneration following land abandonment is driven by primary rainforest distribution in an old pastoral region

Sloan, Sean, Goosem, Miriam, and Laurance, Susan G. (2016) Tropical forest regeneration following land abandonment is driven by primary rainforest distribution in an old pastoral region. Landscape Ecology, 31 (3). pp. 601-618.

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Abstract

Context

Tropical forest regeneration is increasingly prominent as agro-pastoral lands are abandoned. Regeneration is characterised as favouring 'marginal' lands; however, observations of its drivers are often coarse or simple, leaving doubt as to spatial dynamics and causation.

Objectives

We quantified the spatial dynamics of forest regeneration relative to marginality and remnant forest cover in a 3000 km^2 pastoral region in northern tropical Australia.

Methods

Classification and regression trees related the extent and distribution of regeneration to soil agricultural potential, land-cover history, terrain slope, distance to primary forest, and primary forest fragment size, as defined by aerial photography.

Results

Secondary forest extent and distribution overwhelmingly reflect the proximity and size of primary forest fragments. Some 85% of secondary forest area occurs <1 km of primary forest, and 86% of secondary forest patches >50 ha are <400 m from primary forest and coincident with historic primary forest fragments. Where primary forest fragments are >8.5 ha, secondary forest area declines less rapidly with increasing distance from primary forest up to 1.5 km. Marginality inferred by soil potential and slope had no bearing on regeneration, except at the coarsest of spatial scales where regeneration is a proxy for primary forest cover.

Conclusion

Findings underline the need to conserve even modest rainforest patches as propagule reservoirs enabling regeneration. Marginality per se may have a limited role in regeneration. As most secondary forest was an extension of primary forest, its unique conservation value relative to that of primary forest may likewise merit reconsideration.

Item ID: 40909
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1572-9761
Keywords: reforestation, regeneration, succession, forest transition, marginal, abandonment, remnant forest, recruitment, biodiversity
Funders: Australian Research Council (ARC), Queensland Herbarium, Wet Tropics Management Authority
Projects and Grants: ARC Linkage Grant LP110201093
Date Deposited: 26 Oct 2015 03:42
FoR Codes: 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3007 Forestry sciences > 300702 Forest biodiversity @ 30%
41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4102 Ecological applications > 410206 Landscape ecology @ 70%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960501 Ecosystem Assessment and Management at Regional or Larger Scales @ 50%
96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960505 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Forest and Woodlands Environments @ 50%
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