Spatial ecology, biodiversity, and abiotic determinants of Congo's bai ecosystem

IF 4.4 2区 环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY Ecology Pub Date : 2024-10-01 DOI:10.1002/ecy.4419
Evan G. Hockridge, Ella M. Bradford, Katherine I. W. Angier, Beatrice H. Youd, Elijah B. M. McGill, Sylvain Y. Ngouma, Roger L. Ognangue, Gwili E. M. Gibbon, Andrew B. Davies
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Abstract

Canopy gaps are foundational features of rainforest biodiversity and successional processes. The bais of Central Africa are among the world's largest natural forest clearings and thought to be critically important islands of open-canopy habitat in an ocean of closed-canopy rainforest. However, while frequently denoted as a conservation priority, there are no published studies on the abundance or distribution of bais across the landscape, nor on their biodiversity patterns, limiting our understanding of their ecological contribution to Congolese rainforests. We combined remote sensing and field surveys to quantify the abundance, spatial distribution, shape, size, biodiversity, and soil properties of bais in Odzala-Kokoua National Park (OKNP), Republic of the Congo (hereafter, Congo). We related bai spatial distribution to variation in hydrology and topography, compared plant community composition and 3D structure between bais and other open ecosystems, quantified animal diversity from camera traps, and measured soil moisture content in different bai types. We found bais to be more numerous than previously thought (we mapped 2176 bais in OKNP), but their predominantly small size (80.7% of bais were <1 ha), highly clustered distribution, and restriction to areas of low topographic position make them a rare riparian habitat type. We documented low plant community and structural similarity between bai types and with other open ecosystems, and identified significant differences in soil moisture between bai and open ecosystem types. Our results demonstrate that two distinct bai types can be differentiated based on their plant and animal communities, soil properties, and vegetation structure. Taken together, our findings provide insights into how bais relate to other types of forest clearings and on their overall importance to Congolese rainforest ecosystems.

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刚果巴伊生态系统的空间生态学、生物多样性和非生物决定因素。
树冠间隙是雨林生物多样性和演替过程的基本特征。中非的树冠空隙是世界上最大的天然林空隙之一,被认为是封闭树冠雨林海洋中极为重要的开阔树冠栖息地岛屿。然而,尽管它们经常被列为重点保护对象,但目前还没有公开发表过关于bais在整个地形中的丰度或分布以及生物多样性模式的研究,这限制了我们对它们对刚果雨林生态贡献的了解。我们结合遥感和实地调查,量化了刚果共和国(以下简称刚果)奥扎拉-科库阿国家公园(OKNP)中桦树林的数量、空间分布、形状、大小、生物多样性和土壤特性。我们将沼泽地的空间分布与水文和地形的变化联系起来,比较了沼泽地和其他开放生态系统的植物群落组成和三维结构,通过相机陷阱量化了动物的多样性,并测量了不同类型沼泽地的土壤水分含量。我们发现沼泽地的数量比以前想象的要多(我们绘制了 OKNP 地区 2176 个沼泽地的地图),但它们的规模普遍较小(80.7% 的沼泽地为沼泽地)。
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来源期刊
Ecology
Ecology 环境科学-生态学
CiteScore
8.30
自引率
2.10%
发文量
332
审稿时长
3 months
期刊介绍: Ecology publishes articles that report on the basic elements of ecological research. Emphasis is placed on concise, clear articles documenting important ecological phenomena. The journal publishes a broad array of research that includes a rapidly expanding envelope of subject matter, techniques, approaches, and concepts: paleoecology through present-day phenomena; evolutionary, population, physiological, community, and ecosystem ecology, as well as biogeochemistry; inclusive of descriptive, comparative, experimental, mathematical, statistical, and interdisciplinary approaches.
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