The Influence of Habitat Variables on Bird Communities in Forest Remnants in Costa Rica

This study examined the effects of forest structure (tree species richness, canopy height, percent canopy cover, understory density, tree density and DBH) and avian species traits (nest type and indicator list status) on the diversity, abundance and dissimilarity of bird communities in forest remnants and reforestation areas adjacent to Costa Rican banana plantations. Bird species richness and abundance were significantly related to tree species richness, canopy height and canopy cover in multiple linear regressions, the latter two forest structure variables being the best statistical predictors. Stratification of analyses by bird species indicator categories improved fits of regressions, because correlations with environmental variables differed in sign for different guilds of birds, a result likely to hold for other avifaunas. Analysis of avifauna dissimilarities among sites demonstrated that the species composition of bird communities was highly correlated with forest structure and tree species composition. Logistic regressions indicated that birds making protected (cavity, burrow, pendant, sphere and covered) nests were 2–6 times more likely to be present in the study avifauna than birds making open (cup, saucer, platform and scrape) nests and indicators of disturbed habitats were 11 times more likely to be present than indicators of primary forest. The forest structure data used were simple and inexpensive to collect, and data on avian traits were drawn from the literature. Thus, these methods could easily be replicated at other locations and would be valuable management aids and biodiversity assessment tools for conservation planning.     

Neotropical moth assemblages degrade due to oil palm expansion

Oil palm is one of the most rapidly expanding crops throughout the tropics, yet little is known about its impacts on Neotropical invertebrate biodiversity. Responses of insect assemblages to land conversion may substantially vary among taxa. We assessed geometrid and arctiine moth assemblages in a Costa Rican human dominated landscape, where oil palm plantations are now the second most common land cover. Moths were sampled during 6 months with automatic traps in the interior and margin of old-growth forests, young secondary forests and oil palm plantations in a 30 km² area. Our results show that richness and diversity of both taxa were severely reduced in oil palm compared to all other habitats. Geometrid abundance was highest in forest interiors and lowest in oil palm, while arctiine numbers did not differ between habitats. Dominance was highest in oil palm plantations, where one arctiine species and one geometrid species accounted for over 40% of total abundance in each of their respective taxa. Species composition was distinct in oil palm and forest interior sites, and depicted a gradient of habitat disturbance in ordination space that was strongly related to vegetation diversity and structure. This study demonstrates that oil palm plantations are not a suitable habitat for these moth taxa. Whilst some arctiine species seem adapted to disturbed habitats, geometrids were more dependent on old-growth forests, showing higher bioindicator potential. In the face of accelerated oil palm expansion, conservation strategies should focus on protecting old-growth forest remnants, as well as increasing species diversity and structural complexity of degraded habitats.     

Low conservation value of converted habitat for avifauna in tropical peatland on Sumatra,Indonesia

Peat swamp forest is an important refuge for biodiversity in Southeast Asia and is now becoming a target of exploitation. The scarcity of information on avifauna and ecology of birds in peat swamp forests prevents understanding of the effects of land use change on avifauna. In this study, we describe the bird assemblages in habitats with different land uses by comparing species richness, community composition, and feeding guild patterns in Bukit Batu, Indonesia. Bird assemblages in natural peat swamp forests (NPF), high-maintenance industrial acacia plantations (planted acacia forest, PAF), low-maintenance rubber plantations (jungle rubber forest, JRF), and village areas (VIL) were studied using a fixed-radius point-count method. Of the 95 species observed, 45, 20, 35, and 48 species were observed in NPF, PAF, JRF, and VIL, respectively. Estimated species richness was the highest in NPF, followed by VIL, JRF, and PAF. NPF had the highest species diversity and β-diversity, more endangered species, and a distinctive species composition characterized by fly-catching insectivores. The relative conservation value of PAF was notably low, particularly compared with JRF. The avifauna in VIL was characterized by more generalists that favor open spaces and therefore is not considered an important habitat for forest-dependent birds that are of conservation concern. Our results indicate that NPF has irreplaceable value for bird diversity conservation, but low-maintenance rubber plantations were home to several forest-dependent species and partially supported bird diversity, particularly compared with high-maintenance acacia plantations.     

Migratory bird community structure in oil palm (Elaies guineensis) plantations and native forest fragments in southern Mexico

Oil palm (Elaies guineensis) plantations are among the fastest growing agroecosystems in the Neotropics, but little is known about how Neotropical birds use oil palm habitats. To better understand the potential value of oil palm as an overwintering habitat for migratory birds, we surveyed birds in oil palm and native forest remnants in Tabasco, Mexico, from 19 December 2017 to 27 March 2018. We collected data on bird abundance and vegetative structure and used generalized linear models and multivariate analysis to assess how oil palm development influenced migrant bird diversity, community assemblages, and abundance. We found that species richness of migratory birds tended to be higher in forest patches than in oil palm, that community assemblages of migratory birds differed between native forest and oil palm plantations, and that differences in migratory bird abundance, and subsequent changes in community assemblages were driven by differences between native forest and oil palm plantations in vegetative structure. The bird community of native forest was characterized by migrant species sensitive to forest loss that forage low in the understory and in the leaf litter, whereas the bird community of oil palm plantations was represented by generalist species that occupy a wider range of foraging niches. Our results suggest that most species of migrant birds responded positively to several forest structural features and that integrating more native trees and increasing the amount of understory vegetation in oil palm plantations may increase the value of working landscapes for migratory birds.     

The role of native forest plantations in the conservation of Neotropical birds: the case of the Andean alder

The gradual increase in reforested areas worldwide, as a strategy for mitigating native forest loss, has stressed the need of assessing their real value as habitat for native species. Forest plantations, particularly those based on native species, could be valuable for conservation purposes, especially in heavily fragmented and disturbed ecosystems. We evaluated the value of a monoculture of a native tree species, the Andean alder (Alnus acuminata), for the conservation of avifauna in the Central Andes region, which is considered a bird species diversity hotspot but also suffers from high anthropogenic disturbance levels. Our results suggest that alder plantations are valuable for conservation from three points of view: (1) they have similar or greater bird species richness and abundance than secondary native forests; (2) low community similarities are found between this type of forest compared to secondary forest stands (with 27 species exclusive to alder plantations); and (3) three near threatened species (Odontophorus hyperythrus, Eriocnemis derbyi, and Cyanolyca viridicyanus). Further, 27 out of the 85 species found at the alder plantations were of least concern but showing decreasing population trends. While forest plantations do not replace native forests, they offer habitat for many bird species, some of them being of conservation concern (i.e., included in an IUCN threat category) or with decreasing populations. Hence establishing native species plantations among native forest remnants – especially in heavily fragmented landscapes – could have a positive effect in the conservation of threatened avifauna.     

Local habitat and landscape influence predation of bird nests on afforested Mediterranean cropland

Afforestation programs such as the one promoted by the EU Common Agrarian Policy have contributed to spread tree plantations on former cropland. Nevertheless these afforestations may cause severe damage to open habitat species, especially birds of high conservation value. We investigated predation of artificial bird nests at young tree plantations and at the open farmland habitat adjacent to the tree plantations in central Spain. Predation rates were very high at both tree plantations (95.6%) and open farmland habitat (94.2%) after two and three week exposure. Plantation edge/area ratio and development of the tree canopy decreased predation rates and plantation area and magpie (Pica pica) abundance increased predation rates within tree plantations, which were also affected by land use types around plantations. The area of nearby tree plantations (positive effect), distance to the tree plantation edge (negative effect), and habitat type (mainly attributable to the location of nests in vineyards) explained predation rates at open farmland habitat. We conclude that predation rates on artificial nests were particularly high and rapid at or nearby large plantations, with high numbers of magpies and low tree development, and located in homogenous landscapes dominated by herbaceous crops and pastures with no remnants of semi-natural woody vegetation. Landscape planning should not favour tree plantations as the ones studied here in Mediterranean agricultural areas that are highly valuable for ground-nesting bird species.     

Poor Prospects for Avian Biodiversity in Amazonian Oil Palm

Expansion of oil palm plantations across the humid tropics has precipitated massive loss of tropical forest habitats and their associated speciose biotas. Oil palm plantation monocultures have been identified as an emerging threat to Amazonian biodiversity, but there are no quantitative studies exploring the impact of these plantations on the biome’s biota. Understanding these impacts is extremely important given the rapid projected expansion of oil palm cultivation in the basin. Here we investigate the biodiversity value of oil palm plantations in comparison with other dominant regional land-uses in Eastern Amazonia. We carried out bird surveys in oil palm plantations of varying ages, primary and secondary forests, and cattle pastures. We found that oil palm plantations retained impoverished avian communities with a similar species composition to pastures and agrarian land-uses and did not offer habitat for most forest-associated species, including restricted range species and species of conservation concern. On the other hand, the forests that the oil palm companies are legally obliged to protect hosted a relatively species-rich community including several globally-threatened bird species. We consider oil palm to be no less detrimental to regional biodiversity than other agricultural land-uses and that political pressure exerted by large landowners to allow oil palm to count as a substitute for native forest vegetation in private landholdings with forest restoration deficits would have dire consequences for regional biodiversity.     

The conservation value of South East Asia's highly degraded forests: evidence from leaf-litter ants

South East Asia is widely regarded as a centre of threatened biodiversity owing to extensive logging and forest conversion to agriculture. In particular, forests degraded by repeated rounds of intensive logging are viewed as having little conservation value and are afforded meagre protection from conversion to oil palm. Here, we determine the biological value of such heavily degraded forests by comparing leaf-litter ant communities in unlogged (natural) and twice-logged forests in Sabah, Borneo. We accounted for impacts of logging on habitat heterogeneity by comparing species richness and composition at four nested spatial scales, and examining how species richness was partitioned across the landscape in each habitat. We found that twice-logged forest had fewer species occurrences, lower species richness at small spatial scales and altered species composition compared with natural forests. However, over 80 per cent of species found in unlogged forest were detected within twice-logged forest. Moreover, greater species turnover among sites in twice-logged forest resulted in identical species richness between habitats at the largest spatial scale. While two intensive logging cycles have negative impacts on ant communities, these degraded forests clearly provide important habitat for numerous species and preventing their conversion to oil palm and other crops should be a conservation priority.     

Differential effects of local habitat and landscape characteristics on bird communities in Mediterranean afforestations motivated by the EU Common Agrarian Policy

We investigated the effects of local habitat structure and surrounding landscape characteristics (proportion of land use types and connectedness) on species density and composition of bird communities inhabiting the interior of young tree plantations on former cropland in central Spain, which were motivated by the Common Agrarian Policy. Variation of species density (number of species/0.78 ha) among tree plantations showed different environmental associations across seasons: local habitat was more important than landscape characteristics during winter, whereas they were similarly important during spring. Species density increased with the development of the tree layer in winter and with the presence of urban areas around tree plantations and cover of the herbaceous layer within them in the breeding season. We identified 15 species that exhibit high relative abundance in woodland habitats within the Mesomediterranean region of Central Spain that were absent in both seasons in the studied tree plantations, which were an attractive habitat for urban exploiter species but an unfavorable habitat for the regional forest species pool except for forest generalist species. Composition of bird assemblages was more related to local habitat structure than to landscape characteristics around tree plantations and was rather similar in winter and spring seasons. The very different effects of local habitat and landscape characteristics on bird communities make difficult suggesting management practices with positive effects for all avifauna species during the entire year. We conclude that the small size and low maturity of the studied tree plantations do not contribute to enhancing the bird diversity value of current CAP aids to afforest former cropland with pines in the Mediterranean region.     

The diversity of beetle assemblages in different habitat types in Sabah, Malaysia

The diversity of beetle assemblages in different habitat types (primary forest, logged forest, acacia plantation and oil palm plantation) in Sabah, Malaysia was investigated using three different methods based on habitat levels (Winkler sampling, flight-interception-trapping and mist-blowing). The overall diversity was extremely high, with 1711 species recorded from only 8028 individuals and 81 families (115 family and subfamily groups). Different degrees of environmental changes had varying effects on the beetle species richness and abundance, with oil palm plantation assemblage being most severely affected, followed by acacia plantation and then logged forest. A few species became numerically dominant in the oil palm plantation. In terms of beetle species composition, the acacia fauna showed much similarity with the logged forest fauna, and the oil palm fauna was very different from the rest. The effects of environmental variables (number of plant species, sapling and tree densities, amount of leaf litter, ground cover, canopy cover, soil pH and compaction) on the beetle assemblage were also investigated. Leaf litter correlated with species richness, abundance and composition of subterranean beetles. Plant species richness, tree and sapling densities correlated with species richness, abundance and composition of understorey beetles while ground cover correlated only with the species richness and abundance of these beetles. Canopy cover correlated only with arboreal beetles. In trophic structure, predators represented more than 40% of the species and individuals. Environmental changes affected the trophic structure with proportionally more herbivores (abundance) but fewer predators (species richness and abundance) in the oil palm plantation. Biodiversity, conservation and practical aspects of pest management were also highlighted in this study.     

Conservation value for birds of traditionally managed isolated trees in an agricultural landscape of Madagascar

Isolated trees have distinctive economic, social and cultural value for the Betsileo people living on the edge of the protected forest corridor between Ranomafana and Andringitra national parks, in South-East Madagascar. Many of these trees are Ficus spp., traditionally protected and respected. At the landscape level, they are isolated features in a heterogeneous mosaic, providing fruit, shade and aesthetic services in open cultivated areas. Within the current management system, isolated trees may also contribute significantly to the provision of ecological services by enhancing bird diversity in open areas outside the forest. We identified practices and values linked to isolated tree uses and management through ethnographic data collection. Bird presence and abundance were sampled by 338 point counts in isolated trees and open areas of the agricultural mosaic. Isolated trees were occupied by 18 out of 32 (56%) bird species in the agricultural mosaic, including 8 (25%) endemic forest species. Endemic forest birds were significantly more numerous in isolated trees than in open habitats, both in species richness and abundance (mean P value < 0.001). Overall bird species richness was significantly higher in open areas containing isolated trees, than in areas without isolated trees. Bird species richness in Ficus spp. was significantly higher than in other isolated tree species, although no differences were detected in abundance or within guilds. Community-based management of isolated trees may thus represent an opportunity for convergence between bird conservation goals outside protected areas and local management values and practices.     

Oil palm expansion into rain forest greatly reduces ant biodiversity in canopy,epiphytes and leaf-litter

Oil palm cultivation is expanding rapidly into many of the world's most biodiverse tropical regions. One of the most functionally important and ecologically dominant animal groups in these environments is the ants. Here, we quantify the overall impacts of clear-felling lowland dipterocarp rainforest and conversion into oil palm plantation on ant diversity. At study sites in Sabah, Malaysia we collected ants from three microhabitats: 1 – the canopy, 2 – bird's nest ferns (Asplenium nidus complex, a common epiphyte in forest and oil palm), and 3 – leaf litter. We also measured temperature, humidity and light at collection sites to assess their impacts on ant community composition. Total ant species richness decreased from 309 to 110 (?64%) between forest and oil palm plantation. However, this impact was not the same across all microhabitats, with bird's nest ferns maintaining almost the same number of ant species in oil palm compared to forest (forest-oil palm, ferns: 36–35 (3% loss), canopy: 120–58 (52% loss), leaf litter: 216–56 (74% loss)). Relative abundance distributions remained the same for fern-dwelling ants, but became less even for oil palm ants in both the canopy and the leaf litter. These differences may be due in part to the ability of bird's nest ferns to provide a stable microclimate in hot, dry plantations. We also found that non-native ant species were more abundant in oil palm than in forest, and few forest ant species survived in plantations in any of the microhabitats. Only 59 of the 309 forest species persisted in oil palm plantations, corresponding to an 81% loss of forest species resulting from habitat conversion. Although oil palm supports many more ant species than has been previously reported, converting forest into plantation still leads to a dramatic reduction in species richness. The maintenance of forested areas is therefore vital for the conservation of ant biodiversity.     

Effects of Habitat Structure and Adjacent Habitats on Birds in Tropical Rainforest Fragments and Shaded Plantations in the Western Ghats, India

As large nature reserves occupy only a fraction of the earth’s land surface, conservation biologists are critically examining the role of private lands, habitat fragments, and plantations for conservation. This study in a biodiversity hotspot and endemic bird area, the Western Ghats mountains of India, examined the effects of habitat structure, floristics, and adjacent habitats on bird communities in shade-coffee and cardamom plantations and tropical rainforest fragments. Habitat and birds were sampled in 13 sites: six fragments (three relatively isolated and three with canopy connectivity with adjoining shade-coffee plantations and forests), six plantations differing in canopy tree species composition (five coffee and one cardamom), and one undisturbed primary rainforest control site in the Anamalai hills. Around 3300 detections of 6000 individual birds belonging to 106 species were obtained. The coffee plantations were poorer than rainforest in rainforest bird species, particularly endemic species, but the rustic cardamom plantation with diverse, native rainforest shade trees, had bird species richness and abundance comparable to primary rainforest. Plantations and fragments that adjoined habitats providing greater tree canopy connectivity supported more rainforest and fewer open-forest bird species and individuals than sites that lacked such connectivity. These effects were mediated by strong positive effects of vegetation structure, particularly woody plant variables, cane, and bamboo, on bird community structure. Bird community composition was however positively correlated only to floristic (tree species) composition of sites. The maintenance or restoration of habitat structure and (shade) tree species composition in shade-coffee and cardamom plantations and rainforest fragments can aid in rainforest bird conservation in the regional landscape.     

Bird Assemblages in Anthropogenic Habitats: Identifying a Suitability Gradient for Native Species in the Atlantic Forest

Traditional approaches to the study of species persistence in fragmented landscapes generally consider a binary classification of habitat being suitable or unsuitable; however, the range of human‐modified habitats within a region may offer a gradient of habitat suitability (or conservation value) for species. We identified such a gradient by comparing bird assemblages among contrasting land uses (pine plantations of different age, annual crops, clear cuts and cattle pastures) in the Upper Parana Atlantic forest. Bird assemblages and vegetation structure were characterized in an extensive area of 4400 km² in Argentina and Paraguay during the breeding seasons of 2005–2010. Similarity of bird assemblages between anthropogenic habitats and the native forest and the proportion of forest species increased with vegetation vertical structure, while the proportion of open‐area species decreased. As a consequence, mature tree plantations were the most suitable habitats for forest species and were mainly used by frugivores and bark insectivores. In contrast, open habitats were the least suitable habitat for forest species and were used primarily by insectivores. Human‐created habitats that are structurally complex can be used by a subset of forest species, and may improve functional connectivity and mitigate edge effects. The conservation of large tracks of native forests, however, is critical for the long‐term persistence of the entire bird assemblage, especially for native forest dependent species.     

Effects of peat swamp logging and agricultural expansion on species richness of native mammals in Peninsular Malaysia

The biodiversity inhabiting tropical peat swamp forests in Southeast Asia is currently threatened by commercial logging and agricultural expansion. The occurrence of mammals in such forests is often poorly known and the factors influencing their occurrence in these ecosystems have rarely been quantified. We aim to determine the key habitat and landscape drivers of mammal species richness in fragmented peat swamp reserves. We conducted camera trap surveys in the North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest (NSPSF), the last remaining area of peat swamp forest on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. We also measured vegetation structure and landscape metrics to investigate the relationship between these factors and mammal richness. We recorded a total of 16 mammal species from 45 sampling sites using camera traps located in peat swamp forest reserves. Mammal species richness increased with the abundance of large trees and distance away from roads. Species richness decreased significantly with canopy cover and height, the abundance of fallen trees, the abundance of forest palms and saplings, distance away from rivers, and a measure of landscape compositional heterogeneity. Our findings underscore the high conservation value of logged peat swamp forests and the urgent need to halt further deforestation. We recommend: (1) protecting riparian habitat; (2) avoiding further forest conversion particularly areas supporting large trees into oil palm plantations; and (3) limiting road development within and around the NSPSF.     

Can Management Improve the Value of Shade Plantations for the Endemic Species of São Tomé Island?

Cocoa and coffee are among the most valuable tropical crops, with much of their production in areas of high biodiversity. Although this could suggest a conflict between agricultural expansion and biodiversity conservation, these crops are normally grown in shade plantations—a more biodiversity‐friendly agroforestry system. Using São Tomé Island as a case study, we examined if shade plantation can benefit biodiversity by protecting extinction‐prone island endemic species. We found that shade plantations held rich assemblages, even in comparison with forest: we estimated 30 bird and 74 tree species occurring in plantations compared to 24 bird and 108 tree species in forests. However, the structure of the assemblages was significantly different between ecosystems, with an average dissimilarity of 33.8 percent and 87.9 percent for birds and trees, respectively. Shade plantations had consistently less endemic species than the forest; we estimated a drop from 17 to 13 in birds and from 17 to 3 in trees. We also found that despite marked differences in the response of bird species to the vegetation characteristics of shade plantations, there was a strong positive link between aboveground tree biomass and endemic species richness and abundance. These results show that shade plantations hold assemblages impoverished in endemic species, but that management can improve their value for the conservation of these species. Finally, we suggest that biodiversity‐friendly certification and carbon markets are used to implement and guarantee the long‐term economical sustainability of practices that favor the endemic species in São Tomé's shade plantations.     

Forest edges have high conservation value for bird communities in mosaic landscapes

A major conservation challenge in mosaic landscapes is to understand how trait‐specific responses to habitat edges affect bird communities, including potential cascading effects on bird functions providing ecosystem services to forests, such as pest control. Here, we examined how bird species richness, abundance and community composition varied from interior forest habitats and their edges into adjacent open habitats, within a multi‐regional sampling scheme. We further analyzed variations in Conservation Value Index (CVI), Community Specialization Index (CSI) and functional traits across the forest‐edge‐open habitat gradient. Bird species richness, total abundance and CVI were significantly higher at forest edges while CSI peaked at interior open habitats, i.e., furthest from forest edge. In addition, there were important variations in trait‐ and species‐specific responses to forest edges among bird communities. Positive responses to forest edges were found for several forest bird species with unfavorable conservation status. These species were in general insectivores, understorey gleaners, cavity nesters and long‐distance migrants, all traits that displayed higher abundance at forest edges than in forest interiors or adjacent open habitats. Furthermore, consistently with predictions, negative edge effects were recorded in some forest specialist birds and in most open‐habitat birds, showing increasing densities from edges to interior habitats. We thus suggest that increasing landscape‐scale habitat complexity would be beneficial to declining species living in mosaic landscapes combining small woodlands and open habitats. Edge effects between forests and adjacent open habitats may also favor bird functional guilds providing valuable ecosystem services to forests in longstanding fragmented landscapes.     

Floral species richness,structural diversity and conservation value of vanilla agroecosystems in Madagascar

Agricultural landscapes provide financial livelihoods for farming communities in rural areas. However, such agroenvironments can significantly impact the local floral biodiversity and introduce harmful invasive species to the ecosystem. Despite the prominence of plantations throughout the tropics, their effects on local flora are limited to only a few specific cash crops and geographical regions. Here, we compared the species richness and structural diversity of vegetation in natural forest fragments and three types of vanilla plantation within the Sava region of north-east Madagascar ranging from those within or adjacent to existing forests, to intensively cultivated plantations. We recorded data on plant species abundance, diameter at breast height and canopy cover within multiple sites of each habitat. We used abundance data to calculate species richness indices, and we compared these metrics between habitats. Forested habitats contained a significantly higher floral species richness, structural diversity and more endemic and regionally native species than nonforested, anthropogenic vanilla plantations. However, our results suggest that the high floral species richness and structural diversity of natural forests can be partially achieved in vanilla plantations, depending on the site's management regime; traditionally managed vanilla plantations located close to natural forests can support diverse floral communities. These encouraging findings for plant conservation and sustainable agroforestry in Madagascar suggest that that newly created vanilla plantations and already existing nonforested plantations should endeavour to follow the more traditional forested approach to enhance the future sustainability and promote floristic diversity.     

Parasitoid wasp communities on oil palm plantation: Effects of natural habitat existence are obscured by lepidopteran abundance

The existence of natural habitat around agroecosystem plays a pivotal role in maintaining the presence of natural enemies especially parasitoids. Natural habitat can fail to support biological pest control in agroecosystem due to a particular condition. The objective of this research was to investigate the effect of natural habitat existence on parasitoid wasp communities in oil palm plantation. The ecological research was conducted in the oil palm plantation located in Central Borneo, Indonesia. Twelve plots of oil palm plantations with different habitat characteristics were selected. Insects were sampled using canopy knockdown fogging with a pyrethroid insecticide. In total, 237 species and 2669 individuals of parasitoid wasps belong to 15 families were collected from all research areas. The results showed that species richness and abundance of parasitoid wasps in oil palm plantation was affected by lepidopteran abundance and not by the existence of natural habitat. However, the distance and area of natural habitat influenced the species composition of parasitoid wasps. We concluded that the existence of natural habitat still can maintain the parasitoid wasps in oil palm plantation. Thus, efforts on maintaining parasitoid wasp diversity for management of biological control in oil palm plantation need to pay attention by conserving the natural habitats.     

Butterfly community recovery in degraded rainforest habitats in the Upper Guinean Forest Zone (Kakum forest, Ghana)

Successful regeneration of secondary tropical forest might be crucial in the conservation of rainforests, since large areas of primary forest have been destroyed or degraded. Animal communities might play an important role in restoration of biological diversity in these secondary habitats, since some groups have high mobility and capacity for dispersal. Fruit-feeding butterflies were trapped to measure differences between butterfly communities in primary rainforest and disturbed forest habitats of different stage of regeneration including clear-cut, abandoned farmland, newly planted forest and middle-aged secondary growth. 3465 specimens representing 114 species were identified from 56 traps operated for 36 days. Extremely high values of rarefied species richness were estimated in the clear-cut habitat, due to the high number of singletons and doubletons. This was caused by a gap-effect that allowed penetration of canopy and open area species after disturbance. The differences between butterfly communities were best demonstrated through ecological composition, richness and abundance of indicator groups and habitat similarity based on Jaccard’s similarity index. The results show a clear ability of butterfly communities in degraded forest habitats to regenerate in 50–60 years after clearance.