Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Changes of community composition at multiple trophic levels due to hunting in Nigerian tropical forests
Ecography, Volume 37, No. 4, Year 2014
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
Hunting in tropical forests decimates large mammals, and this may have direct and indirect effects on other trophic levels and lead to trophic cascades. We compared replicated sites of hunted and protected forests in southeastern Nigeria, with respect to community composition of primates, other mammals, birds, plant seedlings, and mature trees. We make predictions regarding the community composition at the different trophic levels. In forests where large primates are rare, we hypothesize that their ecological role will not be fully compensated for by small frugivores. We apply multivariate methods to assess changes in community composition of mammals, birds, and seedlings, controlling for any differences between sites in the other groups, including mature trees. Medium and large (4-180 kg) primates were much rarer in hunted sites, while porcupine and rock hyrax increased in abundance with hunting. In contrast, the community composition of birds was similar in both types of forests. Seedling communities were significantly related to the community composition of mammals, and thus strongly affected by hunting. In protected forests primate dispersed plant seedling species dominated, whereas in hunted forests the seedling community was shifted towards one dominated by abiotically dispersed species. This was probably both a consequence of reduced seed dispersal by primates, and increased seed predation by rodents and hyrax. Hence we found no evidence for buffering effects on tree regeneration through functional compensation by non-hunted animals (such as birds). Our results highlight how seedling communities are changed by the complex plant-animal intera ctions, triggered by the loss of seed dispersers. The results predict a rarity of primate-dispersed trees in future tropical forest canopies; a forest less diverse in timber and non-timber resources. © 2013 The Authors.
Authors & Co-Authors
Effiom, Edu O.
Sweden, Lund
Lunds Universitet
Nigeria, Calabar
Crs Forestry Commission
Birkhofer, Klaus
Sweden, Lund
Lunds Universitet
Smith, Henrik G.
Sweden, Lund
Lunds Universitet
Olsson, Ola
Sweden, Lund
Lunds Universitet
Statistics
Citations: 35
Authors: 4
Affiliations: 2
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.00359.x
e-ISSN:
16000587
Study Locations
Nigeria