Abstract
Whereas many studies have addressed the effects of deforestation on biodiversity, few have focused on the recovery of diversity during reforestation. This study aimed at evaluating the recovery of, or chronosequential changes in, the biodiversity in the fallows (i.e., secondary vegetation or forests that form during the resting periods following harvest in shifting cultivation) of a tropical rainforest region in Borneo. We also aimed at determining the impacts of forest fragmentation and other land-use changes on biodiversity.
We established several study plots in fallows at different stages of succession, specifically, new fallows (rested for 1–3 years), young fallows (rested for 5–13 years), and old fallows (rested for 20–60 years). We also established study plots in a continuous primary forest and fragmented primary forests, extensive rubber gardens, and other land-use types. In addition, we investigated the diversity of trees, fungi, and animals, and compared the values obtained among the different land-use types.
With each progression in forest stage, the species richness, species density, and encounter rates increased for trees, fungi, army ants, and ants attending hemipterans. However, even after fallow periods of 20–60 years, the levels of diversity had not fully recovered to those recorded in primary forests. The biodiversity indices of fragmented primary forests were lower compared to those of the continuous primary forest for army ants. The biodiversity indices of extensive rubber gardens and the other land-use types were also lower compared to those of the continuous primary forest for bats. Such trends were also observed for aphyllophoraceous fungi and some insects.
These results indicate the irreplaceable value of continuous primary forests for conserving biodiversity. In contrast, the species richness of small mammals and phytophagous scarabaeid beetles was similar or even higher in fragmented primary forests and the other land-use types compared to the continuous primary forest. Further studies are necessary to investigate how the characteristics of each taxonomic group (e.g., disturbance tolerance, dispersal ability, and the life history traits) are related to the different types of disturbance (intensity, spatio-temporal configurations, and the consequent changes in the environmental factors of each habitat type).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Ashton PS (2005) Lambir’s forest: the world’s most diverse known tree assemblage? In: Roubik DW, Sakai S, Hamid Karim AA (eds) Pollination ecololgy and the rain forest: Sarawak studies. Springer, New York, pp 191–216
Barlow J, Gardner TA, Araujo IS, Avila-Pires TC, Bonaldo AB, Costa JE, Esposito MC, Ferreira LV, Hawes J, Hernandez MM, Hoogmoed MS, Leite RN, Lo-Man-Hung NF, Malcolm JR, Martins MB, Mestre LAM, Miranda-Santos R, Nunes-Gutjahr AL, Overal WL, Parry L, Peters SL, Ribeiro-Junior MA, da Silva MNF, Motta CD, Peres CA (2007) Quantifying the biodiversity value of tropical primary, secondary, and plantation forests. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104(47):18555–18560. doi:10.1073/pnas.0703333104
Chazdon RL, Peres CA, Dent D, Sheil D, Lugo AE, Lamb D, Stork NE, Miller SE (2009) The potential for species conservation in tropical secondary forests. Conserv Biol 23(6):1406–1417. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01338.x
Cleary DFR, Boyle TJB, Setyawati T, Menken SBJ (2005) The impact of logging on the abundance, species richness and community composition of butterfly guilds in Borneo. J Appl Entomol 129(1):52–59. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0418.2005.00916.x
Condit R, Ashton PS, Baker P, Bunyavejchewin S, Gunatilleke S, Gunatilleke N, Hubbell SP, Foster RB, Itoh A, LaFrankie JV, Lee HS, Losos E, Manokaran N, Sukumar R, Yamakura T (2000) Spatial patterns in the distribution of tropical tree species. Science 288(5470):1414–1418. doi:10.1126/science.288.5470.1414
Coomes OT, Grimard F, Burt GJ (2000) Tropical forests and shifting cultivation: secondary forest fallow dynamics among traditional farmers of the Peruvian Amazon. Ecol Econ 32(1):109–124. doi:10.1016/s0921-8009(99)00066-x
Corlett R (2009) The ecology of tropical East Asia. Oxford biology. Oxford University Press, New York
Cramb RA (1993) Shifting cultivation and sustainable agriculture in East Malaysia: a longitudinal case-study. Agric Syst 42(3):209–226. doi:10.1016/0308-521x(93)90055-7
Daily GC, Ceballos G, Pacheco J, Suzan G, Sanchez-Azofeifa A (2003) Countryside biogeography of neotropical mammals: conservation opportunities in agricultural landscapes of Costa Rica. Conserv Biol 17(6):1814–1826. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2003.00298.x
Debinski DM, Holt RD (2000) A survey and overview of habitat fragmentation experiments. Conserv Biol 14(2):342–355. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2000.98081.x
Deniro MJ, Epstein S (1981) Influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 45(3):341–351. doi:10.1016/0016-7037(81)90244-1
Department of Statistics Malaysia (2004) Yearbook of statistics Malaysia 2004. Putrajaya, Malaysia
Dove MR (1985) Swidden agriculture in Indonesia: the subsistence strategies of the Kalimantan Kantu. Mouton Publishers, Berlin
FAO (2010) Global forest resources assessment 2010. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Fitzherbert EB, Struebig MJ, Morel A, Danielsen F, Bruhl CA, Donald PF, Phalan B (2008) How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity? Trends Ecol Evol 23(10):538–545. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2008.06.012
Freeman JD (1955) Iban agriculture: a report on the shifting cultivationof hill rice by the Iban of Sarawak. H.M.S.O, London
Fukuda D, Tisen OB, Momose K, Sakai S (2009) Bat diversity in the vegetation mosaic around a lowland dipterocarp forest of Borneo. Raffles Bull Zool 57(1):213–221
Gibson L, Lee TM, Koh LP, Brook BW, Gardner TA, Barlow J, Peres CA, Bradshaw CJ, Laurance WF, Lovejoy TE, Sodhi NS (2011) Primary forests are irreplaceable for sustaining tropical biodiversity. Nature 478(7369):378–381. doi:10.1038/nature10425
Gotelli NJ, Colwell RK (2001) Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness. Ecol Lett 4(4):379–391. doi:10.1046/j.1461-0248.2001.00230.x
Hansen TS, Mertz O (2006) Extinction or adaptation? Three decades of change in shifting cultivation in Sarawak, Malaysia. Land Degrad Dev 17(2):135–148. doi:10.1002/ldr.720
Hattori T, Yamashita S, Lee SS (2012) Diversity and conservation of wood-inhabiting polypores and other aphyllophoraceous fungi in Malaysia. Biodivers Conserv 21(9):2375–2396. doi:10.1007/s10531-012-0238-x
Hazebroek HP, Kashim bin Abang Morshidi A (2000) National parks of Sarawak. National History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Ichikawa M (2003) One hundred years of land-use changes: political, social, and economic influences on an Iban village in Bakong river basin, Sarawak, East Malaysia. In: Tuck-Po L, de Jong W, Abe K (eds) The political ecology of tropical forests in southeast Asia: historical perspectives. Kyoto University Press/Trans Pacific Press, Kyoto, pp 177–199
Ichikawa M (2007) Degradation and loss of forest land and land-use changes in Sarawak, East Malaysia: a study of native land use by the Iban. Ecol Res 22(3):403–413. doi:10.1007/s11284-007-0365-0
Ichikawa M (2010) Malaysia, Sarawak shuu no yakihata saibai ni mirareru josouzai riyou to sono haikei (utilization of herbicide and its background in swidden cultivation in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia). Noko no Gijutsu to Bunka 27:21–41 (in Japanese)
Itioka T, Yamamoto T, Tzuchiya T, Okubo T, Yago M, Seki Y, Ohshima Y, Katsuyama R, Chiba H, Yata O (2009) Butterflies collected in and around Lambir Hills National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia in Borneo. Contributions from the Biological Laboratory, Kyoto University 30(1):25–68
Itioka T, Takano KT, Kishimo-Yamada K, Tzuchiya T, Ohshima Y, Katsuyama R-i, Yago M, Nakagawa M, Nakashizuka T (2014) Chronosequential changes in species richness of forest-edge-dwelling butterflies during forest restoration after swidden cultivation in a humid tropical rainforest region in Borneo. J For Res. doi:10.1007/s10310-014-0444-3
Kato M, Inoue T, Hamid AA, Nagamitsu T, Merdek MB, Nona AR, Itino T, Yamane S, Yumoto T (1995) Seasonality and vertical structure of light-attracted insect communities in a dipterocarp forest in Sarawak. Res Popul Ecol 37(1):59–79. doi:10.1007/bf02515762
Kishimoto-Yamada K, Itioka T, Nakagawa M, Momose K, Nakashizuka T (2011) Phytophagous scarabaeid diversity in Swidden cultivation landscapes in Sarawak, Malaysia. Raffles Bull Zool 59(2):285–293
Kishimoto-Yamada K, Hyodo F, Matsuoka M, Hashimoto Y, Kon M, Ochi T, Yamane S, Ishii R, Itioka T (2013) Effects of remnant primary forests on ant and dung beetle species diversity in a secondary forest in Sarawak, Malaysia. J Insect Conserv. doi:10.1007/s10841-012-9544-6
Kume T, Tanaka N, Kuraji K, Komatsu H, Yoshifuji N, Saitoh TM, Suzuki M, Kumagai T (2011) Ten-year evapotranspiration estimates in a Bornean tropical rainforest. Agr Forest Meteorol 151(9):1183–1192. doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2011.04.005
Lanly JP (1982) Tropical forest resources. FAO Forestry Paper 30. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Liow LH, Sodhi NS, Elmqvist T (2001) Bee diversity along a disturbance gradient in tropical lowland forests of south-east Asia. J Appl Ecol 38(1):180–192. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2664.2001.00582.x
MacArthur RH, Wilson EO (1967) The theory of island biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Matsumoto T, Itioka T, Yamane S, Momose K (2009) Traditional land use associated with swidden agriculture changes encounter rates of the top predator, the army ant, in Southeast Asian tropical rain forests. Biodivers Conserv 18(12):3139–3151. doi:10.1007/s10531-009-9632-4
Mertz O, Christensen H (1997) Land use and crop diversity in two Iban communities, Sarawak, Malaysia. Geografisk Tidsskrift, Danish J Geogr 97:98–110
Mertz O, Leisz SJ, Heinimann A, Rerkasem K, Thiha DW, Pham VC, Vu KC, Schmidt-Vogt D, Colfer CJP, Epprecht M, Padoch C, Potter L (2009a) Who counts? Demography of swidden cultivators in Southeast Asia. Hum Ecol 37(3):281–289. doi:10.1007/s10745-009-9249-y
Mertz O, Padoch C, Fox J, Cramb RA, Leisz SJ, Lam NT, Vien TD (2009b) Swidden change in Southeast Asia: understanding causes and consequences. Hum Ecol 37(3):259–264. doi:10.1007/s10745-009-9245-2
Minagawa M, Wada E (1984) Stepwise enrichment of 15N along food chains: further evidence and the relation between δ15N and animal age. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 48(5):1135–1140. doi:10.1016/0016-7037(84)90204-7
Mittelbach GG (2012) Community ecology. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland
Nakagawa M, Miguchi H, Nakashizuka T (2006) The effects of various forest uses on small mammal communities in Sarawak, Malaysia. For Ecol Manage 231(1–3):55–62. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2006.05.006
Nakagawa M, Hyodo F, Nakashizuka T (2007) Effect of forest use on trophic levels of small mammals: an analysis using stable isotopes. Can J Zool Rev Can Zool 85(4):472–478. doi:10.1139/z07-026
Nakagawa M, Momose K, Kishimoto-Yamada K, Kamoi T, Tanaka HO, Kaga M, Yamashita S, Itioka T, Nagamasu H, Sakai S, Nakashizuka T (2013) Tree community structure, dynamics, and diversity partitioning in a Bornean tropical forested landscape. Biodivers Conserv 22(1):127–140. doi:10.1007/s10531-012-0405-0
Ngidang D (2005) Deconstruction and reconstruction of native customary land tenure in Sarawak. Southeast Asia Stud 43(1):47–75
Nielsen U, Mertz O, Noweg GT (2006) The rationality of shifting cultivation systems: labor productivity revisited. Hum Ecol 34(2):201–218. doi:10.1007/s10745-006-9014-4
Padoch C (1982) Migration and its alternatives among the Iban of Sarawak. Marrtinus Nijihoff, The Hague/Leiden
Padoch C, Pinedo-Vasquez M (2010) Saving slash-and-burn to save biodiversity. Biotropica 42(5):550–552. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7429.2010.00681.x
Palm CA, Vosti SA, Sanchez PA, Ericksen PJ (eds) (2005) Slash-and-burn agriculture: the search for alternatives. Columbia University Press, New York
Pringle R (1970) Rajahs and rebels: the Iban of Sarawak under Brooke rule, 1841-1941. Cornell University Press, Ithaca
Rerkasem K, Lawrence D, Padoch C, Schmidt-Vogt D, Ziegler AD, Bruun TB (2009) Consequences of swidden transitions for crop and fallow biodiversity in Southeast Asia. Hum Ecol 37(3):347–360. doi:10.1007/s10745-009-9250-5
Samejima H, Ong R, Lagan P, Kitayama K (2012) Camera-trapping rates of mammals and birds in a Bornean tropical rainforest under sustainable forest management. For Ecol Manage 270:248–256. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2012.01.013
Sandin B (1967) The Sea Dayak of Borneo before white Rajah rule. Michigan State University Press, East Lausing
Sandin B (1994) Sources of Iban traditional history. The Sarawak Museum Journal 67 (special monograph no 7)
Schmidt-Vogt D, Leisz SJ, Mertz O, Heinimann A, Thiha T, Messerli P, Epprecht M, Cu PV, Chi VK, Hardiono M, Dao TM (2009) An assessment of trends in the extent of swidden in Southeast Asia. Hum Ecol 37(3):269–280. doi:10.1007/s10745-009-9239-0
Tanaka HO, Yamane S, Nakashizuka T, Momose K, Itioka T (2007) Effects of deforestation on mutualistic interactions of ants with plants and hemipterans in tropical rainforest of Borneo. Asia Myrmecol 1:31–50
Tscharntke T, Leuschner C, Zeller M, Guhardja E, Bidin A (eds) (2007) Stability of tropical rainforest margins: linking ecological, economic and social constraints of land use and conservation. Springer, New York
Veddeler D, Schulze CH, Steffan-Dewenter I, Buchori D, Tscharntke T (2005) The contribution of tropical secondary forest fragments to the conservation of fruit-feeding butterflies: effects of isolation and age. Biodivers Conserv 14(14):3577–3592. doi:10.1007/s10531-004-0829-2
Veech JA, Crist TO (2010) Toward a unified view of diversity partitioning. Ecology 91(7):1988–1992. doi:10.1890/09-1140.1
Wadley RL, Colfer CJP, Hood IG (1997) Hunting primates and managing forests: the case of Iban forest farmers in Indonesian Borneo. Hum Ecol 25(2):243–271. doi:10.1023/a:1021926206649
Watson H (1985) Lambir Hills National Park: resource inventory with management recommendations. National Parks and Wildlife Office, Forest Department, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Whitmore TC (1998) An introduction to tropical rain forests, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, New York
Yamashita S, Hattori T, Momose K, Nakagawa M, Aiba M, Nakashizuka T (2008) Effects of forest use on aphyllophoraceous fungal community structure in Sarawak, Malaysia. Biotropica 40(3):354–362. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7429.2007.00366.x
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Japan
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Takano, K.T. et al. (2014). The Extent of Biodiversity Recovery During Reforestation After Swidden Cultivation and the Impacts of Land-Use Changes on the Biodiversity of a Tropical Rainforest Region in Borneo. In: Sakai, S., Umetsu, C. (eds) Social-Ecological Systems in Transition. Global Environmental Studies. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54910-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54910-9_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
Print ISBN: 978-4-431-54909-3
Online ISBN: 978-4-431-54910-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)