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How does forest fragmentation affect tree communities? A critical case study in the biodiversity hotspot of New Caledonia

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Abstract

Context

The biodiversity hotspot for conservation of New Caledonia has facing high levels of forest fragmentation. Remnant forests are critical for biodiversity conservation and can help in understanding how does forest fragmentation affect tree communities.

Objective

Determine the effect of habitat configuration and availability on tree communities.

Methods

We mapped forest in a 60 km2 landscape and sampled 93 tree communities in 52 forest fragments following stratified random sampling. At each sampling point, we inventoried all trees with a diameter at breast height ≥10 cm within a radius of 10 m. We then analysed the response of the composition, the structure and the richness of tree communities to the fragment size and isolation, distance from the edge, as well as the topographical position.

Results

Our results showed that the distance from the forest edge was the variable that explained the greatest observed variance in tree assemblages. We observed a decrease in the abundance and richness of animal-dispersed trees as well as a decrease in the abundance of large trees with increasing proximity to forest edges. Near forest edges we found a shift in species composition with a dominance of stress-tolerant pioneer species.

Conclusions

Edge-effects are likely to be the main processes that affect remnant forest tree communities after about a century of forest fragmentation. It results in retrogressive successions at the edges leading to a dominance of stress-tolerant species. The vegetation surrounding fragments should be protected to promote the long process of forest extension and subsequently reduce edge-effects.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by CNRT (French National Centre for Technological Research) “Nickel and its environment” [CSF N°02CNRT.IAC/Corifor]. We are most grateful to Valentine Birnbaum, Elodie Blanchard, Thomas Boutreux and Elias Ganivet for assistance in the field and to Gendrilla Warimavute, Juliane Kaoh for assistance in determining the dispersal mode. We also thank Stéphane Mccoy for logistic assistance and Jacqueline Fambart-Tinel as well as all the team at the Nouméa herbarium (NOU) for technical support. We are also grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their comments that helped to greatly improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien (IAC), Equipe Sol & Végétation (SolVeg), BPA5, 98800, Nouméa, New Caledonia

    Thomas Ibanez, Céline Chambrey & Philippe Birnbaum

  2. IRD, UMR AMAP, BP A5, 98800, Nouméa, New Caledonia

    Vanessa Hequet & Tanguy Jaffré

  3. CIRAD, UMR AMAP, 34398, Montpellier, France

    Philippe Birnbaum

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  1. Thomas Ibanez
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  2. Vanessa Hequet
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  3. Céline Chambrey
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  4. Tanguy Jaffré
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  5. Philippe Birnbaum
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Correspondence to Thomas Ibanez.

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Ibanez, T., Hequet, V., Chambrey, C. et al. How does forest fragmentation affect tree communities? A critical case study in the biodiversity hotspot of New Caledonia. Landscape Ecol 32, 1671–1687 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-017-0534-7

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