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Does restoration help the conservation of the threatened forest of Robinson Crusoe Island? The impact of forest gap attributes on endemic plant species richness and exotic invasions

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Abstract

Invasive plant species are major drivers of biodiversity losses, especially on islands which are prone to invasions and extinctions. In the “endemic montane forest” of Robinson Crusoe Island (Pacific Ocean, Chile) invasive exotic plant species threaten conservation efforts by establishing in gaps and outcompeting native tree species regeneration. We compared gap attributes and ground vegetation cover in three gap types: those dominated by native species (<5 % cover of invasive species), invaded gaps (>30 % cover by invasive species), and treated gaps (invasive species removed). We examined (a) which gap attributes favored native and exotic species, (b) the relationship between gap size and species richness, and (c) species responses to invasion and treatment. Gaps ranged in size from 46 to 777 m2 caused mainly by uprooted and snapped trees. Multi response permutation procedures showed a different floristic composition between natural, invaded and treated gaps. The presence of Myrceugenia fernandeziana (native species) and Aristotelia chilensis (invasive species) as gap border trees was positively and negatively correlated with native species richness, respectively. New gaps had more native species than old gaps, and smaller gaps contained relatively more native species than larger ones. An increase in invasive species cover was related to a decline in native species cover and richness. 1–6 years after treatment gaps tended to recover their native floristic composition. Highly effective conservation management programs will concentrate on monitoring gap creation, early control of invasive species, and by treating smaller gaps first.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the Chilean Forest Service, CONAF Viña del Mar, especially Javiera Meza who facilitated this study. Ivan Leiva and all of the rangers of Juan Fernández National Park contributed their knowledge and field guidance. Nicolás González (Universidad Austral, Chile) helped with the data collection. Special thanks to Paola Gonzalez and Christian Lopez of Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge for leading community members and volunteers in invasive plant control activities supported by AvesChile and the American Bird Conservancy. Thanks to Cecilia Smith-Ramírez (Instituto de Ecología y Bidiversidad IEB, U. de Chile) for her comments on previous versions of the manuscript. The botanists Philippe Danton and Christophe Perrier (Robinsonia Association, Grenoble, France) helped enormously with the plant identification. We thank Bernhard Thiel and Simon Bilodeau (Freiburg University) for improving the English. We thank two anonymous reviewers for provided helpful comments and suggestions. Financial support was provided by a doctoral scholarship (CONICYT-Chile, R Vargas), the Müller Fahnenberg (Freiburg University) and Georg Ludwig Hartig (Wiesbaden, Germany) foundations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Vegetation Science and Site Classification, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, Institute of Forest Sciences, Albert-Ludwigs University, Freiburg, Germany

    R. Vargas, S. Gärtner & A. Reif

  2. Institute for Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    M. Alvarez

  3. Island Conservation, Santiago, Chile

    E. Hagen

  4. Tennenbacherstr. 4, 79106, Freiburg im Brsg., Germany

    R. Vargas

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  1. R. Vargas
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  5. A. Reif
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Correspondence to R. Vargas.

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Vargas, R., Gärtner, S., Alvarez, M. et al. Does restoration help the conservation of the threatened forest of Robinson Crusoe Island? The impact of forest gap attributes on endemic plant species richness and exotic invasions. Biodivers Conserv 22, 1283–1300 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-013-0461-0

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