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How persistent are the impacts of logging roads on Central African forest vegetation?

Kleinschroth Fritz, Healey John R., Sist Plinio, Mortier Frédéric, Gourlet-Fleury Sylvie. 2016. How persistent are the impacts of logging roads on Central African forest vegetation?. Journal of Applied Ecology, 53 (4) : 1127-1137.

Article de revue ; Article de recherche ; Article de revue à facteur d'impact
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Quartile : Outlier, Sujet : BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION / Quartile : Q1, Sujet : ECOLOGY

Liste HCERES des revues (en SHS) : oui

Thème(s) HCERES des revues (en SHS) : Economie-gestion

Résumé : Logging roads can trigger tropical forest degradation by reducing the integrity of the ecosystem and providing access for encroachment. Therefore, road management is crucial in reconciling selective logging and biodiversity conservation. Most logging roads are abandoned after timber harvesting; however, little is known about their long-term impacts on forest vegetation and accessibility, especially in Central Africa. In 11 logging concessions in the Congo Basin, we field-sampled a chronosequence of roads that, judging from satellite images, had been abandoned between 1985 and 2015. We assessed recovery of timber resources, tree diversity and above-ground biomass in three zones: the road track, the road edge (where forest had been cleared during road construction) and the adjacent logged forest. The density of commercial timber species <15 cm d.b.h. was almost three times higher in the road track (321 individuals ha−1) and edge (267) than in the logged adjacent forest (97). Over time, tree species diversity converged to a comparable level between roads and adjacent forests, along with an increase in canopy closure. The average width of forest clearing for road construction was 20 m, covering a total 0·76% of the forest area inside concessions. After 15 years following abandonment, road tracks had recovered 24 Mg ha−1 of above-ground woody biomass, which was 6% of that in the adjacent forest, while road edges had accumulated 167 Mg ha−1 (42%). Ten years after abandonment, roads were no longer penetrable by poachers on motorcycles. An exotic herb species was fully replaced by dominant Marantaceae that have even higher abundance in the adjacent forest. • Synthesis and applications. Our evidence of vegetation recovery suggests that logging roads are mostly transient elements in the forest landscapes. However, given the slow recovery of biomass on abandoned road tracks, we advocate both reducing the width of forest clearing for road construction and reopening old logging roads for future harvests, rather than building new roads in intact forests. Road edges seem suitable for post-logging silviculture which needs to be assisted by removing dominant herbs during the early years after abandonment while the road track is still accessible.

Mots-clés Agrovoc : forêt tropicale humide, Route forestière, abattage d'arbres, protection de la forêt, écosystème forestier, déboisement, biodiversité, impact sur l'environnement, Entandrophragma, régénération naturelle, imagerie par satellite, dynamique des populations, méthode statistique, exploitation forestière

Mots-clés géographiques Agrovoc : Afrique centrale, Congo

Mots-clés complémentaires : Entandrophragma cylindricum

Classification Agris : K01 - Foresterie - Considérations générales
K70 - Dégâts causés aux forêts et leur protection
K11 - Génie forestier
U30 - Méthodes de recherche
U10 - Informatique, mathématiques et statistiques

Champ stratégique Cirad : Axe 6 (2014-2018) - Sociétés, natures et territoires

Auteurs et affiliations

  • Kleinschroth Fritz, CIRAD-ES-UPR BSef (FRA)
  • Healey John R., Bangor University (GBR)
  • Sist Plinio, CIRAD-ES-UPR BSef (FRA)
  • Mortier Frédéric, CIRAD-ES-UPR BSef (FRA)
  • Gourlet-Fleury Sylvie, CIRAD-ES-UPR BSef (FRA) ORCID: 0000-0002-1136-4307

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/581017/)

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