Limited Edge Effects Along a Burned-Unburned Bornean Forest Boundary Seven Years after Disturbance

• Published in: Biotropica 2011-05, Vol.43 (3), p.288-298
• Main Authors: Slik, J. W. Ferry, van Beek, Marloes, Bernard, Caroline, Bongers, Frans, Breman, Floris C., Cannon, Charles H., Sidiyasa, Kade
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: aboveground biomass; amazonian forest; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Boundaries; Canopies; canopy; canopy development; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Correlation analysis; Data processing; dispersal limitation; disturbance; ecological attributes; Edge effect; Edge effects; fire intensity; Fires; Forest canopy; Forest ecology; Forest fires; Forest regeneration; Forest trees; forest types; Forestry; Forests; Fruits; functional traits; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; General forest ecology; Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology; Inventories; light interception; lowland dipterocarp forest; mast fruiting; natural regeneration; neotropical forests; Old growth; Old growth forests; Plants; Recruitment; regeneration; seed-size; Seeds; Trees; Tropical Biology; tropical forest fire; Tropical forests; Tropical rain forests; tropical rain-forest; tropics; Vegetation; wood density
• ISSN: 0006-3606; 1744-7429; 1744-7429
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2010.00706.x

Large parts of the everwet tropics have been burned, leaving many unburned-burned forest edges. Here we studied a Bornean forest edge to determine: (1) how unburned and burned forest differ in vegetation structure, diversity, composition and plant functional traits 7 yr after fire, and (2) if these variables showed significant edge effects. Environmental and inventory data from 120 plots (0.01 ha each), covering both sides of a ∼1.3 km forest boundary were sampled. Differences in vegetation structure, diversity, composition and plant functional traits were analyzed in relation to disturbance type (Mann-Whitney tests) and edge distance (partial correlation analysis that controlled for confounding effects of elevation, slope and fire intensity). Seven years after fire, burned forest differed significantly from unburned forest in most measured variables while few significant edge effects were detected, i.e., there existed a sharp delimitation between the two forest types. The regeneration of the burned forest depended almost entirely on in situ recruitment with little input of late successional species from the neighboring old growth forest. On the other hand, old growth forest showed few signs of edge degradation. A possible explanation for these results might be related to the absence of a mast fruiting event during these first 7 yr of forest recovery, resulting in low levels of late successional species seed input into the burned forest, combined with the quick development of a closed canopy in the burned forest by early successional species that shielded the unburned forest from adverse edge effects.