10.5061/DRYAD.F77P7
Döbert, Timm F.
University of Western Australia
Webber, Bruce L.
University of Western Australia
Sugau, John B.
Forest Research
Dickinson, Katharine J. M.
University of Otago
Didham, Raphael K.
University of Western Australia
Data from: Logging increases the functional and phylogenetic dispersion of
understorey plant communities in tropical lowland rainforest
Dryad
dataset
2018
response diversity
logging intensity
Land-use change
Dipterocarp forest
Above-ground biomass
disturbance gradient
2018-04-13T00:00:00Z
2018-04-13T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12794
387472 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
1. Logging is a major driver of tropical forest degradation, with severe
impacts on plant richness and composition. Rarely have these effects been
considered in terms of their impact on the functional and phylogenetic
diversity of understorey plant communities, despite the direct relevance
to community reassembly trajectories. Here, we test the effects of logging
on functional traits and evolutionary relatedness, over and above effects
that can be explained by changes in species richness alone. We
hypothesised that strong environmental filtering will result in more
clustered (under-dispersed) functional and phylogenetic structures within
communities as logging intensity increases. 2. We surveyed understorey
plant communities at 180 locations across a logging intensity gradient
from primary to repeatedly-logged tropical lowland rainforest in Sabah,
Malaysia. For the 691 recorded plant taxa, we generated a phylogeny to
assess plot-level phylogenetic relatedness. We quantified 10 plant traits
known to respond to disturbance (dispersal mode, fruit type, life-history
mode, pollination syndrome, reproduction strategy and seed number) and
affect ecosystem functioning (plant growth form, plant height, specific
leaf area and wood density), and tested the influence of logging on
functional and phylogenetic structure. 3. We found no significant effect
of local- or landscape-scale forest canopy loss, or configuration of
logging roads on species richness. By contrast, both the trait dispersion
index (FDis) and net relatedness index (NRI) for phylogenetic dispersion
showed strong gradients from clustered towards more randomly-assembled
communities at higher logging intensity, independent of variation in
species richness. All functional traits showed significant phylogenetic
signals, indicating strong concordance between functional and phylogenetic
dispersion. 4. Synthesis. We found a strong logging signal in the
functional and phylogenetic structure of understorey plant communities,
over and above species richness, but this effect was opposite to that
predicted. Logging increased, rather than decreased, functional and
phylogenetic dispersion in understorey plant communities. This effect was
particularly pronounced for functional response traits, which directly
link disturbance with plant community reassembly. Our study provides novel
insight into the way logging affects understorey plant communities in
tropical rainforest and highlights the importance of trait-based
approaches to improve our understanding of the broad range of
logging-associated impacts.
Plot characteristics for understorey vegetation plots in BorneoThis csv
file contains the full database of characteristics for each of 180
vegetation plots including logging metrics, environmental variables as
well as taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity indices for
understorey plants in Borneo.PlotData.csvSpecies trait data for
understorey plant species in BorneoThis csv file contains the complete
list of species (691) sampled across 180 vegetation plots (2 x 2m) located
at the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) project in Sabah,
Malaysia, including their allocation to a range of plant functional traits
as well as a distinction between native or exotic species
origin.SpeciesTraitData.csvMatrix of biomass values for 691 species in 180
understorey vegetation plots in BorneoThis csv file contains a matrix of
biomass values for 691 plant taxa sampled across 180 vegetation plots (2 x
2m) located at the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) project
in Sabah, Malaysia.PlotSpeciesData.csv
Borneo
Sabah
Malaysia