Biodiversity is the level of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem. Biodiversity is exteremely important because it boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, have an important role. Southeast Asia is known for having the greatest imperilled biodiversity on the planet. The main reason for this endangered biodiversity is the great amount of deforestation from selective cutting that takes place. As a result of this deforestation in Southeast Asia the land has become degraded and often turned into oil palm plantations shortly after the logging. Although these oil palm plantations increase the countries sources of foreign exchange it comes at the expense of the forest. Logged forests being converted into oil palm drives the loss of the lowland forests in Southeast Asia destroying the ecosystem for the remaining species which heavily contributes to the decreasing biodiversity of the area. Some may say that after a forest has been logged once or twice that the land should be classified as degraded and utilized for other uses such as oil palm plantations, and that a heavily logged forest automatically become a biological wasteland. A recent study published by David Edwards at the University of Leeds suggests otherwise. Through his research he shows that there is still a good amount of biodiversity remaining in forests that have been logged once or even multiple times.
David Edwards and his co-workers knew from previous studies that after selective cutting is conducted there is only limited effects on the richness and diversity of that land. It is the early re-entry into some regions for a second round of selective cutting that takes away most of the larger remaining trees , increasing the chance of degredation , decreasing timber value, and causing further damage to ecosystems. Thats why David Edwards thought it was critical to evaluate forests undegone two rotations of logging.
David and his coworkers conducted their study in the Ulu Segama-Malua Forest Reserve located in Malaysia, Southeast Asia. The 238 000 hectare forest contains regions that have not been logged, regions that have been logged once, and regions that have been logged twice. Their study examined the effects a second rotation of logging has on biodiversity compared to un-logged forests and forests logged once. Bird and Dung Beetle communities were the two species that were focused on because they were the most cost-effective indicator taxa in biodiveristy surveys.
The study took place over a 3 year period and it examined three different characteristics of these communities: species richness, composition of species, and population level responses. Stations were set up equally throughout the forest and the data was collected using methods such as point counts and mist nets. As a result it was discovered that an astonishing 75% of bird and dung beetle species found in unlogged forest continued to live in twice logged forests. Although the population may have decreased by a noticeable but suprisingly smaller amount than expected, there was no obvious decline able to be seen in diversity or richness of the communities.
The fact that these organisms are able to remain in such sites is an indicator that these degraded areas still provide an important habitat for many species. Logging is regarded everywhere as always having a very negative impact on ecosystems and the qulaity of the land being logged. But now it is evident that some species are able to withstand the effects of logging and although the land may be somewhat degraded is should not be classified as useless. By converting these degraded areas into oil palm plantations we are threatening the existence of many species within those areas and destroying the biodiversity of that land. The new evidence that there is still much life after logging suggests that these degraded lands are worth protecting. It is now clear that preventing of convertion of the land to oil palm plantation or other uses should be a top priority in areas such as Southeast Asia. Conserving these lands is necessary in order for areas like Southeast Asia to see a positive impact on their biodiversity
By: Sean Ellison
Works Cited
Edwards, David. "Degraded lands worth protecting: the biological importance of Southeast Asia." Proceeding of The Royal Society (2010): Web. 14 Oct 2010.
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