Pseudoreplication in Tropical Forests and the Resulting Effects on Biodiversity Conservation |
| |
Authors: | BENJAMIN S. RAMAGE DOUGLAS SHEIL HANNAH M.W. SALIM CHRISTINE FLETCHER NUR‐ZATI A. MUSTAFA JOANN C. LURUTHUSAMAY RHETT D. HARRISON ELIZABETH BUTOD AHMAD DZAMIR DZULKIPLY ABD RAHMAN KASSIM MATTHEW D. POTTS |
| |
Affiliation: | 1. Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, , Berkeley, CA, 94720–3114 U.S.A.;2. Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation, , Kabale, Uganda;3. Center for International Forestry Research, , Bogor, 16000 Indonesia;4. School of Environment, Science, and Engineering, Southern Cross University, , Lismore, NSW 2480 Australia;5. Forest Research Institute Malaysia, 52109 Kepong, , Selangor, Malaysia;6. Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, , Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303 China |
| |
Abstract: | Tropical forest ecosystems are threatened by habitat conversion and other anthropogenic actions. Timber production forests can augment the conservation value of primary forest reserves, but studies of logging effects often yield contradictory findings and thus inhibit efforts to develop clear conservation strategies. We hypothesized that much of this variability reflects a common methodological flaw, simple pseudoreplication, that confounds logging effects with preexisting spatial variation. We reviewed recent studies of the effects of logging on biodiversity in tropical forests (n = 77) and found that 68% were definitively pseudoreplicated while only 7% were definitively free of pseudoreplication. The remaining proportion could not be clearly categorized. In addition, we collected compositional data on 7 taxa in 24 primary forest research plots and systematically analyzed subsets of these plots to calculate the probability that a pseudoreplicated comparison would incorrectly identify a treatment effect. Rates of false inference (i.e., the spurious detection of a treatment effect) were >0.5 for 2 taxa, 0.3–0.5 for 2 taxa, and <0.3 for 3 taxa. Our findings demonstrate that tropical conservation strategies are being informed by a body of literature that is rife with unwarranted inferences. Addressing pseudoreplication is essential for accurately assessing biodiversity in logged forests, identifying the relative merits of specific management practices and landscape configurations, and effectively balancing conservation with timber production in tropical forests. Pseudoreplicación en Bosques Tropicales y Efectos Resultantes Sobre la Conservación de Biodiversidad |
| |
Keywords: | beta diversity biodiversity conservation distance decay inference logging spatial autocorrelation Autocorrelació n espacial conservació n de la biodiversidad diversidad beta efecto de la distancia inferencia tala |
|
|