Severe declines of understory birds follow illegal logging in Upper Guinea forests of Ghana, West Africa

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dc.contributor.authorArcilla, N.
dc.contributor.authorHolbech, L.H.
dc.contributor.authorO'Donnell, S.
dc.date.accessioned2018-09-13T08:58:34Z
dc.date.available2018-09-13T08:58:34Z
dc.date.issued2015-08
dc.description.abstractWe investigated how legal logging history and recent illegal logging affected forest bird community structure in Ghana. Ghanaian forests belong to West Africa’s highly fragmented Upper Guinea rain forests, part of a global priority “biodiversity hotspot” under intense pressure from anthropogenic degradation. Between 1995 and 2010, officially-reported legal logging intensities increased up to ∼600%, while illegal logging, which now accounts for 80% of timber extraction in Ghana, has driven logging intensities to ∼6 times greater than the maximum sustainable rate. We collected data in 2008–2010 and used a comparable dataset collected in 1993–1995 to assess impacts of recent logging on understory bird communities in large forest fragments (100–524 km2) in southwest Ghana. Forest understory bird species abundance declined by >50% during this period. Species richness also showed declining trends. Whereas analysis based on data collected in 1993–1995 estimated a partial post-logging recovery of the understory bird community at that time, data from 2008–2010 showed no indication of post-logging recovery, likely due to ongoing illegal logging following intensive legal logging operations. Forest generalist species and sallying insectivores declined significantly in logged compared to unlogged forests. These severe declines of Upper Guinea forest understory birds indicate the rapidly deteriorating conservation status of a biodiversity hotspot and could signal collapsing ecosystem processes. Immediate conservation actions are urgently required to protect surviving forest fragments from further degradation and avian declines.en_US
dc.identifier.otherVolume 188,Pages 41-49
dc.identifier.otherhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2015.02.010
dc.identifier.urihttp://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/24113
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherBiological Conservationen_US
dc.subjectTropical foresten_US
dc.subjectIllegal loggingen_US
dc.subjectUnderstory bird communityen_US
dc.subjectForest generalistsen_US
dc.subjectSallying insectivoresen_US
dc.subjectAbundanceen_US
dc.subjectSpecies richnessen_US
dc.titleSevere declines of understory birds follow illegal logging in Upper Guinea forests of Ghana, West Africaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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