Article

Shifting agriculture supports more tropical forest birds than oil palm or teak plantations in Mizoram, northeast India

Authors:
  • Madhab Choudhury College
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Abstract

Conversion of tropical forests and diverse multicrop agricultural land to commercial monocultures is a conservation concern worldwide. In northeast India, landscapes under shifting agriculture (or jhum) practiced by tribal communities are increasingly being replaced by monoculture plantations (e.g., teak, oil palm). We compared oil palm and teak plantations, shifting agricultural fields, and forest fallows (0-8 yr regeneration) with tropical rainforest edge and interior sites in Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram, India. Twenty replicate transects were surveyed in each of the 5 study strata for vegetation structure, bird species richness and density, bird abundance, and species composition. Tree density and canopy and vertical structure were lowest in oil palm plantations, intermediate in teak plantations and jhum, and highest in rainforest sites. Tree density in jhum (4.3 stems per 100 m2) was much higher than in oil palm plantations (0.5 stems per 100 m2), but lower than in rainforest (6.8-8.2 stems per 100 m2), with bamboo absent in oil palm plantations and most abundant in regenerating jhum (25 culms per 50 m2). We recorded 107 bird species (94 forest species, 13 open-country species). Oil palm plantations had the lowest forest bird species richness (10 species), followed by teak plantations (38), while jhum (50) had only slightly lower species richness than the rainforest edge (58) and interior (70). Forest bird abundance in the jhum landscape was similar to that in rainforest, on average 304% higher than in oil palm plantations, and 87% higher than in teak plantations. Jhum sites were more similar in bird community composition to rainforest than were monocultures. Rapid recovery of dense and diverse secondary bamboo forests during fallow periods makes the shifting agricultural landscape mosaic a better form of land use for bird conservation than monocultures. Land use policy and conservation plans should provide greater support for shifting agriculture, while mandating better land use practices such as retention of forest remnants, native trees, and riparian vegetation in monoculture plantations.

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... The decadal rate of decrease in cycle of jhum and cultivated area is 0.15% per year (Adhikary et al., 2019). Further increase in population has caused replacement of shifting fields by monoculture plantations such as teak, oil palm, betel and rubber (Raman, 2001;Mandal and Raman, 2016). Shifting cultivation is a subject of debate till date as some ecologists questions the sustainability of the shifting practice due to clearing of primary and secondary forests, while others supports its existence when compared to monoculture, and other economic-oriented activities that are more critical drivers of deforestation, soil erosion and biodiversity loss. ...
... Shifting cultivation is a subject of debate till date as some ecologists questions the sustainability of the shifting practice due to clearing of primary and secondary forests, while others supports its existence when compared to monoculture, and other economic-oriented activities that are more critical drivers of deforestation, soil erosion and biodiversity loss. Although literatures are available quantifying the impact, changes and recovery pattern in floral and avifaunal diversity across successional gradient following shifting cultivation (Mandal and Raman, 2016;Raman, 2001), there has been a great paucity of research on the impact and recovery pattern of mammalian species. Teegalapalli et al. (2009) reported that till 2009 only 6 studies were available worldwide that were undertaken to understand the persistence of mammals in secondary forests developed due to shifting cultivation. ...
... While for several households it serve as source of income and the only means for livelihood sustenance for other it is the major cause of deforestation and soil degradation (Teegalapalli et al., 2009;Hossain, 2017;Yadav, 2013). Forest degradation along Dampa had aggravated in recent time due to indiscriminate forest clearance, lack of alternative livelihoods, mono-culture farming, shortening of the jhum fallow period etc. (Raman et al. 1998, Raman 2001Sati and Rinawma, 2014;Mandal and Raman 2016). In the study, it was evident that presence of anthropogenic food sources like Oryza sativa, Benincasa hispida, Ipomoea batatas, Colocasia esculenta, Cucumis sativus, Cucurbita pepo etc. in adjacent crop fields of DTR serves as drivers of mammalian distribution in peripheral areas of DTR. ...
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Shifting cultivation is a largely practiced agricultural technique in the north-eastern part of India. This has led the fragmentation of natural habitat for wildlife species. Impact of jhum cultivation on distribution of mammalian species was studied through transect survey for scat, camera trapping, and burrow counting. Barking deer (27%) and wild boar (24%) were most frequent visitors. Among the carnivores highest abundance (3-5 scat samples per jhum field) was recorded for leopard cat and Indian Palm civet. 2-5 years old abandoned jhum fields were recorded to be suitable habitat for movement of large herbivores. The frequency of scat decreased with age of the jhum >5 yrs. Road sides, trails and primary forest near the active jhum forest were actively visited by clouded leopard. The encounter rate for active and old burrows of rodents were highest in 1-2 years old/ recently abandoned jhum fields with a rate of 3.56 km2 and 2.68 km2 respectively. Camera trapping also resulted in 36 images of different animal species. Increased spatial heterogeneity promotes mammalian distribution.
... The conversion of forest to oil palm plantations leads to habitat loss and fragmentation, a reduction in the diversity and abundance of forest-dependent species, and the loss of ecosystem services (Mandal and Raman, 2016;Yaap et al., 2010). The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in their Red List of Threatened Species, asserts that oil palm plantations are a threat to 321 species (Meijaard et al., 2020), and its expansion is estimated to affect 64% of all threatened birds. ...
... Recording species of conservation value in the farm-bush indicates that it is more favorable to forest birds than oil palm plantations and has the potential to accommodate some forest birds. This finding aligns with similar research conducted in India by Mandal and Raman (2016). Farmbush has the potential to retain some of the biodiversity of primary forests if left undisturbed for a considerable period and this will attract forest-dependent species. ...
... Globally more than 80 million hectares of primary forest have declined since 1990, estimates from 2015 to 2020 show that 10 million hectares forest are being deforested every year (The State of the world forest, FAO 2020). Conversion of mature tropical forests to timber plantations (Like as teak, pine) or commercial crops (Like as rubber, oil palm) has reduced habitat for forest-dependent species, and reduced their diversity or abundance and increased fragmentation (Goodale et al. 2014, Mandal andRaman 2016). Adverse situations occur when intensive monocultures become overgrown, destroying and degrading the habitats of wild plants and animal species (Wilcove et al. 2013, Bregman et al. 2014, Newbold et al. 2014, Mandal and Raman 2016. ...
... Conversion of mature tropical forests to timber plantations (Like as teak, pine) or commercial crops (Like as rubber, oil palm) has reduced habitat for forest-dependent species, and reduced their diversity or abundance and increased fragmentation (Goodale et al. 2014, Mandal andRaman 2016). Adverse situations occur when intensive monocultures become overgrown, destroying and degrading the habitats of wild plants and animal species (Wilcove et al. 2013, Bregman et al. 2014, Newbold et al. 2014, Mandal and Raman 2016. Hevea brasiliensis (Natural Rubber) belongs to the euphorbiaceae family, this plant is a sturdy perennial plant and is native to the tropical rainforests of Central and South America (Bhowmik 2006). ...
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Over the past three decades, a large proportion of forest area in Khowai district of Tripura has been converted into a rubber plantation (Hevea brasiliensis) area. There is less information about the deleterious effect of such changes on non-human primate populations and plant diversity. To address this deficit, line transect and quadrat sampling programs were carried out in Khowai district of Tripura with the purpose of comparing non-human primate species diversity, number of individual primate species observed and also plant species diversity observed in the rubber plantation area and nearby forest area. Less number of non-human primate was observed in the rubber plantation area than in the forest area and individual numbers of tree, shrub and herb species were found to be maximum in the nearby forest area than in rubber plantation area. In shrub layer Shan-non and Simpson diversity index were higher in the forest area, whereas in herb layer, Shannon index was lower and Simpson index was higher in rubber plantation area. From this study it was divulge that, rubber plantation have harmful impact on non-human primate and plant species.
... Species classified as open-country species are those known to primarily occur in open habitat such as grassland, shrub habitat and non-canopied agricultural land uses. We used natural history information from the online database https://birdsoftheworld.org (Billerman et al., 2022), Raman et al. (1998), Mandal and Raman (2016) and field observations to classify species into the three forest specialization groups. ...
... Our finding that wooded land uses support high site use of birds across different forest specialization groups is consistent with other investigations conducted in agricultural landscapes with similar land uses. Studies from neighbouring landscapes (Borah et al., 2022;Mandal and Raman, 2016;Quazi and Ticktin, 2016) showed that species diversity of birds in regenerating secondary forests and agroforests were similar to that of old-growth forests. These land uses are characterized by low management and a natural forest successional trajectory, with their physiognomy and floristics resembling older forests over time (Raman et al., 1998), enabling support of high bird diversity (Quazi and Ticktin, 2016). ...
... Empirical evidence is mounting on the consequences of landscape change, which pronounces more on food security and biodiversity loss if monoculture of plantation agriculture is adopted 22,[24][25][26][27] . Such transitions, though, had a visible positive economic gain, for example, for several rubbergrowers, the majority of whom are still practising shifting cultivation (less lucrative agriculture). ...
... Similarly, conservation scientists in Arunachal Pradesh have warned against expanding oil palm plantations in the state 29,30 . Unsustainable oil palm expansion with short-term economic goals shall have biodiversity and social implications 25 . For example, the role of women in settled oil palm farming will be 'submissive' as their dynamic role in shifting cultivation. ...
... For instance, the New Land Use Policy of the northeast Indian hill state of Mizoram officially describes shifting cultivation as wasteful and has earmarked this land-use type for replacement with monoculture oil palm plantations 12 . Until 2018, Mizoram had planted 28,295 ha of oil palm 13 , largely at the expense of highly biodiverse forest-crop mosaics 14 . Other northeast Indian states are following suit, rapidly converting supposedly degraded landscapes into oil palm. ...
... The forests and swidden landscapes targeted for conversion to oil palm are rich in biodiversity and support vulnerable, forest-dependent species. There is a danger that oil palm expansion in northeast India could imperil highly biodiverse landscapes and globally threatened species, as has occurred elsewhere in the tropics 1 , while also compromising livelihoods and social security 8,12,14 . ...
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India is the world’s largest consumer and importer of palm oil. In an aggressive push towards self-sufficiency in vegetable oils, the Indian government is prioritizing the rapid expansion of domestic oil palm plantations to meet an expected doubling in palm oil consumption in the next 15 years. Yet the current expansion of oil palm in India is occurring at the expense of biodiversity-rich landscapes. Using a spatially explicit model, we show that at the national scale India appears to have viable options to satisfy its projected national demand for palm oil without compromising either its biodiversity or its food security. At finer spatial scales, India’s oil palm expansion needs to incorporate region-specific contingencies and account for trade-offs between biodiversity conservation, climate change, agricultural inputs and economic and social security. The policy decisions that India takes with respect to oil palm can substantially reduce future pressures to convert forests to oil palm plantations in the tropics globally. The current expansion of oil palm in India is occurring at the expense of biodiversity-rich landscapes. This study shows that on the national scale India has the potential to become self-sufficient in palm oil production without compromising either its biodiversity or its food security, while economic, social, political and nutritional factors will require attention at finer spatial scales.
... Birds as a taxon have been relatively better studied: numerous studies show loss of bird species due to land use change across many biomes. For instance, the impacts of land use change on bird diversity have been studied in various geographic contexts such as Amazon basin (Barlow et al., 2007;Srinivas and Koh, 2016), Eastern Himalaya (Mandal and Shankar Raman, 2016), Western Ghats in India and Sri Lanka (Sreekar et al., 2015) and Mexican highlands Carillo-Rubio et al., 2014). Declines in species abundance can be related largely to reduction in structural complexity and resources of forest habitats as well as alterations in predator-prey and competitive relations (Sol et al., 2020;Menon et al., 2019;Shochat et al., 2006). ...
... Globally, the replacement of natural forest with monocultures of tree species has been an important cause of biodiversity loss in different parts of the world (e.g. Srinivas and Koh, 2016;Calvino-Cancela, 2013;Mandal and Shankar-Raman, 2016). We find very similar patterns with respect to the chir pine forest stands in our study site, so that stands that are managed as monocultures show poor ability to host bird species. ...
Article
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Land use change is the most widespread driver of biodiversity loss in densely populated tropical countries. Biodiversity loss, in turn, results in changes in functional guilds responsible for various forest ecosystem services. It is thus necessary to understand the extent and types of biodiversity loss and functional guild alteration caused by land use change in order to facilitate sustainable land use policies. Here we study the effects of land use change on forest bird species and guilds in a human-dominated landscape in the Western Himalaya, India. We carried out systematic breeding-season surveys in six land use types within moist temperate forest: natural (protected) oak forest, degraded (lightly used) oak forest, lopped (heavily used) oak forest, pine forest, cultivation and built-up sites, in two adjoining landscapes, over two consecutive years. Our study shows moderate to drastic species loss in all modified land use types in comparison to natural oak forest. Species composition in modified land use types diverged significantly from natural oak; this effect was highest in cultivation and built-up sites and least in degraded forests. Compositional change in modified land uses occurred due to partial replacement of forest specialists with commensals and open country species, whereas abundance of forest generalists was relatively constant across the gradient. We also find a steep decline in the abundance of functional guilds such as pollinators, and insectivorous pest controllers in all modified land uses in comparison to natural oak forest. Our results have important implications for conservation in biodiverse mountain landscapes with significant human imprint. In particular, (a) low faunal diversity in monocultures and urban sites (b) drastic (50% loss or more) loss of forest specialists, pollinators and insectivores in degraded forests, monocultures and urbanised sites; and (c) the potential for degraded forest as refugia for forest species, are findings that can be globally applied to land use and conservation planning in human-dominated landscapes.
... Even when considering only secondary rainforest, which has regenerated on once-cleared and developed land, previous studies of bird community responses have also shown variable results. Worldwide, no difference in bird abundance was found between secondary and primary forest by either Mandal and Shankar Raman (2016) in India or Borges (2007) in Brazil. For species richness, Barlow, Mestre, Gardner, and Peres (2007) and Mulwa, Böhning-Gaese, and Schleuning (2012) reported higher values in old growth, whereas Johns (1991) found the reverse, while Tvardíková (2010) and Gilroy et al. (2014) found no difference. ...
... For species richness, Barlow, Mestre, Gardner, and Peres (2007) and Mulwa, Böhning-Gaese, and Schleuning (2012) reported higher values in old growth, whereas Johns (1991) found the reverse, while Tvardíková (2010) and Gilroy et al. (2014) found no difference. In contrast, the few studies which have compared bird species composition between secondary and primary rainforests have reported a significant shift (Barlow et al., 2007;Mandal & Shankar Raman, 2016). For feeding guild composition, Becker and Ágreda (2005) found that abundances of frugivorous birds were similar in secondary and primary forest, and Barlow et al. (2007) found that both arboreal and terrestrial insectivores were relatively more abundant in primary forest, whereas Reid, Harris, and Zahawi (2012) reported relatively higher abundance of terrestrial insectivores in replanted rainforest but no difference in frugivore abundance (or in overall species richness). ...
Article
We compared bird community responses to the habitat transitions of rainforest‐to‐pasture conversion, consequent habitat fragmentation, and post‐agricultural regeneration, across a landscape mosaic of about 600 km² in the eastern Australian subtropics. Birds were surveyed in seven habitats: continuous mature rainforest; two size classes of mature rainforest fragment (4–21 ha and 1–3 ha); regrowth forest patches dominated by a non‐native tree (2–20 ha, 30–50 years old); two types of isolated mature trees in pasture; and treeless pasture, with six sites per habitat. We compared the avifauna among habitats and among sites, at the levels of species, functional guilds, and community‐wide. Community‐wide species richness and abundance of birds in pasture sites were about one‐fifth and one‐third, respectively, of their values in mature rainforest (irrespective of patch size). Many measured attributes changed progressively across a gradient of increased habitat simplification. Rainforest specialists became less common and less diverse with decreased habitat patch size and vegetation maturity. However, even rainforest fragments of 1–3 ha supported about half of these species. Forest generalist species were largely insensitive to patch size and successional stage. Few species reached their greatest abundance in either small rainforest fragments or regrowth. All pastures were dominated by bird species whose typical native habitats were grassland, wetland, and open eucalypt forest, while pasture trees modestly enhanced local bird communities. Overall, even small scattered patches of mature and regrowth forest contributed substantial bird diversity to local landscapes. Therefore, maximizing the aggregate rainforest area is a useful regional conservation strategy.
... Unsustainable oil palm expansion with short-term economic goals will lead to both biodiversity and social issues in India (Mandal & Shankar Raman, 2016;Nagalimvoice, 2014;Srinivasan, 2014Srinivasan, , 2016. We recommend tackling this issue using an integrative framework involving Scientific research, Social measures, and Political actions (SSP framework). ...
... It has been shown that when compared with monoculture plantations, jhum-with a mosaic of forest patches at different stages of regeneration-is far better at maintaining biodiversity in larger landscapes. Moreover, these secondary forests are important habitats for endemic and endangered wildlife (Mandal & Shankar Raman, 2016). However, Indian government has been trying to convert jhum to intensive settled monoculture crops for the past six decades (Maithani, 2005;Malik, 2003). ...
Article
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India is the largest consumer and importer of palm oil in the world. Its demand for palm oil is expected to double by 2030, which cannot be sustained just by increasing the import quantity, as it would be exporting its biodiversity issues to the supplying countries. We support the Government of India’s views to expand oil palm cultivation in India. However, an aggressive push toward domestic oil palm cultivation at the expense of biodiversity is currently underway. Unsustainable expansion of oil palm cultivation in India with short-term economic goals will lead to both biodiversity and social issues. In this article, we outline India's position in the production and trade of palm oil. By reviewing the situation of Malaysia and Indonesia, we also propose necessary, workable solutions for sustainable oil palm cultivation in India. We recommend working within an integrative framework involving scientific research, social measures, and political actions: the ‘SSP framework.’ We believe that such an integrated approach is critical to achieve global sustainability targets from Paris Agreement at COP21 and 2015–2030 United Nation Sustainable Development Goals.
... As birds are solely dependent on flora and fauna of the habitats for feeding, roosting, breeding, etc., slight changes in the habitat structure can influence their diversity patterns (Paritsis & Aizen, 2008;Paudel & Šipoš, 2014;Casas et al., 2016). For example, changes in natural vegetation by exotic plantation alter bird diversity, assemblage, nesting (Shankar Raman & Sukumar, 2002;Chandrasekaran et al., 2014;Mandal & Shankar Raman, 2016). Since birds are sensitive to environmental changes, the data on the pattern of bird diversity and community structure can serve as ecological indicators (O'Connell et al., 2000;Alexandrino et al., 2016;Kirk et al., 2020). ...
Article
Birds are an important component of the food chain as they support associated fauna and their assemblage is dependent on the type of habitat. Changing environments, such as urbanization severely affects bird diversity and their ecology. However, natural green patches and artificial gardens could support significant bird diversity and help them to survive through. Composition of bird species in green patches of a particular urban area may vary depending on the size of the area and type of the vegetation. Bird diversity of five urban green patches in a metropolitan city, Pune, India was studied. Bird diversity was monitored at four urban sites (Panchawati, Saras Baug, Fergusson College, and Nigdi) and one natural hill forest site (Sinhagad valley). Food grid and residential status of the birds was also analyzed which were observed in all study sites. Bird assemblage at Sinhagad valley was distinct than other urban sites. Among the urban sites, Panchawati harbors the highest number of bird species while at Nigdi, we recorded the lowest number of bird species. All the sites were dominated by Passeriformes birds followed by Accipitriformes birds. All the urban sites support native bird species while Sinhagad valley supports native and migratory birds owing to its large area and natural forest coverage. Irrespective of the habitat, all sites predominantly support insectivore and omnivore birds. The results of the present study along with the other reports are useful for monitoring bird diversity, helpful to understand the impact of urbanization on bird assemblage, and prioritizing future conservation action plans.
... Despite its high economic value, oil palm has been accused of being the leading cause of biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia (Koh and Wilcove 2008;Vijay et al., 2016;Panjaitan et al., 2020;Qaim et al., 2020). Converting natural forest to oil palm plantations results in habitat loss, a reduction in the diversity and abundance of forest-dependent species, and the loss of ecosystem services (Yaap et al., 2010;Mandal and Raman, 2016). According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, oil palm plantations are a threat to 321 species (Meijaard et al., 2020). ...
... Commercial monocultures are known to harbour fewer bird species than natural forests within the same biome. Oil palm supports only 14% of the bird species that are seen in comparable rainforests in Mizoram 44 . Teak plantations harbour just 54% of rainforest bird species in Mizoram 44 and 50% of the total woodpecker species in old-growth stands of sal forests in Uttarakhand 23 . ...
Chapter
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The chapter discusses some of the major known human-caused threats to birds. - Long term trends in bird species
... This is evident from the policy of the neighbouring State, Mizoram in North-east India. The New Land Use Policy envisioned providing 120 000 families in 750 villages throughout the State with alternative settled and cash crop cultivation options (Singh, 1991;Mandal & Raman, 2016). Another instance of shifting cultivation being actively discouraged is promotion of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantations by State Governments in North-east India in shifting cultivation landscapes (Teegalapalli & Datta, 2016a). ...
Article
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Shifting cultivation involves a cycle of forest clearing, cultivation and a fallow phase. As the practice involves clearing forest, it is considered unsustainable and leads to soil fertility loss and erosion. While several variations of the practice exist, traditional communities undertake the practice systematically with relatively long fallow periods and are often knowledgeable about their landscape in terms of soil and its management. To better understand one such system, we quantified soil recovery following cultivation in terms of macronutrients and documented the traditional knowledge of the Adi community in a remote site in the Eastern Himalaya. We collected soil samples from three replicates, each from currently cultivated sites, uncut forest sites and successional sites 3, 12 and 25 yr following cultivation. Available nitrogen and phosphorus significantly increased, and there was an increasing trend in soil organic matter following cultivation. The Adi differentiated nine types of soil and preferred specific soil types for shifting and settled cultivation. We documented soil management and methods of soil fertility retention practised by the Adi. Their location of different crops in the field was based on the effect of the crop on soil fertility. Our research indicated that soil nutrient recovery was considerable following cultivation and that traditional shifting cultivators in the landscape were knowledgeable about their landscape in terms of soil diversity, undertaking practices to manage soil erosion and fertility. Future policies that will affect shifting cultivation in the region should acknowledge such systematic use of a landscape by traditional farming communities.
... Plantation agriculture requires extensive land and intensive labour, resulting in socioeconomic and ecological advantages and disadvantages (Hartemink, 2005;Mandal & Raman, 2016;Wickramagamage, 1998). In most cases, production at this scale is more economic and provides local employment and income. ...
Article
Established for biodiversity conservation, protected areas (PAs) have been downsized, downgraded, and/or degazetted for socioeconomic development including plantation agriculture. Although studies have highlighted causes, implications for biodiversity conservation, and the need for policies governing Protected Area Downsizing, Downgrading, and Degazettement (PADDD), no study has proposed a methodology to inform PADDD events to help decision making that balance economic growth pursuit with ecological and environmental commitments. A methodology based on land use change and forest patch analysis has been applied to Buvuma Island to guide the choice of PAs that can undergo PADDD as well as identification of new areas that can be declared as PAs. Our results revealed that, over the last decade, natural vegetation of Buvuma Island has been highly degraded with forest depletion from 45.0% in 2007 to 15.8% in 2016. About 65% of the initial forest cover were lost. The average yearly forest loss rate was 3.2% or 712.8 ha. A total number of 19 PAs covering 3103 ha including 2816 ha of existing PAs and 287 ha of identified forest patches were selected for biodiversity conservation. This flexible methodology can be applied at various spatial and temporal scale to ensure sustainable plantation agriculture development.
... These could be detected as land cover transitions from agriculture to forests, as shown in our results. Previous studies have shown that species, such as endangered trees and birds, could be conserved during this type of transition process (Mandal and Shankar Raman, 2016;Reang et al., 2022). ...
... After a fallow period, crop sites can be used for new agriculture (cutting and burning are performed again), for the formation of 'capoeira' (secondary forest), or even for pasture for livestock production (cattle), which is becoming the main local economic activity (Padoch & Pinedo-Vasquez, 2010;van Vliet et al., 2012). These practices turn shifting cultivation into a type of agriculture that harbours greater biodiversity in a landscape compared to that harboured by monocultures (Arroyo-Rodríguez et al., 2020;Mandal & Raman, 2016;Rerkasem et al., 2009). Such traditional practices, however, have been threatened by the intensification of agriculture and grazing (pastureland) in the Amazon in recent years (Padoch & Pinedo-Vasquez, 2010;van Vliet et al., 2012). ...
Article
Food production in Amazonian traditional societies often occurs through shifting cultivation that uses few pesticides and relies on ecosystem services provided by natural enemies. However, these sustainable agricultural practices are being threatened by increasing livestock and mechanised agriculture. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the conversion from Amazon Forest to anthropogenic land uses (shifting cultivation and pasture) on α‐ and β‐diversity, functional groups, and ant‐mediated predation. Three types of habitats were sampled: forest (eight sites), shifting cultivation (five sites) and pasture (seven sites). The ant assembly of each site was sampled using pitfall traps in the epigeic and hypogeic strata. Beetle larvae were used to evaluate the predation function. Negative effects on epigeic ants and functional groups were found to be greater in sites where anthropogenic land use was more intensive (pasture) than in those where it was less intensive (shifting cultivation). Furthermore, this change increased the predation of insects in shifting cultivation and pasture compared to that in forest. This increase in insect predation was due to high activity of Ectatomma brunneum Smith, 1858, an environmental indicator for shifting cultivation and pasture. The increase in the number of predations in shifting cultivation and pasture may be beneficial from the perspective of biological pest control. However, this relationship needs to be better understood because the high presence and predatory activity of Ectatomma brunneum in these environments may be one mechanism by which α‐ and β‐diversity decrease through antagonistic interactions and dominance.
... Most of the evergreen forests in the northeast region of Bangladesh, hilly terrain, and small hillocks [51] and a few deciduous forest areas, extend into Tripura [10]. Mizoram to the east of Bangladesh represents hilly wet-evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, and shifting agriculture (jhum), and timber (i.e., Tectona grandis) and oil palm (Elaeis guineesis) plantations in and around the forests [52]. The state of Assam, which shares the northeastern border with Bangladesh, is mainly a valley, which features semievergreen forests [53]. ...
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Bangladesh is at the ecological transition between the Indo-Himalayan and Indo-Chinese subregions. The country also has one of the highest human population densities in the world and only 6% remaining natural habitat, putting much of its biodiversity at risk. With more than 1455 species worldwide, bats are an important, but threatened, component of global biodiversity and provide critical ecosystem services. Yet, there is no comprehensive work on species occurrence, diversity, or richness of bats of Bangladesh. Here, we collated data on the bats of Bangladesh and states in neighboring countries from the available literature, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, and museum databases to assess the probability of occurrence of bat species in Bangladesh and created distribution maps for each species. We confirmed 31 species from 8 families, of which 22 were associated with voucher specimens and 9 recorded based on photographs, or human observation. A further 81 species were categorized as Highly Probable (38 species), Probable (33), and Possible (10) in Bangladesh based on the distribution in neighboring states and habitat preferences. The shortfall in confirmed versus potential species highlights the need for rigorous surveys to fully document and characterize the bat diversity of Bangladesh.
... The decisions are taken by the people who remain outside the Jhum spaces (Leblhuber, Shahnaz, and Vanlalhruaia 2012). Mandal and Shankar (2016) compared and reported the lowest bird species richness in oil palm and teak plantations compared to Jhum lands and natural forests in the core and buffer zones of Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram. The shifting cultivation area around the tiger reserve was planted with teak and oil palm plantations in response to the state's new land use policy. ...
Chapter
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Land use/land cover (LULC) change is a global concern; however, the process of the change varies from region to region, depending on the driving force. The rich and highly diverse forest ecosystems of northeast India have been facing tremendous threat due to several driving factors of LULC change (LULCC).Shifting cultivation, also known as Jhum, is a traditional agriculture system of the local communities of India’s northeast region (NER) for sustenance. It is an integral part of LULC in the region. Due to changing perception, now Jhum is regarded as a primary factor of LULCC in the region, leading to deforestation. Thus, a holistic view is required to understand the LULCC scenario for tackling rampant land use change in this region by identifying the appropriate driving factors. For this purpose, Barak basin of NER was selected as a study area. The case study used available LULC maps in GIS database to generate time series satellite images of the region from 1988 to 2016. Furthermore, in this study, Jhum cultivation was mapped by visual interpretations for 2020 to observe the Jhum trend from 1988 to 2020. The LULC mapping shows a decrease in dense (approximately 12%) and open forest (10%) and shifting cultivation has almost remained constant in the region. The rate of change within 5 km x 5 km grid shows approximately 25% of forest loss between 1988 and 2016 in some locations. Concurrently, the scrubland open category increased as high as 6%. Besides, rubber and tea plantation mapped using satellite image, the ground observations reveal monoculture/cash crop plantations spreading in the region which is perhaps an irreversible LULC change taking place in this region. This study also discusses various traditional sustainable management practices of the local communities, which were observed during ground surveys. Moreover, the study utilizes the geospatial technology in conjunction with ground-based surveys to understand LULCC in context of shifting cultivation in a prototypical site.
... The decisions are taken by the people who remain outside the Jhum spaces (Leblhuber, Shahnaz, and Vanlalhruaia 2012). Mandal and Shankar (2016) compared and reported the lowest bird species richness in oil palm and teak plantations compared to Jhum lands and natural forests in the core and buffer zones of Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram. The shifting cultivation area around the tiger reserve was planted with teak and oil palm plantations in response to the state's new land use policy. ...
Book
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Shifting cultivation, or is popularly known as Jhum in North East India, is being practised in Northeast India since time immemorial. However, time and again it has been observed that the tribal communities of the Northeast are discouraged from practicing Jhum due to the prevalent narrative that Jhum is primitive and unsustainable, which leads to biodiversity loss, habitat fragmentation, and carbon emission. However, new global research has challenged this view and recent publication of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) suggests the need for re-examination of such perceptions. Many scholars and researchers have pointed out the fact that Jhum is not merely an alternative method of farming but a form of landscape management that has not only evolved over centuries of experimentation but is also inseparable from the culture and the way of life of those who continue to practice Jhum. However, with modernization and changing society in Northeast India, this tradition is currently in transition and possibly declining due to increasing economic and financial aspirations of Jhum cultivators rather than by the environmental concerns associated with the practice. Hence, it becomes imperative to understand the role of shifting cultivation for sustainable development in the present context. Through this book volume, we envisage to gather wisdom pertaining to shifting cultivation in Northeast India, providing useful knowledge and lessons so that these traditional practices and knowledge can contribute to sustainable development in India and beyond.
... This suggests that teak plantations share a more similar soundscape to native forests sites than do palm plantations. This finding agrees with traditional biodiversity studies that show native forests to be most structurally complex and to hold the highest bird diversity, followed by teak plantations and finally oil palm, which has consistently been found to be the least structurally complex habitat and hold the poorest bird diversity (Mandal and Raman, 2016;Bennett et al., 2018). Although a different set of forestry plantations were studied, our results agree with those of Burivalova et al., (2018), where areas with higher human disturbance, such as cacao plantations, showed less acoustic activity during the dawn and dusk chorus. ...
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1. Fluctuations in the diel cycle, especially when compared across different land-use types, can reveal key changes in acoustic activity and the biological community. Yet few studies have assessed the effects of land use change on soundscapes across the diel cycle. The emergence of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) allows us to monitor landscapes over longer and continuous periods, providing data on temporal variability across the diel cycle. 2. Using AudioMoth acoustic recorders we collected data at 120 sites on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, across a gradient of land use intensity. Information was extracted from recordings using a suite of nine acoustic indices. Principal component analysis reduced the indices into two axes, the first reflecting acoustic activity in the mid frequency bands, where the majority of biotic sound is present, and the second, representing acoustic activity in the upper frequency bands and the ratio of activity between the lower and mid-frequency bands. 3. In disturbed land use types we found reduced acoustic activity during the characteristic dawn and dusk peaks in the diel cycle; known as the dawn and dusk chorus. Palm oil plantations showed a complete loss of these peaks, while teak plantations retained evidence of a weaker dawn and dusk chorus. Restricting the analysis to narrower temporal windows masks these differences among habitats. 4. Synthesis and applications. Evaluating acoustic diversity at specific times of the day, which is common practice in bioacoustics studies, may be misleading, as pronounced changes in acoustic activity at dawn and dusk were obscured. By assessing trends across the diel cycle, we can gain a much better representation of the changes in acoustic activity. Our results show that in disturbed ecosystems there is a deviation in acoustic activity from that seen in a healthy native forest ecosystem, suggesting that there are likely changes within the biotic community in these ecosystems.
... In controlled, or 'prescribed', burning, as in the case of jhum, a recent study by Radford et al. (2020) found that the early dry-season burning of up to 30% of total area resulted in beneficial animal responses, whereas late dry-season burning proved largely detrimental to vulnerable species. Mandal and Raman (2016) reported that more species of tropical forest-dwelling birds are supported by jhum than by oil palm or teak plantations. ...
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The values and roles of biodiversity at the grassroots level get little attention and are usually ignored, despite mounting evidence that effective relationships between biodiversity and indigenous people are critical to both ecological integrity and rural survival. ‘Jhumscape’ (the landscape of shifting cultivation) can contribute a great deal to enriching agrobiodiversity and ensuring food security, but this system of cultivation has been mostly neglected. The objective of the present study was twofold: (1) to quantify the agrobiodiversity of a jhumscape in the Eastern Himalayas, especially its contribution to food and nutritional security, and (2) to examine the jhum practices in view of the agroecological principles recently proposed by the Food and Agricultural Organization. Applying mixed-method research and using primary data from 97 households representing eleven villages, transect walks, and interviews of key informants, the plant diversity maintained in a traditional jhum system by the indigenous people was seen to comprise of 37 crops including many landraces and four non-descript breeds of livestock. The food basket was supplemented with wild edible plants collected from fringes of forests and fallow lands that are a part of the jhumscape. Diversity in food groups and the share of expenditure on food in the total budget indicates that the indigenous people are secure in terms of food and nutrition. Jhum agroecological practices such as zero tillage and organic mixed-crops farming based on traditional ecological knowledge helps to maintain a high level of agrobiodiversity. Using biodiversity more effectively for agroecological transition does not mean merely returning to traditional practices but requires a deeper understanding of how agrobiodiversity contributes to better nutrition, greater food security, and sustainability. Although some principles and local practices related to jhum are applicable globally, others may be specific to the region and the culture.
... In contrast to agroforestry orchards, oil palm and rubber tree plantations were planted with single commodity crop species with uniform stand age and heavy herbicide application to control understory vegetation (especially in oil palm plantations). Thus, the simplified habitat structure of both monoculture plantations could be less attractive for some bird species, particularly for associated forest species (Aratrakorn et al., 2006;Jambari et al., 2012;Mandal et al., 2016;Azhar et al., 2017;Mohd-Azlan et al., 2019). ...
Article
The suitability of agricultural matrices to support biodiversity, including birds, varies depending on agricultural land-use. In Southeast Asia, monoculture plantations of oil palm and rubber tree have replaced the native rainforests and displaced forest biodiversity. Compared to such single functionality plantations, agroforestry orchards may provide a more complex habitat for biodiversity via polyculture and less intensive farming practices. However, little is known about the conservation value of agroforestry orchards for biodiversity. Here, we investigated the effects of different agricultural habitats on avian biodiversity in Peninsular Malaysia. Using point count method, we assessed bird community in three focal agricultural habitats (i.e., agroforestry orchards, oil palm, and rubber tree plantations). From 6,248 bird encounters, we recorded 110 species comprising 43 families. Bird species richness and abundance were significantly greater in agroforestry orchards than the other two agricultural habitats. Bird abundance was similar in oil palm and rubber tree plantations, but the latter supported significantly more species. Agricultural land-use type had significant effects on certain bird dietary groups (i.e., frugivores, insectivores, omnivores, and granivores). Overlap in bird species composition between habitats was rather evident, though some bird groups were more represented than others in the different habitat types. Our key findings may imply the importance of habitat heterogeneity in relation to vegetation structural complexity (as commonly found in fruit orchards) on farmland birds. Our data suggest that incorporating diverse native fruit trees into large-scale monoculture plantations could promote habitat heterogeneity and floristic composition, which can improve bird conservation and ecosystem services (e.g., pest insect control).
... Besides crop diversity, Jhum fallows also serve as a habitat for wildlife as well as wild useful species such as medicinal plants, wild edible plants, fodder plants and alike. Studies in and around the Dampa Reserve Forest in Mizoram revealed that the diversity of bird species in Jhum sites were more similar to rainforest than were monocultures (Mandal and Raman, 2016). They also argued that rapid recovery of dense and diverse secondary bamboo forests during fallow periods makes the shifting agricultural landscape mosaic a better form of land use for bird conservation than monocultures. ...
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North-East India, which falls under the Indian Eastern Himalayan region and forms part of two global biodiversity hotspots, is well-known for its rich diversity of flora, fauna, cultures and traditional knowledge systems. Agriculture is the main occupation of the communities living in this region supplemented by utilization of wild useful species from the nearby forests. Traditional agriculture in North-East India follows mixed cropping pattern through multi-cropping, crop rotation, use of multipurpose nitrogen (N)-fixing trees, along with protection of semi-domesticated and wild biodiversity, including medicinal plants, wild edible fruits and vegetables, fodder plants and other useful species. Presently, there has been a gradual shifting from subsistence cultivation to commercial agriculture driven by market forces and modernization, leading to transition from traditional to intensive agriculture and monoculture of cash crops. This has resulted in reduced cultivation of local crop varieties and disappearance of the associated traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Therefore, the present study attempts to review the contribution of traditional agricultural practices to agrobiodiversity conservation and sustainable natural resource management. Relevant traditional practices such as shifting (Jhum) cultivation systems, bamboo-drip irrigation, paddy-cum-fish cultivation, traditional agroforestry systems of different Indigenous communities residing in different states of North-East India were mentioned in this review. It is undeniable that TEK was developed by communities through many centuries by trial-and-error methods to conform to the local climate, topography, ecology and socio-cultural relevance to the concerned Indigenous communities. This knowledge, therefore, has a great scope for improvement by integration with scientific knowledge for transforming into sustainable agricultural systems in the face of climate change adaptation and mitigation of the vulnerable mountain communities of the Himalayan region.
... The local pool of species in disturbed or fragmented tropical forest landscapes comprises both birds affiliated to open-country habitats and forest-specialist birds, with the former tending to be widespread species that colonise disturbed areas, and the latter including more forest-specialist and range-restricted species (Raman, 2001;Rutt et al., 2019). In contrast to open-country species, rainforest birds tend to be more affected by habitat alteration (Muthuramkumar et al., 2006;Perera et al., 2017;Raman & Sukumar, 2002), mining (Deikumah et al., 2014), farming (Otieno et al., 2011) or conversion to monoculture plantations (Mandal & Raman, 2016). While considerable research exists on recovery of tropical bird communities following NR and secondary forest succession (Acevedo-Charry & Aide, 2019), studies have not examined differences in bird recovery with AR of tropical forest and how responses of forest and opencountry species vary (but see Ansell et al., 2011). ...
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Ecological restoration has emerged as a key strategy for conserving tropical forests and habitat specialists, and monitoring faunal recovery using indicator taxa like birds can help assess restoration success. Few studies have examined, however, whether active restoration (AR) achieves better recovery of bird communities than natural regeneration, or how bird recovery relates to habitat affiliations of species in the community. In rainforests restored over the past two decades in a fragmented landscape (Western Ghats, India), we examined whether bird species richness and community composition recovery in 23 actively restored (AR) sites were significantly better than recovery in paired naturally regenerating (NR) sites, relative to 23 undisturbed benchmark (BM) rainforests. We measured eight habitat variables and tested whether bird recovery tracked habitat recovery, whether rainforest and open‐country birds showed contrasting patterns, and assessed species‐level responses to restoration. We recorded 92 bird species in 460 point‐count surveys. Rainforest bird species richness was highest in BM, intermediate in AR and lowest in NR. Contrastingly, open‐country bird species richness was least in BM, intermediate in AR and highest in NR. Bird community composition varied significantly across treatment types with composition in AR in transition from NR to BM. Bird community dissimilarity between sites was positively related to dissimilarity in habitat structure and floristics, and geographical distance between sites. Variance partitioning indicated that structural and floristic dissimilarity explained 90% of the variation in community composition. Indicator species analysis revealed significant associations of 34 species with one or more treatment types. Species associated with BM and AR treatment types were all rainforest species, while only 38% of species associated with AR and NR treatment types were rainforest species. Synthesis and applications. We show that active restoration (AR) of degraded fragments benefits rainforest birds and reduces the infiltration of open‐country birds, and highlight the importance of considering rainforest and open‐country species separately. In human‐modified tropical rainforest landscapes, AR of degraded fragments fosters partial recovery and complements protection of mature forests for bird conservation.
... Specialists have insisted that scientists and policy-makers could try to find the benefits and costs of secondary forests, such as ecosystem services and socio-cultural values. Also, governments could stimulate research for increasing productivity while keeping acceptable biodiversity levels and preserving forested landscapes for farmers' livelihoods and wellbeing (Fox et al., 2000;Mandal and Shankar Raman, 2016;Mukul and Herbohn, 2016). ...
Thesis
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Shifting cultivation systems (SCSs) have been practiced all over the tropics for centuries as the primary subsistence strategy for smallholders. However, since the mid-20th century, SCSs have been submitted to changes, driven by a combination of geographic, economic, socio-political, and demographic factors. Consequently, land use changes lead to agricultural intensification and the replacement of more profitable and permanent practices. The implementation of forest conservation policies (FCPs) is one of the changing drivers to SCSs. They have been designed to reduce or eliminate it, criminalize traditional practices, restrict resources access, displace locals, and increase inequalities and land conflicts. In Brazil, SCSs have been practiced by smallholders and indigenous groups, including Quilombolas, descendants of African enslaved who rebelled against the Portuguese regime. After the abolition of slavery, they remained spread over the country without any state legitimation. Their recognition and rights to ancestors land were possible only in 1988, with the Brazilian Constitution. The Ribeira Valley (Southeastern Brazil) is home to dozens of Quilombos, one of the most significant Atlantic Forest remnants, and high biodiversity. Its first Quilombos were formed in the 18th century and relied on SCS to survive, relatively isolated, up to the 1950s. However, in the context of SCS changes, Quilombos are under a transitional process in different dimensions, including constraints to their traditions by FCPs, generating conflicts. Inspired by this challenging scenario, the Thesis goals are to evaluate Quilombolas’ socioeconomic conditions and the perception of FCPs implementation and integrate two modeling tools. The tools will model the impact of agricultural transitions on family wealth, income, landscape structure, and tree community β diversity and model the impact of FCPs over the equal economic and ecological dimensions. Socioeconomic data were gathered in 2017 in 14 communities through interviews of 164 farmers. Quilombolas’ perception of FCPs and constraints for agricultural practice were investigated. The modeling implementation used MPMAS (Mathematical Programming-based Multi-Agent Systems) to simulate land use change in agriculture and forestry. MPMAS was integrated (through land use maps) with a Generalized Dissimilarity Modeling tool (GDM) to predict beta diversity as a function of environmental variation. The modeling exercise was implemented for Pedro Cubas territory, a Quilombo with 52 households located in Eldorado (SP). A combination of primary and secondary data from different sources was used, including a socioeconomic census of 2014 and a collection of tree data in 2016. Five economic/political scenarios were created for comparisons, with a baseline and four different counterfactual situations, varying in market access and FCPs versions. Seven yield curve scenarios and 30 Sobol’ repetitions were combined, totalizing 1050 simulations. A tradeoff analysis was applied over the political scenarios. MPMAS sensitivity/uncertainty analyses revealed variation on staples consumptions among yield curve scenarios, the sensitivity of income to different parameters, and each income source relevance. The GDM calibration highlighted the importance of climate predictors for tree species, indicating vulnerability to potential climate variability. Results revealed that only 32% of the families were practicing SCS in 2017, but it was still relevant for food security. 83% of the interviewees were unsatisfied with the FCPs, especially the timing of issuing the licenses for SCS. The political scenarios comparison indicates that agricultural intensification caused an improvement in average income. Still, it was accompanied by economic inequality, diminished rotation of plots, lower diversity of habitats, and a less permeable landscape structure (on fallows and because of the emergence of pasture and perennial areas). GDM results showed a significant change in landscape structure/tree community for at least 10% of the territory in the last decades. Regarding FCPs implementation, scenario comparison showed that well-being conditions improved when FCPs were excluded, although more ecological impacts occur. However, such effects refer to only 2.6% of the territory where 90% is covered by mature forest, and GDM indicates that the total ß diversity would not be significantly affected. The tradeoff analysis showed that FCPs are significant for conservation in the present context when perennials and pasture areas occur. In the isolated scenario case, when SCS is the only economic activity, a combination of good well-being and conservation performances was found, suggesting it is causing even lower environmental impacts. I recommend more flexible policies for SCS implementation in the Quilombos in general, for the potential of improving well-being conditions by impacting a small share of the territories. FCPs flexibilization would be even more relevant to the communities that don’t have access to alternatives to SCS.
... Plantation of the Eucalyptus in the evergreen forest showed the displacement of birds typical to that habitat (Daniels et al. 1990). An exotic plantation in natural vegetation reduces the richness of birds (Mandal and Shankar Raman 2016), changes avian assemblages (Shankar Raman and Sukumar 2002), and affects nesting success of birds (Chandrasekaran et al. 2014). Plantation of exotic plants in native vegetation reduces the richness of native plants, alters the structure of natural ecosystems (Kohli et al. 2004;Punalekar et al. 2010). ...
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Exotic plants are preferred in plantation forestry due to its fast growth rate and low maintenance. These plantations affect the natural vegetation and thus the fauna dependent on it. In our study, we assessed the impact of exotic plantations on savanna birds of Pune Metropolitan City (PMC). The original vegetation of the hilly region is a savanna type; through plantation forestry, exotic plants were planted in the savanna vegetation present over the hillocks in the PMC. We studied bird assemblages and vegetation in both savanna vegetation and exotic plantations. Bird sampling was done in late monsoon, winter and summer season. We found 41.67 ± 10.49 (Mean ± SD) bird species in savanna patches and 15.8 ± 6.75 bird species in the exotic plantations. The vegetational study showed that exotic plantations have the lower richness and high dominance of woody plant species compared to savanna patches. We noted an increased percentage of omnivore birds, lower percentage of predator and herbivore birds in the exotic plantations as compared to savanna patches. Our results demonstrate that exotic plantations have changed native plant community structure which was present before plantation, and has become a poorer habitat for bird species. We recommend that exotic plants should not be preferred for plantation forestry. Currently, savannas are under threat of non-scientific plantation forestry, therefore awareness among citizens, policymakers, forest officials are necessary for its conservation.
... There is a great ecological disparity between natural forests compared to the oil palm monoculture as plantations are typically simplistic in structure; lower canopy height, little to no undergrowth, typically uniform in oil palm age composition, more prone to climatic fluctuations and have greater human disturbances (Turner and Foster, 2006;Corley and Tinker, 2008). Various studies have proven the monoculture landscape to be a poor habitat for most species (Tscharntke et al., 2005;Maddox, 2007;Fayle et al, 2010;Srinivas and Koh, 2016;Mandal and Raman, 2016). However, depending on the plantation's structural attributes (e.g. ...
... O. Anand et al., 2010;Mandyam Osuri Anand et al., 2008;Bali, Kumar, & Krishnaswamy, 2007;Chang et al., 2018;Karanth et al., 2016). Impacts of shifting cultivation (jhum) and palm oil plantation on native biodiversity has been studied in Mizoram (Mandal & Shankar Raman, 2016;Raman, 2001). Some recent work on agroecosystems has been reported from the Greater Himalaya (Elsen et al., 2017(Elsen et al., , 2016 Like croplands, rangelands also cover over about 25% of global landmass, and in variety of forms including secondary grasslands, savannahs, woodlands, scrublands etc. (Ellis, 2011;Jeuken et al., 2012) But in contrast to agriculture, studies investigating effects of livestock grazing on biodiversity have been fewer and have mostly focused on plants (Jeuken et al., 2012;Rutherford & Powrie, 2013;Song et al., 2016;Yan & Lu, 2015) and mammals (Eccard, Walther, & Milton, 2000;Song et al., 2016), with relatively fewer studies on birds (Kamp et al., 2011). ...
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1. The Indian Thar desert has seen a massive loss of grassland habitat in the last few decades. The main driver of this habitat loss has been the large-scale change in land-use from pastoralism to agriculture, leading to expansion of cultivated land over grasslands. This expansion, further compounded by a simultaneous rise in livestock population has drastically increased grazing pressure on the remaining rangelands. To complicate things further, irrigation schemes (notably the Indira Gandhi Canal) have led to intensification of agriculture in many areas. Protected area network in this landscape is minimal and ineffective, making the multiple-use agro-pastoral landscapes very important for conservation of wildlife. The largest protected area in the landscape – the “DNP WLS” – is also a multiple-use landscape and home to more than 50k people whose livelihood is tied to the federal mandate of conservation in the sanctuary. Understanding the impact of land use change on native biodiversity is thus very important for conservation of biodiversity in this critical habitat. In this context, my study tries to find effects of land-use change on community structure of birds in the arid grassland of Jaisalmer district in the Thar Desert. 2. Understanding ecology or distribution and abundance of species is incomplete without holistically understanding the patterns and processes occurring at the community level. To this end, I explored the patterns of bird community structure in the Thar Desert and tried to understand how these properties change with land-use driven habitat change, by comparing fundamental properties of biological communities like species richness, abundance and composition. Additionally, I tried to find out potential habitat correlates of these properties, so as to shed some light on the processes that might be driving community assembly in response to land-use change. 3. Bird community structure: My results indicate that local-scale species richness, abundance and composition did not differ significantly between protected grasslands, rangelands and rain-fed croplands, during either of the seasons. However, intensive irrigated croplands had a notably different community structure with higher species richness and abundance, during both winter and summer. The change is community structure of irrigated croplands was influenced by the change in native species along with ingression of newly colonised species. Most of the newly colonised species were restricted to areas with intensive agriculture where their survival was potentially facilitated by the new microhabitats created by irrigation and associated changes (Rahmani & Soni, 1997). 4. Regional species pool: Intensive agriculture increased the overall species of birds in the region by sustaining newly colonised bird species; while the number of native species in this pool was only marginally lower than protected grasslands and comparable to all the other land-uses in both the seasons. Considering both the seasons together, protected grasslands had the highest naïve and estimated number of native species while the naïve and estimated number of native species in other three land-uses – Rangelands, rainfed croplands and irrigated croplands – was only marginally lower. This signifies that most species found in the region can use the entire gradient of land-use types at their current levels of intensification. Although this result by itself does not indicate that, all land-use types can sustain all the native species. 5. Seasonality of patterns: In winter, protected grasslands, rangelands and rainfed croplands had similar bird communities, which together were significantly different from the communities in irrigated croplands. The same pattern repeated in summer, but the magnitude of difference between bird communities in intensive agriculture and other land-uses was much lower. This pattern was correlated to the pattern shown by vegetation structure of intensive agriculture, which also became more similar to other land-uses after harvesting of crops in the summer. This potentially suggests that bird communities are influenced by vegetation structure and areas with similar vegetation structure would have similar bird communities. 6. Habitat correlates of species richness and bird community composition: In both the seasons, species richness was positively associated with the foliar volume of woody vegetation and negatively associated with forb volume (which in turn was negatively correlated with grass volume). During winter, species richness was positively related to crop volume and during summer, with compositional diversity of vegetation. Community composition like richness was influenced significantly by woody plant foliar biomass in both the seasons. Crop volume also had a significant influence on bird communities during both winter and summer, whereas grass volume was significantly influential only in winters. 7. Conservation implications: This study corroborates many others in indicating that low-impact land-uses are important secondary habitats for conservation of grassland species (Dutta & Jhala, 2014; Wright, Lake, & Dolman, 2012). The inferences further support the commonly advocated approach of conserving grasslands at a landscape scale by strategically placing them as mosaics of low-impact agro pastoral land-use with small protected areas embedded within them (Dutta & Jhala, 2014; Dutta, Rahmani, & Jhala, 2011; Singh et al., 2006)
... Bird species specialized to primary forest, their natural habitat, will be negatively affected during disturbances and may be replaced by other species associated with modified habitats. Species responses to disturbances are variable and dependent on factors such as species functional traits including body mass, forest habitat specialization, dietary guild, migratory status, global distribution size, and foraging strata (Mandal & Shankar, 2016;Newbold et al., 2013). As trait composition differs between communities (Kissling, Sekercioglu, & Jetz, 2012), sensitivity of communities to land-use change also differs. ...
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Birds are crucial in maintaining the balance of many ecosystems and provide various ecological services. Understanding their sensitivity to human disturbances should be prioritized in understudy areas for effective conservation practices. Using mist nets, this study characterized mostly understory bird communities (insectivorous, frugivorous, granivorous, and nectarivorous birds) in three habitat types (pristine forest, selectively logged forest, and young oil palm plantation) in the Talangaye rainforest, Southwest Cameroon. A total of 845 birds belonging to 27 families and 85 species were recorded in the three habitats after 294 h of mist netting. Overall, the mist-netted community was largely dominated by insectivores, followed by frugivores, nectarivores, granivores, and carnivores. Although mean species richness, abundance, and Simpson diversity index did not vary significantly among habitat types, mean species abundance and diversity index decreased in selectively logged forest and young oil palm plantation and species richness increased in both habitats. The species richness, abundance, and diversity index for insectivorous and frugivorous birds were lowest in the young oil palm plantations. For granivores, species richness and abundance increased following selective logging and the establishment of oil palm plantation. The highest mean species richness and diversity index in nectarivores were recorded in the young oil palm plantations. The study showed that selective logging and establishment of oil palm plantation had variable effects on the bird communities in the Talangaye rainforest. Also, the frugivorous birds appeared to be more sensitive to both types of disturbances, while the insectivores were more sensitive to habitat loss/conversion.
... Hornbills are considered important mainly for their aesthetic value (59%), cultural value (13%) and the rest (28%) -for their meat, medicinal purposes, feathers and casques. Hunting of Hornbills is taboo in many areas as it is in Arunachal Pradesh (Datta, 2009b) Shifting cultivation landscapes supported an impressive diversity of forest species and also fared better than plantations in retaining habitat structure and in the density of native tress, bamboo and forest birds (Mandal and Raman, 2016). Moreover, it does not pose an imminent threat to the conservation of Hornbills and the distribution of hornbill as they pertain to primary forest. ...
Thesis
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Manipur is a part of a global biodiversity hotspot and two endemic bird areas. In this study at Kailam Wildlife Sanctuary (187.50 sq. km), a survey was carried out for five Hornbill species that occur here: Oriental Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros albirostris, Austen’s Brown Hornbill Anorrhinus austeni, Wreathed Hornbill Rhyticeros undulates, Rufous-necked Hornbill Aceros nipalensis and Great Hornbill Buceros bicornis. Only three hornbill species were sighted during the study period: Oriental Pied Hornbill (n=10), Brown Hornbill (n=15-21) and Wreathed Hornbill (n=2). However, the questionnaire survey conducted suggests that all five Hornbill species are present in the area. Oriental Pied Hornbill is widely distributed in the area while Brown Hornbill is found in dense forest patches. Wreathed Hornbill is rare as they are seasonal visitors. Rufous-necked Hornbill and Great Hornbill are rarely seen. A checklist of birds was also prepared where a total of 145 bird species from 34 families were recorded. During the three month survey of status and distribution of Hornbills, Wreathed Hornbill was sighted only once, Brown hornbill was sighted four times and Oriental Pied Hornbill seven times. Most sightings were in primary forests and riverine forests except one sighting in secondary forest. Types of disturbances recorded for the area of sighting are hunting, logging, vehicular road, trapping and forest fire. Hunting is the most common disturbance found at every site, followed by trapping, logging, vehicular road, and forest fire. All hornbill species were observed within the altitudinal range of 450-1500 m. Oriental Pied Hornbills were observed between 450- 750 m, Brown Hornbills between 750-1000 m and Wreathed Hornbill between 1400-1500 m. In this study, peoples’ awareness about the protected area, perception and attitude towards conservation were examined through questionnaire survey. A total of 129 respondents from six villages were sampled. The mean family size of respondents (82.95% Male, 17.05% Female) is 6 where 90% of the respondents were literate of which 81% had studied at least till the primary level. There is no significant difference between gender and education (χ2 (3) = 3.855, p > 0.05). The primary occupation of the respondents is shifting cultivation and their average annual income is around 40,900 INR where 10.01% comes from livestock and another 10.74% from resources collected from the forest, the majority of which is from fish and timber. Gender, family and landholding does not have any significant relationship with annual income (p > 0.05) however educational qualification shows significant effect on annual income; χ2 (6) = 12.692, p < 0.05. Firewood/Fuelwood is the most common source of energy and is used by every household. Of the 129 respondents 82.95% (n=107) were aware that the area is a proposed Wildlife Sanctuary while the rest 17.05 (n=22) were not aware about it. Males and females differed in their awareness about the proposed wildlife sanctuary (p < 0.005). More males (86%) were aware about the creation of a protected area compared to females (55%). A significant difference was also found in the number of Hornbill species seen by male and female respondents (p < 0.001). Only 1% of male respondents have never seen any hornbill species compared to 18% for females (residual value = 3.4). The majority of respondents think that the creation of KWLS would deprive them of their livelihood (n=107) and would not create opportunities (n=77). 60% (n=77) of the respondent thinks that wildlife needs to be protected. Meanwhile 87% (n=112) are interested in tourism and 59% (n=76) of the total respondent thinks they will benefit from tourism. To improve relations between forest department and local people, a majority of the respondents feel that they should involve local people in decision making and management plans (42%), followed by employment (18% ) - employment as official (9%) and secondary employment (9%) – awareness campaigns (13%), others (15%) such as alternative livelihood, schemes, etc. and the rest (12%) do not know. The result from the survey suggests that hunting (41%), habitat loss (22%) and no awareness (19%) among the local people are the major factors that undermine conservation and the rest 10% of the respondents think that low income and poor livelihood opportunities also undermine conservation efforts. Hunting by local communities is a direct threat to the survival of Hornbills while logging in primary forest is a major threat to their habitat and construction of road in logged areas provides easy accessibility for hunting. Therefore, the need of the hour is to promote research based and community based approach towards conservation. This study is an attempt at creating awareness through research-based approach.
... Currently, palm plantations occupy approximately 17 million ha and their potential cultivation surface could exceed 200 million ha (Pirker et al., 2016). The establishment of these plantations has severe impacts on tropical systems, such as deforestation, pollution, droughts, conflicts over the land, and loss of biodiversity (Fitzherbert et al., 2008;Koh and Wilcove, 2008;Foster et al., 2011;Savilaakso et al., 2014;Lees et al., 2015;Mandal and Shankar, 2016). Additionally, biofuel-oriented crops (such as oil palm), could replace food crops and created food insecurity in the countries where it is cultivated (Carrere, 2006). ...
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Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) monocrop has increased worldwide. Plantations have had an impact on tropical landscapes decreasing natural vegetation or replacing other crops. The cultivation of oil palm in Mexico increased and this trend will likely continue. However, there are no documents about the regions where this crop has increased and its impact on the local land use dynamics. This information would help guide public policies. This study had the following objectives: 1) to analyze the trend in the change in the surface where oil palm has been cultivated in Mexico over the last 30 years; and 2) to evaluate changes to land use in municipalities with extensive cultivation surfaces. For this, government data was analyzed and palm plantations in four of the municipalities with major palm plantations were identified. Additionally, Geographic Information Systems were used to conduct a preliminary analysis of the area and of the covers that were replaced. In Mexico, the area in which palm is cultivated has increased seventyfold (from 1318 to 90 118 ha) from 1985 to 2016. Most of those plantations are located in Chiapas, Campeche, Tabasco, and Veracruz. Overall, palm plantations replaced other agricultural systems. In some municipalities, this area exceeded or was the same as the area used for corn (Zea mays) and sorghum (Sorghumn spp.) crops. This might have repercussions on food security. Although on a smaller scale, the expansion of palm crops also boosted the loss and transformation of natural vegetation in some of the municipalities that were part of this study.
... Accurately defining and delineating the different plantation crops is essential for land-use mapping not only to avoid conflation of other annual/perennial crop area or old-growth forest with tree plantations, but also because the type of tree plantation could also have different repercussions for livelihoods, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, hydrological services, and their trade-offs. For example, pine and teak plantations in some areas are seen as beneficial [84], while industrial scale palm oil and rubber expansion is seen as contributing negatively to both biodiversity as well as livelihoods [44,85]. Explicating this multi-dimensionality is what provides land-use mapping with its public value. ...
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Attempts to study shifting cultivation landscapes are fundamentally impeded by the difficulty in mapping and distinguishing shifting cultivation, settled farms and forests. There are foundational challenges in defining shifting cultivation and its constituent land-covers and land-uses, conceptualizing a suitable mapping framework, and identifying consequent methodological specifications. Our objective is to present a rigorous methodological framework and mapping protocol, couple it with extensive fieldwork and use them to undertake a two-season Landsat image analysis to map the forest-agriculture frontier of West Garo Hills district, Meghalaya, in Northeast India. We achieve an overall accuracy of ~80% and find that shifting cultivation is the most extensive land-use, followed by tree plantations and old-growth forest confined to only a few locations. We have also found that commercial plantation extent is positively correlated with shortened fallow periods and high land-use intensities. Our findings are in sharp contrast to various official reports and studies, including from the Forest Survey of India, the Wastelands Atlas of India and state government statistics that show the landscape as primarily forested with only small fractions under shifting cultivation, a consequence of the lack of clear definitions and poor understanding of what constitutes shifting cultivation and forest. Our results call for an attentive revision of India’s official land-use mapping protocols, and have wider significance for remote sensing-based mapping in other shifting cultivation landscapes.
... We conclude, that traditional cultivation practices, as they are still carried out in the Bo e, can provide a viable habitat for a great number of bird species (e.g. Selmi et al., 2002;Mandal and Shankar Raman, 2016), although under the exclusion of forest specialists and insectivores. Alarmingly, these traditional cultivation practices are under threat from the expansion of Cashew as a cash crop (Temudo and Abrantes, 2014). ...
Article
Riparian forests, an integral part of savanna ecosystems, are threatened across West Africa by agricultural expansion. However, some patches of original riparian vegetation are protected by traditional beliefs as ‘Sacred Groves’. We assessed the role of Sacred Groves in maintaining landscape-scale bird assemblages by conducting 144 1-h point counts, distributed over 24 plots in eastern Guinea-Bissau. The plots were situated in three riparian habitat types with different levels of human modification (Sacred Grove, Young Secondary Forest, Annual Cultures) and the adjacent Wooded Savanna. We accumulated 4572 records of 174 species and compared total species richness, composition, and functional traits among the four habitat types. At the plot level, species richness was higher in Wooded Savannas and Annual Cultures compared to Secondary Forests and Sacred Groves. Bird communities in Wooded Savannas were similar to those in Annual Cultures and differed the most from those of Sacred Groves. Bird community composition in Young Secondary Forests was similar to that in Annual Cultures but showed a shift towards the community composition found in Sacred Groves. Certain traits were strongly specific to habitat type. For example, Sacred Groves were characterized by a high number of forest specialists and insectivorous birds. Our results suggest that the rapid successional dynamics in riparian habitats enable disturbance tolerant forest species to recolonize fallow areas after a relatively short period of time. However, Sacred Groves hold a distinct avifauna and their conservation may therefore be crucial for forest specialist species and the re-establishment of bird assemblages in fallow riparian areas. Our findings also stress the importance of respecting and strengthening traditional forms of nature protection.
... Continuous pristine habitats such as forests and wetlands are interrupted by agricultural lands, fisheries, and human artefacts such as urban constructions and industries , Verma et al. 2001, Koh and Wilcove 2008, Goodale et al. 2014, Gopi Sundar et al. 2015. This increasing human activity has rapidly transformed the previous large continuous habitat structure into multiple small adjoining habitat clusters forming a mosaic pattern (Bassi et al. 2014, Mandal andShankar Raman 2016). Avian diversity of one native habitat is influenced by adjoining altered habitats (Raman 2006, Peh et al. 2006. ...
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Sau M., Chakraborty M., Das R. and Mukherjee S. 2018. Effect of multiple adjoining habitats on avifaunal diversity in an agriculture based-wetland adjacent to the Hooghly River, West Bengal, India. Ring 40: 59-92. This study was conducted on four plots having a cluster of different combinations of forest, wetland, and agricultural land, as well as a single marshland habitat near the river Hooghly. We obtained 17,817 counts for 150 species in 32 days of year-round sampling. The wetland agricultural land associated with forest had the highest species diversity (132 species, Shannon H-1.63), heterogeneity (Shannon J'-0.773), and number of unique species (33 species), and the lowest dominance (Simpson Index 1/D-39.35), in contrast with the marsh, which had the lowest diversity (41 species, Shannon H-1.39), highest homogene-ity (Shannon J'-0.863), and a lack of uniqueness. The plot with secondary forest patches between an agricultural field and human settlements showed the highest species dominance (Simpsons Diversity 1/D-17.465). Species rarity ranged from 68.2% to 77.6% within the area under study. There were 25 species common to all plots, which formed six distinct groups based on their abundance. Carnivores were found to be the dominant foraging guild throughout the habitats. Thirty-two per cent of the species are migratory, with the families Scolopacidae and Motacillidae predominating. The Jaccard and Sorensen indices reveal the greatest species similarity between the wetlandpisciculture plot and the marshland. These indices together with the hierarchical cluster analysis indicate the uniqueness of the plot of open forest habitat adjoining the wetland, which offers the best living conditions for migratory species. Our study concludes that when a wetland is surrounded by agriculture rather than fisheries, avifaunal diversity increases, whereas forest-associated wetland-farmland maximizes species richness with minimum dominance and hence imparts greater stability to the overall community structure.
... Currently, palm plantations occupy approximately 17 million ha and their potential cultivation surface could exceed 200 million ha (Pirker et al., 2016). The establishment of these plantations has severe impacts on tropical systems, such as deforestation, pollution, droughts, conflicts over the land, and loss of biodiversity (Fitzherbert et al., 2008;Koh and Wilcove, 2008;Foster et al., 2011;Savilaakso et al., 2014;Lees et al., 2015;Mandal and Shankar, 2016). Additionally, biofuel-oriented crops (such as oil palm), could replace food crops and created food insecurity in the countries where it is cultivated (Carrere, 2006). ...
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Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) monocrop has increased worldwide. Plantations have had an impact on tropical landscapes decreasing natural vegetation or replacing other crops. The cultivation of oil palm in Mexico increased and this trend will likely continue. However, there are no documents about the regions where this crop has increased and its impact on the local land use dynamics. This information would help guide public policies. This study had the following objectives: 1) to analyze the trend in the change in the surface where oil palm has been cultivated in Mexico over the last 30 years; and 2) to evaluate changes to land use in municipalities with extensive cultivation surfaces. For this, government data was analyzed and palm plantations in four of the municipalities with major palm plantations were identified. Additionally, Geographic Information Systems were used to conduct a preliminary analysis of the area and of the covers that were replaced. In Mexico, the area in which palm is cultivated has increased seventyfold (from 1318 to 90 118 ha) from 1985 to 2016. Most of those plantations are located in Chiapas, Campeche, Tabasco, and Veracruz. Overall, palm plantations replaced other agricultural systems. In some municipalities, this area exceeded or was the same as the area used for corn (Zea mays) and sorghum (Sorghumn spp.) crops. This might have repercussions on food security. Although on a smaller scale, the expansion of palm crops also boosted the loss and transformation of natural vegetation in some of the municipalities that were part of this study.
... Currently, palm plantations occupy approximately 17 million ha and their potential cultivation surface could exceed 200 million ha (Pirker et al., 2016). The establishment of these plantations has severe impacts on tropical systems, such as deforestation, pollution, droughts, conflicts over the land, and loss of biodiversity (Fitzherbert et al., 2008;Koh and Wilcove, 2008;Foster et al., 2011;Savilaakso et al., 2014;Lees et al., 2015;Mandal and Shankar, 2016). Additionally, biofuel-oriented crops (such as oil palm), could replace food crops and created food insecurity in the countries where it is cultivated (Carrere, 2006). ...
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Publicado como ARTÍCULO en Agrociencia 52: 875-893. 2018. RESUMEN El monocultivo de la palma de aceite (Elaeis guineensis) muestra incremento en el mundo. Las plantaciones han impactado los paisajes tropicales por la disminución de la vegetación natural o el remplazo de otros cultivos. La expan-sión del cultivo de la palma de aceite en México aumentó y se prevé que esta tendencia continúe. No se han documentado las regiones donde este cultivo ha incrementado y cómo ha impactado en la dinámica de uso de suelo. Esta información es necesaria para orientar políticas públicas. Los objetivos de este estudio fueron 1) analizar la tendencia de cambio en la superficie sembrada con palma de aceite en México en los últimos 30 años, y 2) evaluar el cambio de uso del suelo en municipios con superficies extensas del cultivo. Para esto, analizamos datos gubernamentales e identificamos las plan-taciones de palma en cuatro de los principales municipios donde se cultiva. Además, con herramientas de Sistemas de Información Geográfica, analizamos de forma preliminar el área y las coberturas que se remplazaron. En México, el área dedicada a este cultivo aumentó más de 70 veces (de 1318 a 90 118 ha) entre 1985 y 2016; en Chiapas, Campeche, Tabasco y Veracruz se localizan mayormente estas plantaciones. Las plantaciones de la palma se localizan en superficie en la que se remplazaron otros sistemas agropecuarios. En algunos municipios, esa área superó o igualó la de cultivos con maíz (Zea mays) y sorgo (Sorghum spp.), lo que podría repercutir en la seguridad alimentaria. Aunque en menor escala, la ex-pansión del cultivo de la palma también fomentó la pérdida y transformación de vegetación natural de algunos de los municipios estudiados. ABSTRACT Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) monocrop has increased worldwide. Plantations have had an impact on tropical landscapes decreasing natural vegetation or replacing other crops. The cultivation of oil palm in Mexico increased and this trend will likely continue. However, there are no documents about the regions where this crop has increased and its impact on the local land use dynamics. This information would help guide public policies. This study had the following objectives: 1) to analyze the trend in the change in the surface where oil palm has been cultivated in Mexico over the last 30 years; and 2) to evaluate changes to land use in municipalities with extensive cultivation surfaces. For this, government data was analyzed and palm plantations in four of the municipalities with major palm plantations were identified. Additionally, Geographic Information Systems were used to conduct a preliminary analysis of the area and of the covers that were replaced. In Mexico, the area in which palm is cultivated has increased seventyfold (from 1318 to 90 118 ha) from 1985 to 2016. Most of those plantations are located in Chiapas, Campeche, Tabasco, and Veracruz. Overall, palm plantations replaced other agricultural systems. In some municipalities, this area exceeded or was the same as the area used for corn (Zea mays) and sorghum (Sorghumn spp.) crops. This might have repercussions on food security. Although on a smaller scale, the expansion of palm crops also boosted the loss and transformation of natural vegetation in some of the municipalities that were part of this study.
... This is evident from the policy of the neighbouring State, Mizoram in North-east India. The New Land Use Policy envisioned providing 120 000 families in 750 villages throughout the State with alternative settled and cash crop cultivation options (Singh, 1991;Mandal & Raman, 2016). Another instance of shifting cultivation being actively discouraged is promotion of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantations by State Governments in North-east India in shifting cultivation landscapes (Teegalapalli & Datta, 2016a). ...
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Shifting cultivation involves a cycle of forest clearing, cultivation and a fallow phase. As the practice involves clearing forest, it is considered unsustainable and leads to soil fertility loss and erosion. While several variations of the practice exist, traditional communities undertake the practice systematically with relatively long fallow periods and are often knowledgeable about their landscape in terms of soil and its management. To better understand one such system, we quantified soil recovery following cultivation in terms of macronutrients and documented the traditional knowledge of the Adi community in a remote site in the Eastern Himalaya. We collected soil samples from three replicates, each from currently cultivated sites, uncut forest sites and successional sites 3, 12 and 25 yr following cultivation. Available nitrogen and phosphorus significantly increased, and there was an increasing trend in soil organic matter following cultivation. The Adi differentiated nine types of soil and preferred specific soil types for shifting and settled cultivation. We documented soil management and methods of soil fertility retention practised by the Adi. Their location of different crops in the field was based on the effect of the crop on soil fertility. Our research indicated that soil nutrient recovery was considerable following cultivation and that traditional shifting cultivators in the landscape were knowledgeable about their landscape in terms of soil diversity, undertaking practices to manage soil erosion and fertility. Future policies that will affect shifting cultivation in the region should acknowledge such systematic use of a landscape by traditional farming communities.
... The study, which was conducted entirely in community managed forests and mixed-use landscapes outside protected areas demonstrates the high biodiversity value of such landscapes. Recent studies from other parts of northeastern India also highlights the importance of Jhum (shifting cultivation) landscapes for bird communities, especially in view of large scale shifts to monoculture plantations (Mandal & Raman 2016). ...
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We present the most comprehensive list of birds for the upper Siang region based on surveys and opportunistic observations from 2010 to 2016. Of the 252 species recorded for this region, we report 66 for the first time, including six globally threatened species. The presence of migratory waterfowl indicates the importance of the Siang Valley as a migratory route. We also emphasise the importance of mixed-use shifting cultivation landscapes outside protected areas in sustaining bird diversity. Further focused surveys in remote parts of this landscape are required to fully understand the biodiversity significance of this region in the face of emerging large-scale threats.
... The state supports a small network of protected areas which in times of increasing anthropogenic pressures and changing land-use patterns, urgently requires inventorying biodiversity in order to make appropriate conservation decisions. Also, with large areas being converted to oil-palm monocultures (Mandal & Raman 2016), it is important to extend the coverage of protection within the state while ensuring that habitat management practices in protected areas do not compromise survival of rare native floral species. www.threatenedtaxa.org ...
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This work reports the distribution of two rare Zingiberaceae, Globba spathulata and Hemiorchis pantlingii, in Dampa Tiger Reserve, a protected area, located in Mizoram, northeastern India. Both these species have a distribution restricted to the northeastern part of India and the adjoining countries of Bangladesh, Myanmar and northern Thailand. In this study, we enumerate the species, present their current global distribution and conduct a conservation assessment for them. The study indicates presence of rare floral species in the protected landscape, and a lack of ecological and conservation attention to the region. A conservation assessment conducted for both species, based on their existing global distribution and potential threats, identifies the species as ‘Vulnerable’.
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Globally, bird populations are experiencing a significant decline due to disruptions caused by human activities. The Chahakhoor International Wetland, as one of the important bird areas, is located in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province. In this study, we evaluated the habitat quality of Chahakhoor over an 11-year period using the InVEST model. Land use and land cover maps for 2013, obtained from the Forests and Ranges Organization, and for 2024 were prepared using Landsat 9 image classification, employing a supervised method and the random forest algorithm. The results showed that habitat quality for waterbirds in this wetland declined by approximately 20% from 2013 to 2024. Additionally, changes in land use and land cover indicated reductions in water resources, dense vegetation, and average pasture land, while areas allocated for villages, cities, roads, and agriculture increased. Overall, our findings suggest that the decline in the abundance of many surveyed waterbird species in Chahakhoor Wetland is likely associated with the decline in the habitat quality over the 11-year period. This highlights the urgent need for conservation initiatives aimed at restoring and protecting this wetland, which supports bird populations.
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An interest in developing successional agroforestry systems has emerged in response to a need for agricultural systems that conserve forests, offer sustainable livelihoods, and provide food security. Successional agroforestry offers an innovative solution to improve degraded landscapes by replicating the spatial and temporal characteristics of a developing secondary forest. In light of this interest, it is important to bring attention to a long list of indigenous successional agroforestry systems (indigenous SAF) that have been practiced for centuries. Although existing under different names, or none at all, many of these traditional systems, practiced around the world, demonstrate similar management practices. These practices continue to reveal a strong power of observation and intuition to mirror the local forest processes. This chapter aims to review several well-documented indigenous successional agroforestry systems and to demonstrate the similarities of practice and the consistent benefits to the environment and to the people who manage them.
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Herpetofauna is an important group of vertebrates with key functions in ecosystem sustenance. Nonetheless, with ever increasing anthropogenic activities and lack of evidence-based studies, about 80% of the herpetofauna diversity of southern Asian region is threatened. Our study reports 80 herpetofauna species distributed across different habitat types in Dampa Tiger Reserve (DTR), Mizoram. We revise the amphibian list of DTR through the additon of seven species and establish the identity of cryptc species such as Microhyla ornata which is actually two distinct species,i.e., M. mukhlesuri and M. mymensinghensis. Through the questionnaire survey, it was found that 90% of the respondents depended on varied forms of forest resources. Herpetofaunal species account for 30% of the faunal resources with Varanus bengalensis, Ophiophagus hannah, and Python bivittatus being the most consumed reptle species. All chelonians and some amphibians like Dutaphrynus melanostictus, Pterorana khare, Hoplobatrachus tgerinus, Hoplobatrachus litoralis, Hydrophylax leptoglossa, Minervarya asmati, Polypedates teraiensis, and Sylvirana lacrima were also found to be consumed and used for their presumed medicinal values. In additon to huntng, road-kills, use of chemical pesticides, and habitat alteration were recorded to be the prominent threats in the region. The land use and land cover (LULC) data shows a steady recovery of dense forest and a better forest fire scenario as over 90% of the DTR core region falls in the ‘low severity’ and ‘unburned’ category. With continuous alteration in forested areas, the present study will not only provide a fundamental baseline for the conservation of herpetofauna and better management of protected areas but also stimulate future herpetological-based research.
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Systems of agriculture that involve cycles of cultivation and fallow (also referred to as shifting or rotational cultivation) play an important role in harmonising agriculture and conservation, and in aiding ecosystem recovery through long fallow cycles. We focus on such systems in Northeast India and in Northern Thailand, with their respective names (jhum, rai mun wian), and refer to them collectively as traditional regenerative agriculture (TRA). These systems use traditional practices aimed at ecosystem restoration to enable agricultural production with few external inputs, whilst protecting surrounding, more natural ecosystems. Because traditional regenerative agriculture uses plant succession to regenerate soil fertility, it provides a diversity of habitat types. Moreover, by repeatedly using the same areas in each rotational cycle, it leaves other areas untouched for natural processes. However, the popular view of this practice as destructive and environmentally harmful puts pressure on communities to convert to settled agriculture or plantations. In Nagaland in Northeast India and Hin Lad Nai, Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand, TRA is threatened due to various socio-economic and ecological reasons. Shifting or rotational cultivation, whilst important for ecosystem recovery, needs to address issues arising from shortening fallow periods. Traditional use of the Nepalese alder (Alnus nepalensis) and p’dav (Macaranga denticulata) in Nagaland and Thailand provide solutions to shortening fallows. The role of TRA in aiding ecosystem recovery should be considered at the level of a landscape. At the landscape level, a range of separate but interacting ecosystems and land uses are supported, providing the environmental benefit of diverse habitats. TRA also supports high agro-biodiversity and food security, as well as social cohesion. TRA that brings into play traditional knowledge offers solutions for a range of issues, including ecosystem restoration.KeywordsShifting cultivationRotational farmingTraditional regenerative agricultureForestsEcosystem restorationCarbon storageAgro-biodiversityNortheast IndiaNorthern ThailandBiodiversityNagaland
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Dietary composition and selection of food items are important approaches for the flexibility and adaptability of macaques in different natural habitats. With a wide distribution range, Assamese Macaques feed on various food types. This study reports the consumption of 57 plant species from 30 families. A total of 2,233 scans resulted in 16,381 feeding behavioral records during the study period from 2018 to 2020. Macaques appear to be primarily folivorous in Dampa as leaves (young & mature) constitute 44.74% of their daily dietary intake while the fruit consumption was found to be 25.31% of the total dietary intake. Plant species like Artocarpus lakoocha (15.65%), Albizia procera (12.03%), Glochidion hyneanum (10.53%), Diospyros glandulosa (9.49%), and Albizia lebbeck (7.28%) contributed significantly to macaque’s diet compare to other plants. No significant variation was observed on time spent for feeding on leaves, fruits, flowers, and seeds in both different months and seasons of the year. The highest percentage of the diurnal time invested on feeding activity was (59.04%) in the month of January (winter season), which may be due to the cold climate and scarcity of proper feeding items and the least was (35.19%) in June where food resources are more readily available. The richness of fruiting plants in Dampa Tiger Reserve appears to fulfill the dietary requirement of Assamese Macaque and therefore intactness of forest resources is necessary for their development and conservation.
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Forest restoration is being scaled-up globally to deliver critical ecosystem services and biodiversity benefits, yet we lack rigorous comparison of co-benefit delivery across different restoration approaches. In a global synthesis, we use 25,950 matched data pairs from 264 studies in 53 countries to assess how delivery of climate, soil, water, and wood production services as well as biodiversity compares across a range of tree plantations and native forests. Carbon storage, water provisioning, and especially soil erosion control and biodiversity benefits are all delivered better by native forests, with compositionally simpler, younger plantations in drier regions performing particularly poorly. However, plantations exhibit an advantage in wood production. These results underscore important trade-offs among environmental and production goals that policymakers must navigate in meeting forest restoration commitments.
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In the Western Ghats, India, we study how different intensities of tea cultivation influence birds. We compared bird communities in conventional monoculture tea and mixed-shade tea plantations, both of which use agrochemicals, with organic tea plantations, a rainforest fragment, and continuous rainforest within the Anamalai Tiger Reserve. In 225 point count surveys , overall bird species richness and abundance were lowest in conventional tea and up to 33% higher in organic tea. Mixed-shade tea had 40% higher species richness (including 15 canopy and 4 shrub and mid-storey species – primarily frugivores, nectarivores and insectivores), and 83% higher bird abundance than conventional tea, with a greater proportion of forest-affiliated birds and similarity in species composition with forest sites. The rainforest fragment and continuous rainforest had a higher proportion, richness and abundance of forest-affiliated birds and fewer open-country birds, unlike tea plantations where the pattern was reversed. Habitat associations of 62 bird species in indicator species analysis revealed similar patterns. Thus organic tea is better than conventional tea for birds, but mixed-shade tea is even better, although still poorer than forests. Retaining or promoting native shade trees in tea plantations will increase bird diversity and abundance, including of forest-affiliated species and support landscape-level bird conservation.
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Amphibians are an integral part of the ecosystem and act as an ecological indicator. As several species are added to the list of threatened species every year due to loss of habitat, it is important to understand the role of unmanaged landscape for sustenance of amphibian diversity. In this study, 28 amphibian species were recorded from diferent modifed habitat including 19 new records for Dampa Tiger Reserve (DTR) and its surrounding areas. Further, six species, Amolops indoburmanensis, Limnonectes khasianus, Microhyla mukhlesuri, M. mymensinghensis, Raorchestes rezakhani, and Sylvirana lacrima are new distributon records for the state of Mizoram and out of these, two species, Raorchestes rezakhani and Sylvirana lacrima, are new country records for India. Amongst the recorded species, four species are Data Defcient, two Vulnerable, 14 Least Concern, and eight species are not assessed as per the IUCN Red List. Within the core and bufer areas of DTR, we found that natural perennial stream, puddles, canals, natural ponds, fsh ponds, roadside, primary forest, secondary forest, paddy felds, and human setlement areas are excellent microhabitats for amphibian populaton and need to be conserved for their rich ecological niches.
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Avian diversity in fragmented Amazonian landscapes depends on a balance between extinction and colonization in cleared and disturbed areas. Regenerating forest facilitates bird dispersal within degraded Amazonian landscapes and may tip the balance in favor of persistence in habitat patches. Determining the response of Amazonian birds to fragmentation may be hindered because many species use adjacent second growth matrices thereby limiting the applicability of island biogeography to predict species loss; alternatively, a countryside biogeographic framework to evaluate the value of regenerating forest may be more appropriate. Here, we used point-count and capture data to compare Amazonian bird communities among continuous forest, 100 ha forest fragments with adjacent second growth, young and older second growth plots, and 100 ha forested islands bounded by water, to test the applicability of island biogeography on the mainland and to assess the ecological value of a regenerating matrix. Among foraging guilds, understory insectivores and flocking species were nearly absent on true islands. Fragments surrounded by young second growth were species rich, suggesting that a developing matrix may mitigate extinction associated with fragmentation. Our findings reinforce that true islands are often extinction driven systems with distinct, depauperate communities. In contrast, succession of bird communities in second growth facilitates recolonization of forest fragments, permitting fragments as small as 100 ha to support bird communities similar to continuous forest.
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Our study demonstrated the persistence of avian biodiversity in established oil palm production areas. Here, the empirical evidence on avian species richness reflects explicitly that oil palm production areas are not merely a green biological desert'. We investigated the relationships between bird species richness and dfferent management regimes (plantations vs. smaliholdings) and vegetation characteristics in 30 oil palm areas in the states of Selango Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang. We recorded 72 bird species, comprising approximately 32°c forest-dependent, 19% migratory and lOgo wetland species. Our study showed that plantations and smaliholdings supported a similar total number of bird species richness (P = 0.709). Howevei we found that a greater height of the ground vegetation cover had a positive effect on total species richness (P < 0001). Similarly, there was no sigrnfi cant dfference between plantations and smallholdings with respect to the total number of migratory species (P = 0.322). This number also increased when ground vegetation cover was higher (P = 0.010). We recommend the following appropriate conservation measures that may enhance avian biodiversity in oil palm production areas: (1) implementation of tree planting projects that benefit wild birds, (2) integration of oil palm with livestock grazing to phase out dangerous agrochemicals that are harmful to zvild birds, and (3) continued promotion of ground vegetation cover to increase habitat heterogeneity on a local scale. Potentially oil palm can move towards becoming a sustainable and profitable commodity f production areas can be managed for conservation outcomes.
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Selective logging is pervasive in the tropics and is among the most urgent threats to tropical biodiversity. The vast areas of logged tropical forest are often vulnerable to relogging, clear‐felling, burning or conversion to plantations, despite evidence that logged forests retain a large proportion of tropical forest species at high abundances compared with alternate land uses. However, the demographic processes (e.g. survival, fecundity) that drive community or species properties (e.g. occurrence, density) in response to logging have never been examined. We used a novel capture–recapture‐based sampling design to separate in situ reproduction from immigration‐fuelled recruitment to investigate the demographic vital rates of six forest‐dependent understorey insectivorous bird species along a logging continuum in the E astern H imalaya G lobal B iodiversity H otspot. We expected a positive relationship between forest intactness and reproductive rates, and that intact patches would contribute ‘excess’ individuals to logged patches from natal dispersal. Contrary to our expectations, we found: (i) a positive relationship between logging intensity and reproduction, and (ii) evidence of natal dispersal from more logged to less logged and intact forest patches. Our results indicate that for certain forest‐dependent species in particular contexts, selectively logged habitats can have surprising and hitherto unrecognized demographic value that might be superior even to primary forest. Synthesis and applications . In most tropical settings, logged forests can not only support a greater subset of forest biodiversity than other forms of land use (for instance, agriculture), but can also play an important role in supporting populations of certain forest‐dependent species. The ongoing conversion of large swathes of logged forest to non‐forest habitat (such as oil palm plantation) because of their perceived lack of importance for biodiversity is a cause for serious concern for the conservation of tropical biodiversity.
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Selective logging is one of the most common forms of forest use in the tropics. Although the effects of selective logging on biodiversity have been widely studied, there is little agreement on the relationship between life-history traits and tolerance to logging. In this study, we assessed how species traits and logging practices combine to determine species responses to selective logging, based on over 4000 observations of the responses of nearly 1000 bird species to selective logging across the tropics. Our analysis shows that species traits, such as feeding group and body mass, and logging practices, such as time since logging and logging intensity, interact to influence a species' response to logging. Frugivores and insectivores were most adversely affected by logging and declined further with increasing logging intensity. Nectarivores and granivores responded positively to selective logging for the first two decades, after which their abundances decrease below pre-logging levels. Larger species of omnivores and granivores responded more positively to selective logging than smaller species from either feeding group, whereas this effect of body size was reversed for carnivores, herbivores, frugivores and insectivores. Most importantly, species most negatively impacted by selective logging had not recovered approximately 40 years after logging cessation. We conclude that selective timber harvest has the potential to cause large and long-lasting changes in avian biodiversity. However, our results suggest that the impacts can be mitigated to a certain extent through specific forest management strategies such as lengthening the rotation cycle and implementing reduced impact logging. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
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Strong international demand for natural rubber is driving expansion of industrial-scale and smallholder monoculture plantations, with >2 million ha established during the last decade. Mainland Southeast Asia and Southwest China represent the epicentre of rapid rubber expansion; here we review impacts on forest ecosystems and biodiversity. We estimate that 4.3 – 8.5 million ha of additional rubber plantations are required to meet projected demand by 2024, threatening significant areas of Asian forest, including many protected areas. Uncertainties concern the potential for yield intensification of existing cultivation to mitigate demand for new rubber area, versus potential displacement of rubber by more profitable oil palm. Our review of available studies indicates that conversion of forests or swidden agriculture to monoculture rubber negatively impacts bird, bat and invertebrate biodiversity. However, rubber agroforests in some areas of Southeast Asia support a subset of forest biodiversity in landscapes that retain little natural forest. Work is urgently needed to: improve understanding of whether land-sparing or land-sharing rubber cultivation will best serve biodiversity conservation, investigate the potential to accommodate biodiversity within existing rubber-dominated landscapes while maintaining yields, and ensure rigorous biodiversity and social standards via the development of a sustainability initiative.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Oil palm is one of the world's most rapidly increasing crops. We assess its contribution to tropical deforestation and review its biodiversity value. Oil palm has replaced large areas of forest in Southeast Asia, but land-cover change statistics alone do not allow an assessment of where it has driven forest clearance and where it has simply followed it. Oil palm plantations support much fewer species than do forests and often also fewer than other tree crops. Further negative impacts include habitat fragmentation and pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions. With rising demand for vegetable oils and biofuels, and strong overlap between areas suitable for oil palm and those of most importance for biodiversity, substantial biodiversity losses will only be averted if future oil palm expansion is managed to avoid deforestation.
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Community recovery following primary habitat alteration can provide tests for various hypotheses in ecology and conservation biology. Prominent among these are questions related to the manner and rate of community assembly after habitat perturbation. Here we use space-for-time substitution to analyse frog and lizard community assembly along two gradients of habitat recovery following slash and burn agriculture (jhum) in Mizoram, Northeast India. One recovery gradient undergoes natural succession to mature tropical rainforest, while the other involves plantation of jhum fallows with teak Tectona grandis monoculture. Frog and lizard communities accumulated species steadily during natural succession, attaining characteristics similar to those from mature forest after 30 years of regeneration. Lizards showed higher turnover and lower augmentation of species relative to frogs. Niche based classification identified a number of guilds, some of which contained both frogs and lizards. Successional change in species richness was due to increase in the number of guilds as well as the number of species per guild. Phylogenetic structure increased with succession for some guilds. Communities along the teak plantation gradient on the other hand, did not show any sign of change with chronosere age. Factor analysis revealed sets of habitat variables that independently determined changes in community and guild composition during habitat recovery. The timescale of frog and lizard community recovery was comparable with that reported by previous studies on different faunal groups in other tropical regions. Both communities converged on primary habitat attributes during natural vegetation succession, the recovery being driven by deterministic, nonlinear changes in habitat characteristics. On the other hand, very little faunal recovery was seen even in relatively old teak plantation. In general, tree monocultures are unlikely to support recovery of natural forest communities and the combined effect of shortened jhum cultivation cycles and plantation forestry could result in landscapes without mature forest. Lack of source pools of genetic diversity will then lead to altered vegetation succession and faunal community reassembly. It is therefore important that the value of habitat mosaics containing even patches of primary forest and successional secondary habitats be taken into account.
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