A degradation debt? Large-scale shifts in community composition and loss of biomass in a tropical forest fragment after 40 years of isolation.

ABSTRACT: Habitat loss and fragmentation are among the biggest threats to tropical biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. We examined forest dynamics in a mid-elevation 365-ha fragment in southern Costa Rica. The fragment was isolated in the mid-1970s and belongs to the Las Cruces Biological Station. A 2.25-ha permanent plot was established in the center of the old-growth forest (>400 m to nearest edge boundary) and all plants >5 cm DBH were censused, mapped, and identified to species in two surveys taken ~5-6 years apart (>3,000 stems/survey). Although the reserve maintains high species richness (>200 spp.), with many rare species represented by only one individual, we document a strong shift in composition with a two-fold increase in the number of soft-wooded pioneer individuals. The domi

SUBMITTER: Zahawi RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5568379 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature