Biodiversity conservation values of fragmented communally reserved forests, managed by indigenous people, in a human-modified landscape in Borneo.

ABSTRACT: This study explored the conservation values of communally reserved forests (CRFs), which local indigenous communities deliberately preserve within their area of shifting cultivation. In the current landscape of rural Borneo, CRFs are the only option for conservation because other forested areas have already been logged or transformed into plantations. By analyzing their alpha and beta diversity, we investigated how these forests can contribute to restore regional biodiversity. Although CRFs were fragmented and some had been disturbed in the past, their tree species diversity was high and equivalent to that of primary forests. The species composition of intact forests and forests disturbed in the past did not differ clearly, which indicates that past logging was not intensive. All CRFs cont

SUBMITTER: Takeuchi Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5706675 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature