Effects of forest fragmentation on the granivory of differently sized seeds

The Maulino forest is a unique temperate ecosystem restricted to a small range of the coast of central Chile. This forest harbors many endemic species, and is threatened due to intensive deforestation and fragmentation. Currently the Maulino forest is composed of a suite of small fragments scattered in a landscape dominated by exotic plantations. The fragmentation of the Maulino forest has resulted in a higher abundance of granivores in small forest fragments compared with continuous forest. In order to determine if fragmentation-induced changes in granivore abundance affects the granivory of different size seeds, we experimentally assessed seed predation of a large-seeded species [Nothofagus glauca (Phil.) Krasser] and a small-seeded species [Nothofagus obliqua (Mirbel) Oersted] in the edges and interior of one continuous (large) forest and three small fragments (∼3 ha) surrounded by plantations of the exotic tree Pinus radiata. To determine what kind of granivores are preying upon seeds, seeds of both species were excluded from and exposed to large and small granivores. Granivory was higher in small fragments than in continuous forest, higher in the edges than in the forest interior, and higher upon large than on small seeds. Rodents, which were more abundant in forest fragments, were the main consumers. Thus, fragmentation indeed affects granivory increasing the consumption of seeds by predators inhabiting the Maulino forest remnants or coming from the matrix. This change may affect the future structure of the tree community in forest fragments.     

Effect of forest fragmentation on fruit and seed predation of the tropical dry forest tree Ceiba aesculifolia

Forests fragmentation reduces the density of natural plant populations forming patches of the remaining individuals. One of the biotic interactions that can be affected by forest fragmentation and is poorly studied is seed predation. We determined the effects of forest fragmentation on seed and fruit predation in Ceiba aesculifolia by comparing trees in continuous forest with trees in fragmented forest. We compared the following variables: (a) frequency of fruit predation by Collie’s squirrel (Sciurus colliaei) in each habitat; (b) frequency of the cotton-staining bug seed predator (Dysdercus, Orden Hemiptera) in each habitat; (c) the effect of seed predation on germination frequency and time; and (d) the effect of different life stages of Dysdercus on seed viability. In continuous habitat, 100% of the trees presented fruits with squirrel predation while only 34% of trees in fragmented habitats presented fruit predation. In continuous forest 27% of the trees contained fruits with the seed predator Dysdercus, while only 2% of the trees in fragmented forest presented Dysdercus. The initial weight of damaged seeds was greater than seeds that were not damaged indicating that seed predators select heavier seeds to feed upon. Frequency of seed germination was affected by different life stages; pre-adults decreased germination significantly more than nymphs and adults. Seed predation significantly increased the time it took for germination to occur. Our study shows that forest fragmentation significantly affects predation patterns of squirrels and cotton-staining bugs. Reduction of natural seed predators in forest fragments may have long-term consequences on forest structure and diversity.     

Spatial and temporal variation in the Argentine ant edge effect: Implications for the mechanism of edge limitation

One consequence of human land-use is the exposure of native communities to invasive human commensal species along edges. Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) invade a variety of habitats in California with consequent dramatic declines in native ants. In coastal southern California, USA Argentine ants appear to be an edge effect in small habitat fragments [Suarez, A.V., Bolger, D.T., Case, T.J., 1998. Effects of fragmentation and invasion on native ant communities in coastal southern California. Ecology 79, 2041-2056]. They invade fragments from the urban edge, but only penetrate coastal sage scrub (CSS) habitat to a distance of approximately 200 m. Using pitfall sampling in edge (<250 m from the urban edge) and interior (>600 m from the edge) habitat I tested whether there is also an Argentine ant edge effect in the largest blocks of habitat in the landscape and investigated patterns of spatial and temporal variation in native and Argentine ants. Argentine ants were common in coastal sage scrub habitat within 250 m of urban edges, but rare in interior areas. Correspondingly, native ants were significantly less abundant and diverse in edge areas as compared to interior. Over the period 1997-2000 Argentine ants did not become more abundant in interior habitat suggesting it will remain a refuge for native ants. Argentine ant abundance in edge plots varied greatly among years and sites. Annual variation in abundance was positively related to annual rainfall. Increased soil moisture near edges due to urban runoff has often been suggested as the mechanism that allows the invasion of edge but not interior habitat. This hypothesis predicts that edge habitat downslope of the urban edge should support invasions of higher abundance and greater spatial penetration than habitat upslope. However, I found that edge slope did not predict the extent of invasion, whereas, soil type did. Coarse, well-drained soils supported an Argentine ant invasion of lower abundance and lesser spatial penetration than soils that should retain more moisture. These patterns of spatial and annual variation are more consistent with a biotic flow mechanism where ants move from urban habitat into CSS sites that are temporarily favorable, rather than an abiotic flow where urban runoff causes a physical change to CSS habitat near edges. This invasion affects a substantial area of habitat, however, the inability of Argentine ants to invade interior habitat suggests that refugia for native ants will persist if large unfragmented blocks of habitat are maintained.     

Biased seed rain in forest edges: Evidence from the Brazilian Atlantic forest

In this paper, we test the hypothesis that seed rain in forest edges differs from that in forest interior in terms of seed abundance, species richness, seed size, dispersal mode, and manipulation by vertebrates. The study was carried out in the Coimbra forest (3500 ha), the largest fragment currently found in the Atlantic forest of northeast Brazil. We assessed seed rain during a 1-year period by using a 1500-m long transect (with 100 sampling units) for each habitat. Seeds were categorized according to size, dispersal mode, and vertebrate manipulation. A total of 76,207 seeds belonging to 146 species were collected during the whole study and in average edge received more seeds and species per unit of area during particular periods of time. However, the analysis of all seeds and species recorded in both habitats during the 1-year period revealed that forest interior received a significant higher percentage of medium, large and very large seeds (21.8%) and species (82.6%) in comparison to edge (13.5% of seeds and 57.5% of species). The contribution of large and very large seed species dispersed by vertebrates was also lower in the edge forest as it represented 13.04% of all vertebrate-dispersed species recorded in this habitat vs. 31.5 % in the forest interior. Finally, seeds handled by vertebrates accounted for 5.9% of all seeds in forest edge, and reached 11% in the forest interior. The biased seed rain documented in the Coimbra forest raises the possibility that the creation of forest edges may alter some attributes of seed rain, particularly its content of large-seeded plants and of those dispersed by vertebrates.     

Effects of forest fragmentation on two sister genera of Amazonian rodents (Myoprocta acouchy and Dasyprocta leporina)

Because agoutis (Dasyprocta sp.) and acouchies (Myoprocta sp.) are the most important dispersers of several large-seeded Amazonian trees, knowing their responses to forest fragmentation is essential and urgent. But until now, there was no study showing their population trends in Amazonian land forest fragments. The present study was conducted at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Central Amazon, Brazil. Eleven sites (three fragments of 1 ha, three of 10 ha, two of 100 ha and three sites of continuous forest) were surveyed between 2003 and 2005. Agoutis and acouchies were systematically counted at each site through standard transect censuses and their densities were estimated with DISTANCE 4.1. Overall, I walked 100 km, and encountered 136 acouchies and 35 agoutis. Fragmentation had a significant negative effect on acouchies and a significant positive effect on agouti densities. Acouchy density was 0.64 ± 0.09 inds./ha in continuous forests and 0.07 ± 0.07 inds./ha in 1-ha fragments. On the other hand, agouti density was 0.16 ± 0.05 inds./ha in continuous forests and 0.71 ± 0.24 inds./ha in 1-ha fragments. This study is consistent with the idea that in fragments, larger species of mammals are initially less affected by forest fragmentation than smaller ones. More critical to conservation is the fact that acouchies, which were negatively affected by fragmentation, are restricted to the core region of the Amazonian rainforests. Continued fragmentation of Amazonian forests should have vast negative consequences for the genus.     

Long-term erosion of tree reproductive trait diversity in edge-dominated Atlantic forest fragments

Habitat loss and fragmentation promote relatively predicable shifts in the functional signature of tropical forest tree assemblages, but the full extent of cascading effects to biodiversity persistence remains poorly understood. Here we test the hypotheses that habitat fragmentation (a) alters the relative contribution of tree species exhibiting different reproductive traits; (b) reduces the diversity of pollination systems; and (c) facilitates the functional convergence of reproductive traits between edge-affected and early-secondary forest habitats (5-32 years old). This study was carried out in a severely fragmented 670-km² forest landscape of the Atlantic forest of northeastern Brazil. We assigned 35 categories of reproductive traits to 3552 trees (DBH ? 10 cm) belonging to 179 species, which described their pollination system, floral biology, and sexual system. Trait abundance was calculated for 55 plots of 0.1 ha across four habitats: forest edges, small forest fragments (3.4-83.6 ha), second-growth patches, and core tracts of forest interior within the largest available primary forest fragment (3500 ha) in the region. Edge-affected and secondary habitats showed a species-poor assemblage of trees exhibiting particular pollination systems, a reduced diversity of pollination systems, a higher abundance of reproductive traits associated with pollination by generalist diurnal vectors, and an elevated abundance of hermaphroditic trees. As expected, the reproductive signature of tree assemblages in forest edges and small fragments (edge-affected habitats), which was very similar to that of early second-growth patches, was greatly affected by both habitat type and plot distance to the nearest forest edge. In hyper-fragmented Atlantic forest landscapes, we predict that narrow forest corridors and small fragments will become increasingly dominated by edge-affected habitats that can no longer retain the full complement of tree life-history diversity and its attendant mutualists.     

Forest edges and landscape history shape interactions between plants, seed-dispersing ants and seed predators

Ant-dispersed plants are often conspicuously rare in young forests and near forest edges. We monitored the distributions of five ant-dispersed plant taxa, the seed-collecting ant community, and variation in seed predation pressure by rodents in a 350-acre mesic forest in northern New York, USA to assess the incidence and effect of plant-animal interactions within the context of landscape history and proximity to forest edges. Sample plots were located in young and older forest stands (distinguished based on an 1880 map for forest cover) at varying distances from the forest edge. All five plant taxa were rarer in plots near forest edges, although diversity was more strongly influenced by landscape history. A sixth herbaceous species, one dispersed by vertebrates, was not influenced by forest edge proximity. The most effective seed-collecting ant, Aphaenogaster rudis, was less common in forest edge plots relative to interior plots, and predation pressure by small mammals was almost twice as great in plots near forest edges. Exclusion experiments demonstrated that ants (mutualists) and rodents (seed predators) compete for access to seeds, that ants can provide seeds some protection from mammal predation in most plots, and that the density of ant-dispersed plants is correlated with the proportion of rodent-accessible seeds that are collected by Aphaenogaster. Greater predation pressure and a paucity of ant mutualists may contribute to the rarity of ant-dispersed plants in edge habitats relative to forest interiors.     

Spatial and temporal effects on recruitment of an Afromontane forest tree in a threatened fragmented ecosystem

Tropical forest fragmentation affects animal and plant populations in different ways. For plants, early stages (seed to seedling) are more sensitive to habitat alteration than adults, and can shape their future spatial patterns. Therefore, studying how seed germination and seedling growth and survival vary at different spatiotemporal scales enhances our understanding about plant recruitment in fragmented ecosystems. In this study we examine if, and to what extent, recruitment at early life-stages of Xymalos monospora (Monomiaceae), a bird-dispersed Afrotropical tree, differs between and within forest fragments that vary in size, surrounding matrix and microhabitats. Three years of field experiments (2004-2006) in south-east Kenya, revealed that patterns of seed germination and seedling survival and growth were largely inconsistent, both in space and time. Recruitment was not consistently higher in larger or less disturbed fragments. At smaller spatial scales within forest fragments, recruitment was subject to high between-year variation too, with decreased germination in gaps only in the dry year of 2004. However, performance of seeds and seedlings was consistently better away from than under conspecific fruiting trees. Our results imply that fragmented tree populations of X. monospora may become age-structured, or ultimately go extinct, if recruitment fails in subsequent years. This may especially affect populations in small, disturbed forest fragments, where seed dispersal and buffering against stochastic processes are generally reduced. Exotic plantations bordering indigenous forest fragments may provide suitable conditions for native tree recruitment; hence, forest expansion through enrichment planting should be considered in future conservation plans.     

The effects of forest fragmentation on euglossine bee communities (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossini)

Despite scientific and media attention on pollinator declines, there is still only a rudimentary understanding of the response of bees—the most important group of pollinators worldwide—to ongoing land use changes. Euglossine bees are an ecologically important Neotropical clade of forest-dependent pollinators. Despite the fact that euglossines are well studied relative to other groups of tropical bees, only three previous studies, all from Brazil, address the response of euglossines to forest fragmentation. In this study, I tripled the maximum sample size of previous efforts by sampling male euglossines in 22 forest fragments ranging in area from 0.25 ha to 230 ha in southern Costa Rica, using chemically baited Van Someren traps. Abundance of euglossine bees was significantly positively related to forest fragment size, negatively related to shape (edge:area ratio), and marginally related to fragment isolation. Euglossine species richness showed similar, but weaker trends: richness was significantly positively related to the quantity of forest edge, marginally negatively related to fragment area, and not related to fragment isolation. The positive relationship between euglossine richness and abundance and forest fragment edge is consistent with other studies that have found high euglossine density in secondary or disturbed forest. The data suggest that individual euglossines move between forest fragments, as has been shown in other systems. Still, forest fragmentation appears to affect euglossine bees more strongly than other bee groups in the study region. Their large flight range and positive relationship with forest edges may help to buffer the negative effects of fragmentation, allowing euglossines to utilize even the very smallest forest fragments in the study area.     

Drastic erosion in functional attributes of tree assemblages in Atlantic forest fragments of northeastern Brazil

The long-term dynamics of plant communities remain poorly understood in isolated tropical forest fragments. Here we test the hypothesis that tropical tree assemblages in both small forest fragments and along forest edges of very large fragments are functionally much more similar to stands of secondary growth (5-65-yr old) than to core primary forest patches. The study was carried out in a severely fragmented landscape of the Brazilian Atlantic forest. Nine functional attributes of tree assemblages were quantified by sampling all trees (DBH ? 10 cm) within 75 plots of 0.1 ha distributed in four forest habitats: small forest fragments (3.4-79.6 ha), forest edges, second-growth patches, and primary forest interior areas within a large forest fragment (3500 ha). These habitats were markedly different in terms of tree species richness, and in the proportion of pioneer, large-seeded, and emergent species. Age of second-growth stands explained between 31.4% and 88.2% of the variation in the functional attributes of tree assemblages in this habitat. As expected, most traits associated with forest edges and small forest fragments fell within the range shown by early (<25-yr old) and intermediate-aged secondary forest stands (25-45-yr old). In contrast to habitat type, tree assemblage attributes were not affected by vegetation type, soil type and the spatial location of plots. An ordination analysis documented a striking floristic drift in edge-affected habitats. Our results suggest that conservation policy guidelines will fail to protect aging, hyper-fragmented landscapes from drastic impoverishment if the remaining forest patches are heavily dominated by edge habitat.     

Conservation value of forest fragments to Palaeotropical bats

Forested landscapes in Southeast Asia are becoming increasingly fragmented, making this region a conservation and research priority. Despite its importance, few empirical studies of effects of fragmentation on biodiversity have been undertaken in the region, limiting our ability to inform land-use regimes at a time of increased pressure on forests. We estimated the biodiversity value of forest fragments in peninsular Malaysia by studying fragmentation impacts on insectivorous bat species that vary in dependence of forest. We sampled bats at seven continuous forest sites and 27 forest fragments, and tested the influence of fragment isolation and area on the abundance, species richness, diversity, composition and nestedness of assemblages, and the abundance of the ten most common species. Overall, isolation was a poor predictor of these variables. Conversely, forest area was positively related with abundance and species richness of cavity/foliage-roosting bats, but not for that of cave-roosting or edge/open space foraging species. The smallest of fragments (<150 ha) were more variable in species composition than larger fragments or continuous forest, and larger fragments retained substantial bat diversity, comparable to continuous forest. Some fragments exhibited higher bat abundance and species richness than continuous forest, though declines might occur in the future because of time lags in the manifestation of fragmentation effects. Our findings suggest that fragments >300 ha contribute substantially to landscape-level bat diversity, and that small fragments also have some value. However, large tracts are needed to support rare, forest specialist species and should be the conservation priority in landscape-level planning. Species that roost in tree cavities or foliage may be more vulnerable to habitat fragmentation than those that roost in caves.     

Effects of fragmentation on pollinator abundance and fruit set of an abundant understory palm in a Mexican tropical forest

Tropical forest fragmentation affects both biodiversity and plant reproductive success when small, isolated fragments sustain a reduced diversity or abundance of pollinators. Fragmentation-related effects have been poorly investigated in the case of palms, an important structural and functional component of tropical forests. We examined the relationships between fragment size and diversity and abundance of flower visitors, and palm reproduction, by quantifying the arthropod fauna associated to inflorescences of the palm Astrocaryum mexicanum, and its fruit set, in fragments of different size. The sample yielded a total of 228,772 arthropods (10 orders, 60 species). Coleoptera was the predominant group (?50% of the species), followed by Hymenoptera (20%), while the remaining (30%) was distributed among the other eight orders. We found a predominance of pollinating insects (Coleoptera-Nitidulidae), representing 85% of all visitors. Pollinator abundance was negatively affected by fragmentation, with a 4.2-fold average difference between small (<35 ha) and large (114-700 ha) fragments. However, fruit set was relatively high (?0.7) and not affected by fragmentation during three reproductive seasons. This could be explained because small fragments retained remarkably high numbers of pollinators (1191.4/inflorescence) and by the high abundance of palms (and flowers) in fragments. Further research is needed, however, to assess if fragmentation restricts pollinator movements to plants within the fragments, leading to a reduction in genetic variation of the progeny present in forest remnants.     

Web spider community response along an edge between pasture and Araucaria forest

We investigated how vegetation features and temporal variation influenced web spider richness, abundance and composition along an edge between Araucaria forest and pasture in southern Brazil. Web spiders and vegetation were surveyed four times over a 1-year period, in five 5 × 5 m plots randomised in four locations: 50 m into the pasture, 0, 50 and 250 m into the forest. We collected a total of 836 web spiders (33 morphospecies and six families). We found different web spider assemblages occurring at the pasture edge and forest interior. The richness and abundance of web spiders decreased up to 50 m towards the forest interior in all seasons, and we found a positive influence of vegetation richness on web spider abundance. In conclusion, web spider assemblages are influenced by an edge gradient, this pattern is consistent throughout the year and is strongly related to vegetation features.     

The role of remnant trees in seed dispersal through the matrix: Being alone is not always so sad

Remnant trees within the non-forest matrix are common structures of forest landscapes which have high conservation value due to their supposed roles as biological legacies and stepping stones in fragmented forest scenarios. Fleshy-fruited remnant trees are dispersal foci for many forest plants, as seeds accumulate under their canopies after visitation by forest frugivores. Despite this recognized effect, little is known about the relative role of remnant trees in maintaining their seed dispersal function after forest fragmentation. In this work, conducted in the Cantabrian Range (Northern Spain), seed deposition by frugivorous birds and post-dispersal seed predation by rodents were compared beneath the canopies of hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) trees scattered in the non-forested matrix, to those embedded in forest patches. We studied two years which had strong differences in community-wide fruit abundance (high in 2004, and low in 2005). Hawthorn and holly (Ilex aquifolium) seeds dominated the seed rain. The density of dispersed seeds differed between years and tree type, with higher values under patch trees relative to remnant ones. However, the effect of tree type depended on both the year and the seed species, as larger differences were found in the year of high fruit availability, and with holly seeds. Higher levels of post-dispersal seed predation on holly seeds also contributed to offset the differences between tree types. Our results suggest that remnant trees, by functioning as dispersal foci, facilitate the dispersal of the two most abundant plant species for forest succession through the matrix. More importantly, we demonstrated that in years of low fruit availability in which forest frugivores are forced to exploit scattered fruit resources, the role of remnant trees may even be equivalent to that played by forest trees.     

Effects of habitat disturbance on mixed species bird flocks in a tropical sub-montane rainforest

Despite their vulnerability to forest disturbances in the Neotropics, the consequences of forest perturbation on mixed species flocks are poorly understood in the threatened Southeast Asian rainforests. We examined the effects of local-scale habitat disturbance on mixed species flocks along an escalating gradient of anthropogenic modification (i.e., forest interior, forest edge, and urban) in a sub-montane tropical rainforest in Peninsular Malaysia that is presently experiencing low intensity development. Mixed species flocks in the forest interior and forest edge habitats (9.3 ± 2.3 and 8.4 ± 2.3, respectively) had significantly higher number of species than those observed in the urban habitat (5.1 ± 1.7). Flock participation was influenced by environmental characteristics (e.g., canopy cover). Flocking species sensitive to habitat disturbance were likely to be from the Families Corvidae, Nectariniidae, and Sylviidae; had narrow to restricted altitudinal ranges; and were exclusively dependent on primary forest and understory microhabitats. We conclude that sub-montane mixed species flocks are affected by even small scale urbanization and that they, particularly with species richness as a parameter, can be used as effective ecological indicators. With the looming development pressure on the sub-montane/montane habitats in Peninsular Malaysia and the Southeast Asian region, urgent conservation actions are needed for the preservation of their biotas.     

Forest fragmentation and edge effects from deforestation and selective logging in the Brazilian Amazon

Forest fragmentation results from deforestation and disturbance, with subsequent edge effects extending deep into remaining forest areas. No study has quantified the effects of both deforestation and selective logging, separately and combined, on forest fragmentation and edge effects over large regions. The main objectives of this study were to: (1) quantify the rates and extent of forest fragmentation from deforestation and logging within the Brazilian Amazon, and (2) contextualize the spatio-temporal dynamics of this forest fragmentation through a literature review of potential ecological repercussions of edge creation. Using GIS and remote sensing, we quantified forest fragmentation - defined as both increases in the forest edge-to-area ratio and number of forest fragments - and edge-effected forest occurring from these activities across more than 1.1 million km² of the Brazilian Amazon from 1999 to 2002. Annually, deforestation and logging generated ∼32,000 and 38,000 km of new forest edge while increasing the edge-to-area ratio of remaining forest by 0.14 and 0.15, respectively. Combined deforestation and logging increased the edge-to-area ratio of remaining forest by 65% over our study period, while generating 5539 and 3383 new forest fragments, respectively. Although we found that 90% of individual forest fragments were smaller than 4 km², we also found that 50% of the remaining intact forests were located in contiguous forest areas greater than 35,000 km². We then conducted a literature review documenting 146 edge effects and found that these penetrated to a median distance of 100 m, a distance encompassing 6.4% of all remaining forests in our study region in the year 2002, while 53% of forests were located within two km of an edge. Annually deforestation and logging increased the proportion of edge-forest by 0.8% and 3.1%, respectively. As a result of both activities, the total proportion of edge-forest increased by 2.6% per year, while the proportion within 100-m increased by 0.5%. Over our study period, deforestation resulted in an additional ∼3000 km² of edge-forest, whereas logging generated ∼20,000 km², as it extended deep into intact forest areas. These results show the large extent and rapid expansion of previously unquantified soft-edges throughout the Amazon and highlight the need for greater research into their ecological impacts.     

Long-term effects of fragmentation and fragment properties on bird species richness in Hawaiian forests

Forest fragmentation is a common disturbance affecting biological diversity, yet the impacts of fragmentation on many forest processes remain poorly understood. Forest restoration is likely to be more successful when it proceeds with an understanding of how native and exotic vertebrates utilize forest patches of different size. We used a system of forest fragments isolated by volcanic activity 153 years ago in Hawaii to examine how long-term fragmentation, as well as fragment size and structural features affect the richness of native and exotic bird species. The total number of bird species increased rapidly with forest fragment size, with most of the native species pool found in patches <3 ha. Smaller fragments were dominated by native bird species with several exotic bird species found only in the largest fragments, suggesting that exotic bird species in this landscape show greater area-sensitivity than native species. We used airborne scanning light detection and ranging (LiDAR) to assess whether fragment area was correlated with estimates of fragment vegetation volume as well as measures of tree height. Fragment area was highly correlated with vegetation volume, maximum tree height, and canopy height heterogeneity, and these variables were strong predictors of bird richness, demonstrating that remote sensing can provide key insights into the relationship between fragment structural attributes and biodiversity indicators. Overall, this work demonstrates the value of conserving small remnant mid-elevation forest patches for native birds in Hawaii. This work also provides insight into how newly created forest patches might be used by native and exotic bird species in Hawaii.     

The search for fragmentation thresholds in a Southern Sydney Suburb

Fragmentation of habitat is recognised as the number one threat to biodiversity and as such has attracted considerable research. However, much of this research has been conducted in forestry and agricultural environments, with little research in urban areas. In this study, field surveys were conducted measuring the impact of fragmentation on bird, frog, plant and fungi species richness, within the fragmented urban landscape of southern Sydney. Of all fragmentation parameters examined, remnant area was the best and most significant predictor of species richness for all taxa studied. Remnant size thresholds, below which biodiversity declined rapidly, were observed at approximately 4 ha for bird and frog species richness and approximately 2 ha for plant and fungal species richness. A further threshold appears to exist at approximately 50 ha for the dominance of forest interior species. Further relationships were also observed for perimeter:area ratio, indicating the influence of various edge effects on all taxa. Isolation effects were observed in the form of an inverse linear relationship between distance to other large reserves and species richness for fungi, birds and frogs. Corridor connectivity also produced an overall positive relationship for birds, frogs and plants. It is concluded that the identification of fragmentation thresholds and relationships provides an important management tool for the design of networks aimed at conserving biodiversity in fragmented urban environments.     

Edge effects on nesting success of cavity-nesting birds in fragmented forests

Forest fragmentation leads to the creation of isolated forest patches and habitat edges with subsequent impact on forest-interior bird species. Although the effects of fragmentation and edge on avian nesting success are well documented for open cup-nesting species in eastern deciduous forests in North America, it is unclear whether these effects are common for all birds nesting in predominantly forested landscapes. In particular, edge effects on nesting success of cavity-nesting birds are poorly understood. Using natural cavity nests, we examined nesting success of four species of cavity-nesting birds (two nonexcavators and two excavators), the yellow-rumped flycatcher (Ficedula zanthopygia), the great tit (Parus major), the great spotted woodpecker (Picoides major), and the grey-faced woodpecker (Picus canus) in relation to forest edges in Zuojia Nature Reserve, Jilin province, northeastern China. Our primary objective was to assess whether distance to the edge of agricultural lands was related to nesting success for cavity-nesting birds in fragmented forests. A total of 439 natural cavity nests of the four species were located and monitored during four breeding seasons. Probability of nest success was influenced by distance to forest edge for nonexcavators, but not for excavators. The rate of nesting success of the two nonexcavators, yellow-rumped flycatcher and the great tit, increased with distance from the edges. For all cavity nests, nesting success was 0.43 at 0-100 m, 0.56 at 101-200 m, 0.68 at 201-300 m, 0.61 at 301-400 m, 0.77 at 401-500 m from the edges. Nesting success ranged from 0.57 for the yellow-rumped flycatcher to 0.89 for the Grey-faced Woodpecker. Failed nests were often occupied by nest-site competitors (accounting for 68%). However, predation only accounted for 20% of all nest failures. Our results suggest that negative edge effects do exist for some cavity-nesting birds, especially for nonexcavator species.     

Forest fragmentation differentially affects seed dispersal of large and small-seeded tropical trees

The responses of plant-animal interactions to forest fragmentation can vary. We hypothesized that large-seeded plant species would be more susceptible to forest fragmentation than small-seeded species because large-seeded species rely on a few, extinction prone dispersers. We compared seed dispersal of the large-seeded, mammal dispersed Duckeodendron cestroides and the small-seeded, avian dispersed Bocageopsis multiflora. The number, percentage, distance, and distributions of dispersed seeds were all reduced in fragments for Duckeodendron but not for Bocageopsis. Other fragmentation research in tropical communities supports this hypothesis through three lines of evidence: (1) Large-seeded plant species are more prone to extinction, (2) Fragmentation restricts or alters the movement of large animal dispersers more than small dispersers, and (3) Large and small-seeded species seem to be differentially linked to primary and secondary forest habitats. Therefore, small-seeded plants may be more resilient to forest fragmentation while large-seeded species may be more susceptible and should be a priority for conservation.