Limited carbon and biodiversity co-benefits for tropical forest mammals and birds

L Beaudrot; K Kroetz; P Alvarez-Loayza; I Amaral; T Breuer; C Fletcher; P A Jansen; D Kenfack; M G M Lima; Andrew R Marshall; E H Martin; M Ndoundou-Hockemba; T O'Brien; J C Razafimahaimodison; H Romero-Saltos; F Rovero; C H Roy; D Sheil; Carlos E F Silva; Wilson Roberto Spironello; Renato Valencia; Alex Zvoleff; Jorge Ahumada; Sandy Andelman

doi:10.1890/15-0935

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Limited carbon and biodiversity co-benefits for tropical forest mammals and birds

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Limited carbon and biodiversity co-benefits for tropical forest mammals and birds

L Beaudrot, K Kroetz, P Alvarez-Loayza, I Amaral, T Breuer, C Fletcher, P A Jansen, D Kenfack, M G M Lima, Andrew R Marshall, …

Ecological Applications, Vol.26(4), pp.1098-1111

2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0935

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Abstract

The conservation of tropical forest carbon stocks offers the opportunity to curb climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and simultaneously conserve biodiversity. However, there has been considerable debate about the extent to which carbon stock conservation will provide benefits to biodiversity in part because whether forests that contain high carbon density in their aboveground biomass also contain high animal diversity is unknown. Here, we empirically examined medium to large bodied ground-dwelling mammal and bird (hereafter "wildlife") diversity and carbon stock levels within the tropics using camera trap and vegetation data from a pantropical network of sites. Specifically, we tested whether tropical forests that stored more carbon contained higher wildlife species richness, taxonomic diversity, and trait diversity. We found that carbon stocks were not a significant predictor for any of these three measures of diversity, which suggests that benefits for wildlife diversity will not be maximized unless wildlife diversity is explicitly taken into account; prioritizing carbon stocks alone will not necessarily meet biodiversity conservation goals. We recommend conservation planning that considers both objectives because there is the potential for more wildlife diversity and carbon stock conservation to be achieved for the same total budget if both objectives are pursued in tandem rather than independently. Tropical forests with low elevation variability and low tree density supported significantly higher wildlife diversity. These tropical forest characteristics may provide more affordable proxies of wildlife diversity for future multi-objective conservation planning when fine scale data on wildlife are lacking. © 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.

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Title: Limited carbon and biodiversity co-benefits for tropical forest mammals and birds
Authors: L Beaudrot (Author) - Conservation International, United States
K Kroetz (Author) - Resources for the Future, United States
P Alvarez-Loayza (Author) - Duke University, United States
I Amaral (Author) - National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), Brazil
T Breuer (Author) - Wildlife Conservation Society, Republic of Congo
C Fletcher (Author) - Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Malaysia
P A Jansen (Author) - Wageningen University, Netherlands
D Kenfack (Author) - Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, United States
M G M Lima (Author) - Museu Paraense Emílio-Goeldi, Brazil
Andrew R Marshall (Author) - University of York, United Kingdom
E H Martin (Author) - College of African Wildlife Management, Tanzania
M Ndoundou-Hockemba (Author) - Wildlife Conservation Society, Republic of Congo
T O'Brien (Author) - Wildlife Conservation Society, United States
J C Razafimahaimodison (Author) - Centre ValBio Ranomafana Ranomafan, Madagascar
H Romero-Saltos (Author) - Ciudad del Conocimiento Yachay Yachay Tech Imbabura, Ecuador
F Rovero (Author) - Museo delle Scienze (MUSE), Italy
C H Roy (Author) - Wildlife Conservation Society, Republic of Congo
D Sheil (Author) - Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway
Carlos E F Silva (Author) - National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), Brazil
Wilson Roberto Spironello (Author) - National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), Brazil
Renato Valencia (Author) - Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador Quito, Ecuador
Alex Zvoleff (Author) - Conservation International, United States
Jorge Ahumada (Author) - Conservation International, United States
Sandy Andelman (Author) - Conservation International, United States
Publication details: Ecological Applications, Vol.26(4), pp.1098-1111
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Date published: 2016
DOI: 10.1890/15-0935
ISSN: 1051-0761
Organisation Unit: Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Forest Research Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450565502621
Output Type: Journal article

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