Rainfall Modifies the Disturbance Effects on Regulating Ecosystem Services in Tropical Forests of Bangladesh

Fahmida Sultana; Mohammed A. S. Arfin-Khan; Md Rezaul Karim; Sharif A. A. Mukul

doi:10.3390/f14020272

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Rainfall Modifies the Disturbance Effects on Regulating Ecosystem Services in Tropical Forests of Bangladesh

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Rainfall Modifies the Disturbance Effects on Regulating Ecosystem Services in Tropical Forests of Bangladesh

Fahmida Sultana, Mohammed A. S. Arfin-Khan, Md Rezaul Karim and Sharif A. A. Mukul

Forests, Vol.14(2), pp.1-13

2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020272

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Abstract

ecosystem functions

regulating ecosystem services

disturbance

rainfall pattern

tropical forest

Tropical forests are critical for ecosystem functioning and are the major provider of global ecosystem services. The combined effects of climate change and anthropogenic disturbances in the tropics, however, have caused a mass decline in major ecosystem services in recent decades. Nevertheless, most previous studies focused entirely on these disturbances' effects on forest ecosystem services without taking into consideration the combined effects of climate change and disturbances on key ecosystem services' indicators. This is more pronounced in Bangladesh, which is one of the countries most adversely affected by global climate change. We investigated anthropogenic disturbances' effects on regulating ecosystem services under different rainfall regimes in Khadimnagar National Park (KNP) and Satchari National Park (SNP), two major forested, protected areas in Northeast Bangladesh. We considered twelve indicators for five aboveground ecosystem services (i.e., primary production, carbon storage, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, and timber production) and four indicators for four belowground ecosystem services (i.e., organic carbon storage, soil aggregate stability, soil physical support, and soil water regulation) in our study. The effects of disturbances on the indicators of four aboveground ecosystem services (i.e., primary production, tree carbon storage, biodiversity conservation, and timber production) and one belowground ecosystem service (soil physical support) differed in terms of rainfall regimes. Disturbances negatively influenced indicators of primary production (p = 0.03, r = -0.28), tree carbon storage (p = 0.02, r = -0.29), and timber production (p = 0.002, r = -0.39), and positively impacted soil organic carbon storage (p = 0.04, r = 0.27) only under a medium-rainfall regime. Interestingly, a significant positive impact of disturbances on soil physical support (p = 0.001, r = 0.39) was observed under heavy rainfall in our study. In addition, disturbances were significantly associated with biodiversity conservation (p < 0.05) and wildlife habitat quality (p < 0.05) under both rainfall classes. Our findings provide critical insights into the synergistic role of anthropogenic perturbations in regulating ecosystem services with rainfall pattern as a key climatic parameter, which can be useful in restoring large tracts of degraded tropical forests in the United Nations (UN) Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Details

Title: Rainfall Modifies the Disturbance Effects on Regulating Ecosystem Services in Tropical Forests of Bangladesh
Authors: Fahmida Sultana (Author) - Shahjalal University of Science and Technology
Mohammed A. S. Arfin-Khan (Corresponding Author) - Shahjalal University of Science and Technology
Md Rezaul Karim (Author) - University of Toronto
Sharif A. A. Mukul (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
Publication details: Forests, Vol.14(2), pp.1-13
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2023
DOI: 10.3390/f14020272
ISSN: 1999-4907
Copyright note: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Organisation Unit: Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; School of Health - Sports & Exercise Science
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99716032702621
Output Type: Journal article