Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:30:37.093Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The spatial distribution of illegal logging in the Anavilhanas archipelago (Central Amazonia) and logging impacts on species

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2011

ANDRESSA BÁRBARA SCABIN ,
FLÁVIA REGINA CAPELLOTTO COSTA  and
JOCHEN SCHÖNGART
ANDRESSA BÁRBARA SCABIN*
Affiliation:
Graduate Program in Ecology, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Avenida Ephigênio Salles 2239, Adrianópolis, Manaus CEP 69011-970, AM, Brazil
FLÁVIA REGINA CAPELLOTTO COSTA
Affiliation:
Coordenação de Pesquisas em Ecologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Avenida Ephigênio Salles 2239, Adrianópolis, Manaus CEP 69011-970, AM, Brazil
JOCHEN SCHÖNGART
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Biogeochemistry Department, Johann-Joachim Becherweg 27, Universitatscampus, 55128 Mainz, Germany Projeto Max-Planck, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Avenida André Araújo 1.756, Manaus CEP 69011-910, AM, Brazil
*
*Correspondence: Andressa Bárbara Scabin, current address Avenida três de março 200, Complemento L4, Residencial Vila Azul, Sorocaba, São Paulo CEP 18087-180, Brazil, e-mail: dedascabin@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Amazonia is one of the world's leading suppliers of timber and the Amazonian timber industry is an important source of regional income, however the economic benefits of this market are associated with environmental damage, mainly when the wood is removed illegally. The Anavilhanas National Park, located in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, has been subjected to illegal logging and elaboration of control programmes requires knowledge of the distribution of timber species and the intensity of logging. This study examines the density and growth rate of the five most harvested tree species in the Park, the spatial distribution of illegal logging operations and their effects on population structure. In total, 2332 trees with diameter at breast height greater than 10 cm, as well as stumps of cut trees, were sampled, and dendrochronology was used to estimate growth rates. Some size classes of Virola surinamensis trees and species within the family Lauraceae decreased in abundance as harvesting intensity increased. Growth rates of the most abundant species of Lauraceae, Ocotea cymbarum, were high, indicating stands may recover quickly when harvesting stops. The population structure of Calophyllum brasiliense showed no negative effects due to logging, but its low growth rate and stand distribution suggest that continued exploitation may endanger these populations. Logging had no detectable negative effects on the size structure of populations of Macrolobium acaciifolium or Hevea spp., and their high growth rates suggest that they will not be threatened by current logging rates. Overall growth rates in the Anavilhanas archipelago are higher than those recorded in other black-water floodplain forest (igapó). Logging of most species (except Lauraceae spp., which have the highest market value) is concentrated in the southern region of the Park, which has more human settlements close by. There was no general relationship between harvesting intensity and geographic distance to human settlements, but there was a tendency for harvesting to be higher in sites with concentrations of trees of high market value. Potential strategies to control illegal logging activities in the Anavilhanas archipelago include encouragement of sustainable logging in Park buffer zones and stimulation of ecotourism initiatives in the southern region of the Park. Ecotourism development can provide an economic alternative to illegal logging for local communities and inhibit logging by increasing vigilance.

Keywords

Amazondendrochronologyflood plainsgrowthtreeshuman pressurepopulation structure
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 111 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amaral, P., Veríssimo, A., Barreto, P. & Vidal, E. (1998) Floresta para sempre: um manual para a produção de madeira da Amazônia. Report. Imazon, WWF and USAID, Belém, Brazil.Google Scholar
Anderson, A.B., Mousasticoshvily, I. Jr & Macedo, D.S. (1998) Logging of Virola surinamensis in the Amazon floodplain: impacts and alternatives. In: Várzea: Diversity, Development, and Conservation of Amazonian's Whitewater Floodplains, ed. Padoch, C., Ayres, J.M., Pinedo-Vasquez, M., Henderson, A., pp. 119–133. New York, NY, USA: The New York Botanical Garden Press.Google Scholar
Asner, G., Knapp, D., Broadbent, E., Oliveira, P., Keller, M. & Silva, J.M. (2005) Selective logging in the Brazilian Amazon. Science 310: 480–481.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barreto, P., Amaral, P., Vidal, E. & Uhl, C. (1998) Costs and benefits of forest management for timber production in eastern Amazon. Forest Ecology and Management 108: 9–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Begossi, A., Silvano, R.A.M. & Ramos, R.M. (2005) Foraging behavior among fishers from the Negro and Piracicaba rivers: implication for management. In: River Management III, ed. Brebbia, C.A. & Antunes do Carmo, J.S., pp. 503–513. WIT Transactions of Ecology and Environment. Southampton, UK: WIT Press.Google Scholar
Begossi, A., Clauzet, M., Hanazaki, N., Lopes, P., Ramires, M. & Silvano, R. (2009) Fishers’ decision making, optimal foraging and management. In III Seminário de Gestão Socioambiental para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável da Aqüicultura e da Pesca no Brasil Volume 3, pp. 1–5. Araial do Cabo, RJ, Brazil: III SEGAP-CDROM annals.Google Scholar
Bird, D.W. & Bliege Bird, R.L. (1997) Contemporary shellfish gathering strategies among the Merriam of the Torres Strait Islands, Australia: testing predictions of a central place foraging model. Journal of Archaeological Science 24: 39–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brienen, R.J.W. & Zuidema, P.A. (2006) The use of tree rings in tropical forest management: projecting timber yields of four Bolivian tree species. Forest Ecology and Management 226: 256–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buckland, S.T., Anderson, D.R., Burnham, K.P. & Laake, J.L. (1993) Distance Sampling: Estimating Abundance of Biological Populations. London, UK: Chapaman & Hall1sted London, UK.Google Scholar
Chambers, J.Q., Higuchi, N., Schimel, J., Ferreira, L. & Melack, J.L. (2000) Decomposition and carbon cycling of dead trees in tropical forests of the central Amazon. Oecologia 122: 380–388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fearnside, P.M. (2010) Recursos madeireiros na Amazônia brasileira: impactos e sustentabilidade da exploração. In: Grupo de Estudos Estratégicos Amazônicos (GEEA), ed. Val, A.L. & dos Santos, G.M., pp. 1–7. Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia.Google Scholar
Ferreira, L.V. (2000) Effects of flooding duration on species richness, floristic composition and forest structure in river margin habitat in Amazonian black water floodplain forests: implications for future design of protected areas. Biodiversity and Conservation 9: 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fletcher, S.A. (1990) Park, protected areas and local population: new international issues and imperatives. Landscape and Urban Planning 9 (2): 197–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fonseca, S.F. Jr, Piedade, M.T.F. & Schöngart, J. (2009) Wood growth of Tabebuia barbata (E. Mey.) Sandwith (Bignoniaceae) and Vatairea guianensis Aubl. (Fabaceae) in Central Amazonian black-water (igapó) and white-water (várzea) floodplain forests. Trees – Structure and Function 23 (1): 127–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerwing, J.J. (2002) Degradation of forests through logging and fire in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. Forest Ecology and Management. 157:131–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holdsworth, A.R. & Uhl, C. (1997) Fire in Amazonian selective logged rainforest and the potential for fire reduction. Ecological Applications 7: 713–725.Google Scholar
IBAMA (1999) Plano de Manejo da Estação Ecológica de Anavilhanas, Instituto do Meio Ambiente, dos Recursos Hídricos e da Amazônia Legal. Report. Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis, Brasília, Brazil: 153 pp.Google Scholar
Irion, G., Junk, W.J. & Mello, J. (1997) The large central of Amazonian river floodplains near Manaus: geological, climatological, hydrological, and geomorphological aspects. In: The Central Amazon Floodplain. Ecology of a Pulsing System, ed. Junk, W.J., pp. 23–42. Berline, Germany: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
INPE (2010) Projeto PRODES. Monitoramento da Floresta Amazônica Brasiliera por Satélite [www document]. URL http://www.obt.inpe.br/prodes/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
Johns, J.S., Barreto, P. & Uhl, C. (1996) Logging damage during planned and unplanned logging operations in the eastern Amazon. Forest Ecology and Management 89: 59–77.Google Scholar
Junk, W.J. (1989) Flood tolerance and tree distribution in central Amazonian floodplains. In: Tropical Forests. Botanical Dynamics, Speciation and Diversity ed. Holn-Nielsen, L.B., Nielsen, I.C. & Balslev, H., pp. 47–64. London, UK: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Laurance, W.F. (2001) Logging and wildlife research in Australasia: implications for tropical forest management. In: The Cutting Edge: Conserving Wildlife in Logged Tropical Forests, ed. Grajal, A., Fimbrel, R. & Robinson, J.G., pp. 559–574. New York, NY, USA and Chichester, UK: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leenheer, J.A. & Santos, H. (1980) Considerações sobre os processos de sedimentação na água preta ácida do Rio Negro, Amazonia Central. Acta Amazônica 10 (2): 343–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lentini, M., Verísimo, A. & Pereira, D. (2005). A expansão madeireira na Amazônia. Imazon: O estado da Amazônia, 2:1–4.Google Scholar
Lima, J.R., dos Santos, J. & Higuchi, N. (2005) Situação das indústrias madeireiras do estado do Amazonas em 2000. Acta Amazonica 35 (2):125–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macedo, D. & Anderson, A. (1993) Early ecological changes associated with logging in an Amazonian floodplain. Biotropica 25 (2): 151–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martini, A., Rosa, N.A. & Uhl, C. 1998. Espécies de árvores potencialmente ameaçadas pela atividade madeireira. Imazon 11: 1–34.Google Scholar
Monteiro, A.L.S., Souza, C.M.D. Jr, Pantoja, F.L.S. & Gerwing, J.J. (2004) Impactos da exploração madeireira em floresta de transição da Amazônia Legal. Scientia Florestalis 65: 11–21.Google Scholar
Murali, K., Uma Shankar, R., Uma Shaakeer, K., Ganeshaiaah, K.N. & Bawa, K.S. (1996) Extraction of non-timber forest products in the forests of Biligiri Rangan Hills, India. 2 Impact of NTFP extraction on regeneration, population structure, and species composition. Economic Botany 50 (3): 252–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nebel, G. & Meilby, H. (2005) Growth and population structure of timber species in Peruvian Amazon floodplains. Forest Ecology and Management 215: 196–211Google Scholar
Nepstad, D., Veríssimo, A., Alencar, A., Nobre, C., Lima, E., Lefebvre, P., Schlesinger, P., Potterk, C., Moutinho, P., Mendoza, E., Cochrane, M. & Brooks, V. (1999) Large-scale impoverishment of Amazonian forests by logging and fire. Nature 398: 505–507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peres, C., Baider, C., Zuidema, P.A., Wadt, L.H.O., Kainer, K.A., Gomes-Silva, D.A.P., Salomão, R.P., Simões, L.L., Franciosi, E.R.N., Valverde, F.C., Gribel, R., Shepard, G.H. Jr, Kanashiro, M., Coventry, P., Yu, D.H., Watkinson, A.R. & Freckleton, R.P. (2003) Demographic threats to the sustainability of Brazil nut exploitation. Science 302: 2112–2114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piedade, M.T.F., Junk, W.J., Adis, J. & Parolin, P. (2005) Ecologia, zonação e colonização da vegetação arbórea das ilhas Anavilhanas. Pesquisas Botânica 56: 117–144.Google Scholar
Putz, F. & Pinard, M. (1993) Reduced-impact logging as a carbon-offset method. Conservation Biology 7: 755–757.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putz, F.E., Sist, P., Fredericksen, T. & Dykstra, D. (2008) Reduced-impact logging: challenges and opportunities. Forest Ecology and Management 256: 1427–1433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosa, S.A. (2008) Modelos de crescimento de quarto espécies madeireiras de floresta de várzea da Amazônia Central. Dissertação de Mestrado, INPA/UFAM, Manaus, Brazil: 77 pp.Google Scholar
Schöngart, J. (2008) Growth-oriented logging (GOL): a new concept towards sustainable forest management in Central Amazonian várzea floodplains. Forest Ecology and Management 256: 46–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schöngart, J. (2010) Growth-oriented logging (GOL): use of species-specific growth information for forest management in central Amazonian floodplains. In: Amazonian Floodplain Forests: Ecophysiology, Biodiversity and Sustainable Management. ed. Junk, W.J., Piedade, M.T.F, Wittmann, F., Schöngart, J. & Parolin, P., pp. 437–464. Heidelberg, Germany: Ecological Studies, Springer Verlag.Google Scholar
Schöngart, J. & Queiroz, H.L. (2010) Timber extraction in the Central Amazonian floodplains. In: Amazonian Floodplain Forests: Ecophysiology, Biodiversity and Sustainable Management. ed. Junk, W.J., Piedade, M.T.F, Wittmann, F., Schöngart, J. & Parolin, P., pp. 437–464. Heidelberg, Germany: Ecological Studies, Springer Verlag.Google Scholar
Schöngart, J., Piedade, M.T.F., Ludwigshausen, S., Horna, V. & Worbes, M. (2002) Phenology and stem-growth periodicity of tree species in Amazonian floodplain forests. Journal of Tropical Ecology 18: 581–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schöngart, J., Piedade, M.T.F., Wittmann, F., Junk, W.J. & Worbes, M. (2005) Wood growth patterns of Macrolobium acaciifolium (Benth.) Benth.(Fabaceae) in Amazonian black-water and white-water floodplain forests. Oecologia 145: 454–461.Google Scholar
Shaanker, R.U., Ganeshaiah, K.N., Nageswara, M.R. & Aravind, N.A. (2002) Ecological consequences of forest use: from genes to ecosystem. A case study in the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, South India. Conservation and Society 22: 347–363.Google Scholar
Thomas, L., Buckland, S.T., Burnham, K.P., Anderson, D.R., Laake, J.L., Borchers, D.L & Strindberg, S. (2002) Distance sampling. Encyclopedia of Environmetrics 1: 544–552.Google Scholar
Veríssimo, A., Barreto, P., Mattos, M., Tarifa, R. & Uhl, C. (1992) Logging impacts and prospects for sustainable forest management in an old Amazonian frontier: the case of Paragominas. Forest Ecology and Management 55: 169–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veríssimo, A., Barreto, P., Tarifa, R. & Uhl, C. (1995) Extraction of high-value natural resource in Amazonian: the case of mahogany. Forest Ecology and Management 72: 39–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wittmann, F., Schöngart, J., Brito, J.M., Oliveira Wittmann, A., Piedade, M.T.F., Parolin, P., Junk, W.J. & Guillaumet, J. (2010) Manual of trees from Central Amazonian várzea floodplains: Taxonomy, Ecology, and Use – Manual de árvores de várzea da Amazônia Central. INPA, Manaus, 298p.Google Scholar
Worbes, M. & Junk, W.J. (1989) Dating tropical trees by means of 14C from bomb tests. Ecology 70: 503–507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar