biodiversity change by different types of land use in a global hot spot ...

BIODIVERSITY CHANGE BY DIFFERENT TYPES OF LAND USEIN A GLOBAL HOT SPOT REGION AND DEVELOPMENT OFAN INDICATOR SYSTEM FOR MONITORING AND RAPIDASSESSMENTApplicant:Prof. Dr. Eberhard Fischer, Institut für Biologie, Universität Koblenz-LandauRheinau 1, D-56075 Koblenz, Tel.: 0261-9119 311/310in co-operation with:Prof. Dr. M. Mühlenberg, Zentrum für Naturschutz (Abt. I mit biologischem Schwerpunkt),Georg-August Universität GöttingenProf. Dr. K. Fiedler, Lehrstuhl für Tierökologie I, Universität BayreuthDr. R. Jocqué, Musée Royal d’Afrique Central, TervurenAbt. WirbelloseProject duration: 3 yearsBudget: 2.340.000,--Linkage to the announcement- Evaluation of species composition and diversity- Analysis of man-made changes of biodiversity- Development of monitoring and indicator systems for the assessment of biodiversitychangesSummaryDue to high biodiversity, the lowland forests of SW Cameroon are amongst the hotspots of biodiversityin the Afrotropics. Forest in the region is still extensive and largely unfragmented, but gets increasinglyunder anthropogenic pressure, whereas the effects of land use on the forest communities are largelyunknown. In the planned project, the comparative impacts of land use on certain animal and plant taxawill be studied. Three important land use forms will be compared with a reference area largely free ofdisturbances: (1) Forest areas, where exclusively non-timber forest products are collected, (2) timberconcessions (3) small-scale slash-and- burn farming. Research results will be analysed evaluating therelevance of certain taxa as biodiversity indicators in rapid biodiversity assessments. Trees, vascularepiphytes and mosses will be studied as well as birds, butterflies, moths, ants, and spiders.

1. Introduction and State of the artAccording to inventories carried out up to now, the lowland sites of the Korup/Oban Hillsregion in SW Cameroon/SE Nigeria seem to be among the richest African rainforest areasand are therefore amongst the hotspots of global biodiversity (see White 1983, Gartlan1989, Green & Rodewald 1996, Larsen in prep.). In addition, the region contains aconsiderable proportion of endemics (see Stattersfield et al. 1999). It is not known, up tonow, how different types of land use may influence this very high diversity. Within theplanned project, three important types of land use in the vicinity of the Korup Nationalpark/SW Cameroon are studied concerning their biodiversity and compared with primaryforest as reference. As the analysed types of land use are typical for tropical West andCentral Africa and as they certainly change forest characteristics, the development of anindicator system is necessary for the quantitative assessment of biodiversity. This can beachieved by monitoring and rapid assessment. During the project, the possibility of localmonitoring and rapid assessment and its limits shall be analysed. Furthermore we aim toidentify those types of land use, which maintain, at least in respect to the studiedorganisms, a high degree of biodiversity.Although the Korup area has long been identified as hot spot, inventories are availableonly for the Korup park and also only for few taxa. Man-made changes of biodiversity inthe marginal areas by different types of land use have never been studied. With the help ofselected taxa, which previously have been used as indicator groups (for butterflies e.g.Kremen 1994, Daily & Ehrlich 1995, Beccaloni & Gaston 1995), the most important groupsfor a rapid assessment of biodiversity will be sampled. For this purpose, a close cooperationof several institutions becomes necessary.2. Previous researchSince more than 10 years, the applicant is working in Central Africa, among others within ajoint research project in co-operation with the Institut de Recherche Scientifique etTechnologique (IRST) in Rwanda. The main topics of rearch are, beside taxonomic studies(Fischer 1992, in press), investigation of flora and vegetation of mountain rainforests(Biedinger & Fischer 1996, Fischer 1993a, 1996). These data can now be included into theproposed research project. For the Kahuzi-Biega-National Park, situated in Eastern Congo,a vegetation map based on satellite photos as well as a phytocenological inventory havebeen prepared (Fischer 1996). As selected taxonomic groups, Scrophulariaceae (Fischer1992, in press), the genus Impatiens (Fischer 1997, Cheek & Fischer in press) and epiphyticbryophytes (Biedinger & Fischer 1996, Fischer 1993b) have been studied. All theseexperiences can be used as a base for the proposed project. The other co-operationpartners also have done previous research and provided an infrastructural frame. Sincemany years, there exists a co-operation between the Zentrum für Naturschutz, University ofGöttingen (ZfN) and the local representations of GTZ, EU, WWF, the responsible ministry(MINEF), the logging companies and the National Park management (Korup Project, seeGartlan 1992). There are existing camps, which may be used as basic research stations. Aresearch permit for the ZfN is also available. Logistic co-operation can be expected fromthe Korup-Project (Protection and marginal zone development of the Korup region, GTZ, EU,WWF).2

Project objectivesThe following questions shall be dealt with in the frame of the project during the BIOLOGpilot period of three years.• How is alpha-diversity influenced by different man-made and natural disturbances?• Which factors (structural parameters of habitat, abiotic influence) cause the spatialdistribution of flora and vegetation?• Which groups are suitable indicators for the assessment of Central and East Africanforests?The results of this research can help the concerned state (Cameroon) in the inventory of itsnatural biological resources with respect to article 7 and 12 of the Convention of BiologicalDiversity (CBD). In a long-term perspective, the results will help to build up a monitoringsystem for the rapid assessment of biodiversity. Therefore, focal taxa are chosen whichrepresent the existing biodiversity. Usually these focal taxa are unpredictable and they willbe defined out of the investigated taxonomic groups. The most efficient indicator system forRapid Biodiversity Assessment (RBA) will be tested in a later project phase on large scale inCameroon and adjacent countries. Our project will add considerable data amount toexisting inventories of SW Cameroon. As Cameroon represents the transitional zonebetween Western and Central Africa, the developed indicator systems probably can beused in all rainforests of these areas. As especially in tropical Africa the decline ofrainforests continues, an improved rapid assessment becomes necessary to describebiodiversity under different conditions.3. Planned activities for the first 3 years and long-term perspectivesAs project region, the Korup area in South West Cameroon has been chosen. We canargue for the choice of this investigation area, as it is important 1) for the conservation ofbiodiversity on global scale, 2) in respect to a high diversity of land use types within a smallarea, combined with undisturbed primary forest, and by the existence of a suitableinfrastructure.Ad 1.) The Korup National Park is famous for its high diversity of plants (Groombridge 1992).400 tree species are known within an area of 1200 km 2 (White 1983). The number of butterflyspecies is estimated to above 1000, which represents the highest Lepidoptera diversity inAfrica (Larsen in prep.). As the region is a biogeographical transition zone between Westernand Central Africa, it contains typical species from both areas and thus, the project resultsare applicable to the majority of African tropical humid forests.Ad 2.) In the marginal zone of the Korup National Park, we can distinguish 3 areas, whichare influenced by one dominating type of land use. This includes the logging areas MPLwith 114.650 ha and CAFECO with 26.000 ha surface. In the adjacent northern part of theEjagham forest reserve, mainly secondary forest products (Non Timber Forest ProductsNTFP) are used. In the south eastern part, forests are used by small-scale slash-and-burnfarming.Research areas will be established in all 4 main regions: the National Park as a referencefor primary biodiversity, and in the 3 areas with different dominating land-use (selectivelogging, production of NTFP, shifting cultivation and forest conversion). The comparison offirst inventories within these 4 areas will help to identify suitable indicator systems. For theselected indicators, monitoring concepts are adopted to local situation (e.g. forest structure).During the first period of the project, we intend to establish indicator systems and3

monitoring concepts in so far as to solve major problems concerning inventory methods byexperiences from regular sampling.The RBA will be critically analysed mainly during the second project period, when speciesspectra are better known and the monitoring programs have been standardised.Therefore, we will define in every of the 4 forest use types a number of survey of differentsize, for which we can estimate diversity based on inventories during the first projectperiod. The comparison of rapid assessment with the intensive inventories allows a criticalvaluation of the chosen indicator systems. As different scale and regional heterogeneitymay influence the applicability of the RBA, we intend to test our results in further localities oftropical Africa.The biodiversity will be sampled on broad scale to provide a good basis for thedevelopment of an indicator system. Pragmatic demands restrict the choice of suitabletaxa, as only groups will be included into a RBA, which are comparatively frequent and canbe easily sampled. Additionally the species must be determinable and experience on thesegroups from other tropical forests should be available. The choice of the following taxaconsiders theses requirements:Within vascular plants, the trees should be studied as they influence the forest localityconsiderably. Epiphytes are sensitive to changes in micro-climate, which are connected tohabitat change. Here, vascular epiphytes and epiphytic bryophytes may serve as modelsystems. A further group of bioindicators is represented by the genus Impatiens (Grey-Wilson 1980).Within the animals, birds shall be studied, as their indicator properties is often discussedcritically (Lawton et al. 1998), although they belong to the best known taxa at all and areused in many studies. Butterflies and moths represent phytophagous insects with highspecies diversity and different types of life strategy. They are connected during larvaldevelopment to specific food plants, and also the imagines of many species have highlyspecific resource requirements (e.g. nectar, fruits etc.). At least for some groups, thetaxonomic investigation is rather advanced and they represent nearly the only species-richinsect group of the tropics, which can be determined to species level. Some groups ofNymphalidae can be sampled by baited traps and are thus suitable for rapid assessment(Daily & Ehrlich 1995), but also other taxa may prove to be valuable indicators, as they canbe easily observed during transect investigations or at special resources (Beck, Mühlenberg& Fiedler 1999). Ants are the dominating insects in tropical rainforests. Together withtermites, they can represent one third of the animal biomass within these forests(Hölldobler & Wilson 1990). Additionally, with the life form of the driver ants as well as with adiversity of mutualistic interactions with plants and other insects, they are of enormousecological importance. Sampling methods of ants include pitfall traps, protein-/sugarressourcebaiting or standardised collecting, but due to a low level of taxonomic research,only morpho-species can be distinguished. Spiders represent carnivorous arthropods. Witha suitable method, all these groups will be sampled and analysed in all selected surveys.Other co-operating partnersKorup-Project(EU, GTZ, WWF)Co-ordination of Park activities including researchPromotion of the Korup National Park - Forest ResourceComponent (GTZ/MINEF-cooperating research)Dr. J. EsserA. KembdouK. v. LoebensteinV. A. NdangangPark management and SupportZone DevelopmentConservator, Korup NationalParkUse of NTFPs4

5. Budget (3 years)first year second year third year totalScientific staff (2 BAT IIa)200.000 200.000 200.000 600.000(one for inventories and indicator systems each)PhD staff (6 BAT IIa/2)300.000 300.000 300.000 900.000(contribution to the research by single disciplines)Co-operating partners60.000 60.000 60.000 180.000(and support of local research capacities)part-time administrative position40.000 40.000 40.000 120.000(central co-ordination)Contracts for complementary consultances 40.000 40.000 40.000 120.000total personnel 1.800.000Travel costs40.000 40.000 40.000 120.000ca 10 flights/year à 2.000, excess luggage, dailyallowancesMaterial50.000 40.000 40.000 130.000(1 vehicle, extension of basic equipment)Infrastructural extension 60.000 20.000 20.000 100.000Seminars, workshops15.000 25.000 30.000 70.000(integration of research team and internationalscientific exchange)total 805.000 765.000 770.000 2.340.000Daily allowances à 80,-/d (after six weeks 40,-/d)Saving effects by the project system have already been considered.6. ReferencesBECCALONI, GW & GASTON, KJ 1995. Predicting species richness of Neotropical forest butterflies: Ithomiinae(Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) as indicators. Biol. Conserv. 71: 77-86.BECK, J, MÜHLENBERG, E & FIEDLER, K (1999): Mud-puddling behavior in tropical butterflies: in search ofproteins or minerals? Oecologia 119: 140-148.BIEDINGER, N & FISCHER, E 1996. Epiphytic vegetation and ecology in Central African forests (Rwanda, Zaïre).Ecotropica 2: 121-142CHEEK, M & FISCHER, E in press. A tuberous and epiphytic new species of Impatiens (Balsaminaceae) fromSouthwest Cameroon. Kew Bull.DAILY, GC & EHRLICH, PR 1995. Preservation of biodiversity in small rainforest patches: rapid evaluation usingbutterfly trapping. Biodiv. & Conserv. 4: 35-55.FISCHER, E 1992. Systematik der afrikanischen Lindernieae (Scrophulariaceae). Tropische und subtropischePflanzenwelt 81: 1 - 365.FISCHER, E 1993a. Taxonomic results of the Bryotrop-Expedition to Zaire and Rwanda. 3. Description ofCollecting Sites. The Vegetation of Kahuzi-Biega-National Park/Zaïre, Nyungwe forest and Virunga-Volcanoes. Tropical Bryology 8: 13-37.FISCHER, E 1993b. Taxonomic results of the Bryotrop-Expedition to Zaire and Rwanda. 10. Trichocoleaceae,Geocalycaceae, Acrobolbaceae, Balantiopsidaceae, Lepidoziaceae (Telaranea, Arachniopsis),Calypogeiaceae, Adelanthaceae, Porellaceae, Jubulaceae, Marchantiaceae (Dumortiera), Polytrichaceae.Tropical Bryology 8: 83-98.FISCHER, E 1996. Die Vegetation des Parc National Kahuzi-Biéga/Zaïre. Erdwissenschaftliche Forschung 35: 1-240. Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart.FISCHER, E 1997. Contributions to the Flora of Central Africa V: Two new species of Impatiens (Balsaminaceae)from Eastern Zaire. Bull. Jard. Bot. Nat. Belg. 66: 63-71.FISCHER, E in press. Scrophulariaceae. Flore d’Afrique Centrale (Congo-Kinshasa - Rwanda - Burundi).GARTLAN, S 1989. La conservation des ecosystemes forestiers du Cameroun. UICN, Gland, Switzerland andCambridge, UK.5

GARTLAN, S 1992. Cameroon. In: SAYER, JA, HARCOURT, CS, COLLINS, NM (eds.). The Conservation Atlas ofTropical Forests. Africa. IUCN, New York.GREEN, AA & RODEWALD, PG 1996. New bird records from Korup National Park and environs, Cameroon,Malimbus 18: 122-133.GREY-WILSON, C 1980. Impatiens of Africa. 1-235. Rotterdam.GROOMBRIDGE, B 1992. Global biodiversity. Status of the earth's living resources. Chapman and Hall, LondonHÖLLDOBLER, B & WILSON, EO 1990. The Ants. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, USA.INTACHAT, J, HOLLOWAY, JD & SPEIGHT, MR 1997. The effects of different forest management practices ongeometroid moth populations and diversity in Peninsular Malaysia. J. Trop. Forest Sci 9: 411-430.INTACHAT, J, HOLLOWAY, JD & SPEIGHT, MR 1999. The impact of logging on geometroid moth populationsand their diversity in lowland forests of Peninsular Malaysia. J Trop Forest Sci 11: 61-78.KREMEN, C 1994. Biological inventory using target taxa: a case study of the butterflies of Madagascar. Ecol.Applications 4: 407-422.LAWTON, JH, BIGNELL, DE, BOLTON, B, BLOEMERS, GF, EGGLETON, P, HAMMOND, PM, HODDA, M, HOLT, RD, LARSEN, TB,MAWSLEY, NA, STORK, NE, SRIVSTAVA, DS & WATT, AD 1998: Biodiversity inventories, indicator taxa and effects ofhabitat modification in tropical forest. Nature 391: 72-76.RODEWALD, PG, DEJAIFVE, P-A & GREEN, AA 1994. The birds of Korup National Park and Korup Project Area,Southwest Province, Cameroon. Bird Conservation International 4: 1-68.STATTERSFIELD, AJ, CROSBY, MJ, LONG, AJ, WEGE, DC 1998. Endemic bird areas of the world. Priority areas forbiodiversity conservation. Birdlife International Series No. 7, Cambridge, UK.SCHULZE, CH & FIEDLER, K 1999. Species richness of South East Asian butterflies – how can it be estimatedusing faunal lists at different geographic scales. Proceedings of the 3 rdSeminar on Tropical Research inSabah, Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia) (in press).WHITE, F 1983. The Vegetation of Africa. A descriptive memoir to accompany the UNESCO/AETFAT/UNSOvegetation map of Africa. Paris, 1-356.6