Abstract
Rising global demand for natural rubber is expanding monoculture rubber (Hevea brasilensis) at the expense of natural forests in the Old World tropics. Conversion of forests into rubber plantations has a devastating impact on biodiversity and we have yet to identify management strategies that can mitigate this. We determined the life-history traits that best predict bird species occurrence in rubber plantations in SW China and investigated the effects of surrounding forest cover and distance to roads on bird diversity. Mistletoes provide nectar and fruit resources in rubber so we examined mistletoe densities and the relationship with forest cover and rubber tree diameter. In rubber plantations, we recorded less than half of all bird species extant in the surrounding area. Birds with wider habitat breadths and low conservation value had a higher probability of occurrence. Species richness and diversity increased logarithmically with surrounding forest cover, but roads had little effect. Mistletoe density increased exponentially with rubber tree diameters, but was unrelated to forest cover. To maximize bird diversity in rubber-dominated landscapes it is therefore necessary to preserve as much forest as possible, construct roads through plantations and not forest, and retain some large rubber trees with mistletoes during crop rotations.
Highlights
Rising global demand for natural rubber is expanding monoculture rubber (Hevea brasilensis) at the expense of natural forests in the Old World tropics
Assessments of the impacts of croplands on native ecosystems are an urgent priority for conservation, especially in tropical East Asia where both species richness and conversion of forests to monoculture plantations are among the highest globally[4,5]
Our study shows that natural forests enhance bird diversity within nearby monoculture rubber plantations
Summary
Rising global demand for natural rubber is expanding monoculture rubber (Hevea brasilensis) at the expense of natural forests in the Old World tropics. Rubber is the most rapidly expanding tree crop in mainland SE Asia (with 84% of the global total rubber area), and an estimated 4.3–8.5 million hectares of additional rubber plantations are required to meet global demand by 20246. This threat is imminent: for example, the Cambodian government has recently allocated 346,000 hectares inside 23 protected areas to rubber companies[7]. Conversion of natural forests into monoculture rubber plantations reduces species richness and changes the composition of animal assemblages[8,9,10,11,12,13], but we are yet to identify conservation strategies that could improve biodiversity within monoculture rubber landscapes. Research is still needed to determine if roads can have a positive or negative effect on the biodiversity in rubber
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