Effects of Tree Cutting to a Simulated Two-dimensional Lattice Lotka-Volterra Model of a Terrestrial Plant Community with Microhabitat Locality

Abstract

As early as the Paleolithic age, when hunters made their weapons using derivative products from trees, wood is an indispensable resource for humanity. Even the Amazon forest cover has been decreasing at a very alarming rate as 7,989 km2 was cleared by logging from July 2015 to August 2016. Despite human interference, most terrestrial plant communities still display relatively high species diversity. Natural communities with only a single species are rare or almost non-existent. A fundamental problem in ecology is why species diversity is possible. It has been previously shown through simulations that spatial heterogeneity or microhabitat locality allows the coexistence of multiple species. However, a phenomenon not yet explored is the effect of human activities such as cutting on spatial heterogeneity. Thus, we extended this microhabitat locality model to include the effects of plant cutting in terrestrial plant ecosystems. This study attempts to observe the effects of human interference (plant cutting) in terrestrial plant ecosystems through simulations. A two-dimensional lattice Lotka-Volterra model was used to study the dynamics of a twenty-species system of a terrestrial plant community with microhabitat locality in the presence of plant cutting – clearcutting and selective cutting. In the model, each species is assigned a unique basal fecundity which defines their strength in the community. The results of the simulations exhibit a higher species diversity when the type of cutting is selective. Moreover, the frequency of cutting and the size of the cleared sites also affect the diversity of a plant community. This study also shows that plant communities with microhabitat locality are resilient even in the presence of human interference