Ecological Role of a Tree (Gmelina Arborea) Plantation in Guatemala: An Assessment of an Alternative Land use for Tropical Avian Conservation

Abstract

AbstractEstablished parks and nature reserves may be inadequate to preserve long-term biotic diversity, especially in tropical regions of Latin America where anthropogenic disturbance and land-conversion is an ongoing problem. Demand for economically productive land uses, such as cattle pastures or monoculture plantations, is one of the greatest threats to habitat and wildlife preservation. As a result, conservation biologists have turned to examining attributes of nonprotected lands to determine which land uses both support wildlife and make economic sense. I examined bird use of a plantation of Gmelina arborea (“white teak” or “melina” trees; hereafter “plantation”) in Guatemala to assess its suitability as bird habitat. Gmelina arborea is grown mainly for wood and paper pulp. Several compositionally different habitats were identified, based on the amount of natural vegetation grown within and among the plantation trees, forming a heterogeneous landscape. I detected 195 bird species from 45 families within this plantation-dominated landscape, and 144 species in plantation habitats combined. I observed a positive association between increased vegetative complexity and bird species richness; moreover, bird species richness attained levels statistically indistinguishable from those found in nearby forest fragments. Mixed plantation habitat containing 19–31% natural vegetative coverage supported bird communities that equaled or surpassed levels of species richness found by other researchers in shaded coffee (Coffea spp.) plantations. However, pure stands of G. arborea supported richness levels equal to those of grazed pasture; diversity levels associated with both these land uses were close to those reported for sun coffee plantations. Clearly, native vegetation played a significant role in enhancing bird species richness in the plantation habitat, and amounts of relative cover similar to or exceeding those in the plantation I studied should be considered in any management plan for G. arborea in Central America.Rol Ecológico de Plantaciones de Árboles de Gmelina arborea en Guatemala: Una Evaluación de un Uso Alternativo del Suelo para la Conservación de las Aves Tropicales