The effects of anthropogenic disturbances on vegetation, birds, and nearby communities in selected Southern Mistbelt Forests in South Africa.

Abstract

Globally, forests are threatened by several disturbance factors. Most of these include anthropogenic activities such as deforestation, land use, agricultural conversion, and fragmentation, driven by poverty and rapid population expansion. These disturbances have a considerable impact on forest structure and composition. In eastern South Africa, most rural communities are located near natural forest patches and, if not, are within travelling distance, which allows for unlimited access to forest resources. Overexploitation and harvesting are common in these regions. Nevertheless, forests provide valuable ecosystem services to local communities, while they are also crucial for biodiversity as they host most species, regardless of the small space they take up on Earth. Therefore, understanding the trends of disturbance and future implications is necessary. We explored the benefits and costs of mistbelt forest disturbance to the nearby communities and biodiversity. We compared lower, medium, and highly disturbed mistbelt forests in three different areas in terms of (1) bird species diversity, forest structural complexity and heterogeneity, and (2) the impacts, values, and perspectives of the nearby communities. Firstly, we investigated the response of bird taxonomic and functional diversity to local and landscape characteristics. Bird species were sampled using fixed radius point counts at a distance of 200 m apart. The bird functional indices were quantified using the functional richness and functional evenness. The overall results showed a positive response of functional richness and evenness to structural complexity and heterogeneity. The categorical disturbance had a negative influence on the functional richness and evenness of the bird community, including the specialists and generalist bird species. However, we found that the functional richness and evenness in highly disturbed patches increased compared with medium disturbed patches. The results demonstrated the importance of microhabitat covariates in promoting species diversity and conservation of endangered and vulnerable species. Moreover, monitoring of recovering forest patches is crucial given their possible future role in biodiversity conservation. Secondly, we conducted a total of 360 interviews in seven villages/communities situated near indigenous forest patches using the questionnaires between October 2023 and January 2024. The overall results indicated that local community members benefit from forest resources such as firewood and traditional medicine. They use these resources to build houses, and fences, and generate sales. Furthermore, during the dry season, the forests become primarily important for foraging for their livestock. This prevents the use of expensive supplements to supplement their livestock. Therefore, human-nature interactions are an important step in balancing ecosystem services and conservation. In addition, forest ecosystems are crucial for the provision of ecosystem services for biodiversity and human livelihood. The proper management and conservation of the Mistbelt Forests is recommended for a long-term supply of resources and biodiversity conservation.