Diversified land conversion deepens understanding of impacts of rapid rubber plantation expansion on plant diversity in the tropics

Understanding the status and changes of plant diversity in rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations is essential for sustainable plantation management in the context of rapid rubber expansion in the tropics, but remains very limited at the continental scale. In this study, we investigated plant diver...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Science of the total environment Vol. 874; p. 162505
Main Authors:	Chen, Bangqian, Ma, Jun, Yang, Chuan, Xiao, Xiangming, Kou, Weili, Wu, Zhixiang, Yun, Ting, Zaw, Zar Ni, Nawan, Piyada, Sengprakhon, Ratchada, Zhou, Jiannan, Wang, Jikun, Sun, Rui, Zhang, Xicai, Xie, Guishui, Lan, Guoyu
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Netherlands Elsevier B.V 20-05-2023
Subjects:	Biodiversity Forests Greater Mekong Subregion Hevea Introduced Species Original land cover types Plant species richness Rubber Rubber plantations Stand age Plant species richness Original land cover types Greater Mekong Subregion Stand age Rubber plantations
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Understanding the status and changes of plant diversity in rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations is essential for sustainable plantation management in the context of rapid rubber expansion in the tropics, but remains very limited at the continental scale. In this study, we investigated plant diversity from 10-meter quadrats in 240 different rubber plantations in the six countries of the Great Mekong Subregion (GMS)—where nearly half of the world's rubber plantations are located—and analyzed the influence of original land cover types and stand age on plant diversity using Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery since the late 1980s. The results indicate that the average plant species richness of rubber plantations is 28.69 ± 7.35 (1061 species in total, of which 11.22 % are invasive), approximating half the species richness of tropical forests but roughly double that of the intensively managed croplands. Time-series satellite imagery analysis revealed that rubber plantations were primarily established in place of cropland (RPC, 37.72 %), old rubber plantations (RPORP, 27.63 %), and tropical forests (RPTF, 24.12 %). Plant species richness in RPTF (34.02 ± 7.62) was significantly (p < 0.001) higher than that in RPORP (26.41 ± 7.02) and RPC (26.34 ± 5.37). More importantly, species richness can be maintained for the duration of the 30-year economic cycle, and the number of invasive species decreases as the stand ages. Given diverse land conversions and changes in stand age, the total loss of species richness due to rapid rubber expansion in the GMS was 7.29 %, which is far below the traditional estimates that only consider tropical forest conversion. In general, maintaining higher species richness at the earliest stages of cultivation has significant implications for biodiversity conservation in rubber plantations. [Display omitted] •Mean plant species richness of rubber plantations across countries is ~25 to ~42.•New rubber plantation mainly come from cropland, old rubber plantation, and forest.•Plant species halved from forest to rubber but doubled when converted from cropland.•Most rubber plantations can maintain plant diversity in a 30-year rotation.•Rubber expansion leads to 7.29 % species loss considering diverse land conversions.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0048-9697 1879-1026
DOI:	10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162505