Land‐use history determines stand structure and tree diversity in vanilla agroforests of northeastern Madagascar

Abstract: Question
In human-modified tropical landscapes, agroforestry is considered a promising land use to reconcile biodiversity conservation with production goals. The role of agroforests regarding conservation may be strongly influenced by land-use history; however, few studies have explicitly investigated this. We therefore tested the importance of land-use history for habitat structure and tree diversity in vanilla agroforests situated in a human-modified tropical landscape.

Location
Smallholder mosaic landscape of northeastern Madagascar.

Methods
We studied tree stand structure, diversity and composition in vanilla agroforests of contrasting land-use history, old-growth forests, forest fragments and woody fallows after slash-and-burn agriculture, which all contribute to the smallholder mosaic landscape of northeastern Madagascar. The vanilla agroforests were either derived directly from forest or otherwise from woody fallows after slash-and-burn agriculture.

Results
Land-use history strongly influenced tree species diversity and composition in vanilla agroforests and also affected stand structure. Forest-derived agroforests maintained high levels of tree species diversity and differed in community composition from fallow-derived agroforests, which had relatively low levels of tree diversity. Additionally, forest-derived vanilla agroforests harboured a significantly higher percentage of endemic species than fallow-derived agroforests, and forest-derived agroforests also shared many species with old-growth forests and forest fragments. Fallow-derived vanilla agroforests harboured a lower percentage of endemic species than woody fallows.

Conclusion
Considering the land-use history of agroforests is important to unfold their full potential as elements in a multifunctional human-modified landscape. Forest-derived agroforests are an alternative to forest conversion through slash-and-burn agriculture and have the potential to sustain high levels of species diversity and important habitat structures. In contrast, fallow-derived agroforests regain stand structure on degraded historically forested land and thereby have the potential to increase canopy cover and connectivity at the landscape scale

Angaben zum Objekt

• Standort: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Umfang: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: Englisch
• Anmerkungen: Applied Vegetation Science. - 24, 1 (2021) , e12563, ISSN: 1654-109X

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wo): Freiburg
• (wer): Universität
• (wann): 2021
• Urheber: Osen, Kristina ; Soazafy, Marie Rolande ; Martin, Dominic Andreas ; Wurz, Annemarie ; März, Adriane ; Ranarijaona, Hery Lisy Tiana ; Hölscher, Dirk

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: 10.1111/avsc.12563
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-2206668
• Rechteinformation: Kein Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 15.08.2025, 07:27 MESZ