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Core area analysis at semi-deciduous forest islands in the Comoé National Park, NE Ivory Coast.
- Source :
- Biodiversity & Conservation; Oct2008, Vol. 17 Issue 11, p2787-2797, 11p, 3 Graphs, 1 Map
- Publication Year :
- 2008
-
Abstract
- For the protection of forest-interior species in both natural forest islands and anthropogenic forest fragments knowledge on the size of forest-core areas is a central issue. In an intact mosaic of semi-deciduous forests and savanna in the Comoé National Park 31 forest islands were selected (2.1-146.1 ha). Values for the depth-of-edge influence (DEI) of the study area recently published range from 0 m up to nearly 150 m. Thus, core-area analysis was carried out for this range in 5 m steps. For a DEI of 55 m—e.g. computed for tree-species composition of large trees—half of the total forest area can be considered as core area, but only 9 of the studied forest islands still contained a relative core area (rCA) of more than 50%. From non-linear regression it was estimated that for a DEI of 55 m an rCA of 50% can be expected for forest islands with a size of 36.6 ± 7.6 ha. This value increased exponentially with increasing DEI. The GIS-based core-area analysis presented in this paper proved to be suitable to give a well interpretable overview on rCA with respect to varying DEI, and we recommend to incorporate this type of analysis in existing GIS-tools. As the presented study is the first sound core area analysis at forest islands in West Africa, data contribute to a better understanding of this field of ecology that is of high relevance for planners and decision makers to protect biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 09603115
- Volume :
- 17
- Issue :
- 11
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Biodiversity & Conservation
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 34462644
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-007-9292-1