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Freshwater fish diversity is harmed as much by selective logging in rainforests as they are by complete deforestation, according to a new study.
Researchers had expected the level of damage would rise depending on the amount of logging and were surprised to discover the impact of removing relatively few trees.
[...] Lead author Clare Wilkinson, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, said: "That such a small change can impact fish biodiversity is shocking and worrying. We expected to see a gradient from least affected in the selectively logged areas, to heavily impacted for the streams in oil palm plantations. Instead, we saw almost the same level of fish biodiversity loss in all altered environments."
[...] Researchers believe the reasons for these dramatic changes are likely to be down to a range of factors that affect stream habitats when trees are lost. Trees provide shade, creating cooler patches of stream that many fish need to spawn. Older, taller trees provide more of this shade, but they are the ones usually removed in selective logging. Leaf litter from these trees also helps to keep the streams cool and to concentrate food sources.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 21 2018, @04:36PM
And of course it *must* be the cut down trees. Which makes it very surprising indeed to find not a trace of proportionality to the amount of logging.
It cannot be dripping diesel fuel or toxic hydraulic fluids, people (at first: loggers) dropping plastics garbage left and right, which is not only a big problem in Malaysia generally but is also well known to leak stuff acting hormonally in fish. It also can't possibly be people pissing antibiotics and human hormones ("the pill" is known to act in fish) .... I could go on. No it must be the cut trees.
Don't get me wrong: I also think we need preservation, here, there, everywhere, and in Malaysia. But I also think scientists should give us scientifically established knowledge, and not alarmist "Stop everything now!!". No matter how appropriate that may be (!), it always makes scientists look like loonies. Which does not help. At all.