Forest recovery on skid trails and felling gaps following post-decadal selective logging in a moist semi-deciduous forest in Ghana

Abstract While several studies have been conducted on the impacts of logging on forest recovery in tropical forests, most of these studies have largely focused on short term forest recovery and without perspectives on how different logging intensities could influence the nature and extent of forest recovery in the long term. This study therefore aims to explore how varying site conditions, resulting from the creation of different disturbance types (skid trails and felling gaps) following selective logging at two logging intensities influenced long-term floristic composition eighteen years after logging. The study was conducted in the permanent sample plots located in a 134-ha compartment in the Pra-Anum Forest Reserve. Data collection was conducted on 160 recording plots distributed on three disturbance sites and an unlogged area, within two blocks of logging intensity of 26.32 m3/ha and 52.63 m3/ha (representing the volume of trees harvested per hectare). Results showed that the main skid trail had significantly lower species abundance and richness than the other disturbance types and the unlogged area. There was also a significant difference in species spatial distribution across all the four sites. These distribution patterns revealed differences in plant dominance at disturbance gradients, which indicate their success at competing for available resources within their niche space. Furthermore, the number of species belonging to particular ecological guilds classified from the different skid trails and unlogged areas as well logging intensities showed no significant variation. However, most of the species sampled across the disturbance regimes and unlogged area were observed to be shade tolerant. Logging disturbance and logging intensity did not influence the distribution of trees of national conservation importance (based on tree distribution, ecology, local abundance, interaction with ecosystem parameters and economic importance which have been used as basis conservation prioritization). However, disturbance type and higher logging intensities favoured tree species of minimal timber and national conservation importance, relative to the unlogged area. Given the increasing demand for timber products for both domestic and international markets, which is driving higher harvesting intensities legally and illegally, this study will inform forest management decision making on the long term dynamics of tree species recovery following logging.