Impacts of logging, hunting, and conservation on vocalizing biodiversity in Gabon

Tropical forests support two-thirds of the world's biodiversity, contribute to global climate regulation, and support the culture and livelihoods of forest-dependent people. Much of extant tropical forest is subject to selective logging and hunting - extractive activities that potentially alter ecosystem function and species diversity. However, the collective impact of these threats, especially in the context of protected vs unprotected areas, is not fully understood. Here we assess how vocalizing biodiversity responds to logging and hunting, across the diel cycle, seasonally, and between protected and unprotected landscapes in Gabon. We compared soundscape saturation across 109 sites in national parks, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, and non-certified logging concessions. We estimated hunting pressure by quantifying gunshots and relative accessibility per site. Overall, we found that the soundscapes of FSC-certified concessions resembled national parks (selectively logged 20+ years ago) more so than non-certified concessions. We also found that never logged sites, part of a proposed community conserved area, had different soundscapes than all other categories, including national parks. Unlogged sites had higher saturation than logging concessions at dusk and dawn. Soundscapes and hunting pressure were highly variable across different concessions. We found that higher gunshot rates and recent logging were associated with lower soundscape saturation overall. Based on our findings, we recommend that (i) the very few never logged forests that remain (and are not yet protected) should be urgently withdrawn from selective logging, and (ii) FSC or other certification schemes should be promoted in Gabon, with an emphasis on sustainable hunting.