Canopy gaps are foundational features of rainforest biodiversity and successional processes. The bais of Central Africa are among the world's largest natural forest clearings and thought to be critically important islands of open‐canopy habitat in an ocean of closed‐canopy rainforest. However, while frequently denoted as a conservation priority, there are no published studies on the abundance or distribution of bais across the landscape, nor on their biodiversity patterns, limiting our understanding of their ecological contribution to Congolese rainforests. We combined remote sensing and field surveys to quantify the abundance, spatial distribution, shape, size, biodiversity, and soil properties of bais in Odzala‐Kokoua National Park (OKNP), Republic of the Congo (hereafter, Congo). We related bai spatial distribution to variation in hydrology and topography, compared plant community composition and 3D structure between bais and other open ecosystems, quantified animal diversity from camera traps, and measured soil moisture content in different bai types. We found bais to be more numerous than previously thought (we mapped 2176 bais in OKNP), but their predominantly small size (80.7% of bais were <1 ha), highly clustered distribution, and restriction to areas of low topographic position make them a rare riparian habitat type. We documented low plant community and structural similarity between bai types and with other open ecosystems, and identified significant differences in soil moisture between bai and open ecosystem types. Our results demonstrate that two distinct bai types can be differentiated based on their plant and animal communities, soil properties, and vegetation structure. Taken together, our findings provide insights into how bais relate to other types of forest clearings and on their overall importance to Congolese rainforest ecosystems.

中文翻译：

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刚果白生态系统的空间生态学、生物多样性和非生物决定因素


冠层间隙是热带雨林生物多样性和演替过程的基本特征。中非的海湾是世界上最大的天然森林空地之一，被认为是封闭树冠雨林海洋中至关重要的开放树冠栖息地岛屿。然而，虽然经常被列为保护重点，但没有关于鹦鹉在整个景观中的丰度或分布的已发表研究，也没有关于它们的生物多样性模式的研究，这限制了我们对它们对刚果热带雨林的生态贡献的理解。我们将遥感和实地调查相结合，量化了刚果共和国（以下简称刚果）Odzala-Kokoua 国家公园 （OKNP） 的鱼饵的丰度、空间分布、形状、大小、生物多样性和土壤特性。我们将白鳍空间分布与水文和地形的变化联系起来，比较白鳍和其他开放生态系统之间的植物群落组成和 3D 结构，量化相机陷阱中的动物多样性，并测量不同白鳍类型的土壤含水量。我们发现鱼饵的数量比以前认为的要多（我们在 OKNP 中绘制了 2176 个鱼饵），但它们的体积主要是小尺寸（80.7% 的鱼饵是 <1 公顷）、高度聚集的分布以及对低地形位置区域的限制使它们成为一种罕见的河岸栖息地类型。我们记录了白鹦鹉类型之间以及白鹦鹉与其他开放生态系统之间的低植物群落和结构相似性，并确定了白鹦鹉和开放生态系统类型之间土壤水分的显著差异。我们的结果表明，可以根据植物和动物群落、土壤特性和植被结构来区分两种不同的白鹈类型。 综上所述，我们的研究结果为贝氏与其他类型的森林砍伐之间的关系以及它们对刚果雨林生态系统的整体重要性提供了见解。