IMPACTS OF SELECTIVE LOGGING IN FOREST AREAS UNDER FRAGMENTATION IN WESTERN AMAZON

Abstract

The continuous increase of the economic pressures on humid tropical forests, especially through the expansion of the agriculture and pasture border, led to deforestation around the road axes, resulting in a mosaic of isolated fragments. The hypothesis that there are significant impacts in terms of aboveground alive standing biomass among areas under fragmentation process was tested. The standards of biomass distribution among four areas around the highways BR 364 and BR 364 were evaluated through allometric equations. The dynamics of biomass, in primary forests, is possibly related to the process of forest fragmentation, or either. The smallest values for the variable basal area  (20.3m².ha^-1) and biomass (384 t.ha^-1) are found in the smallest forest fragments. The effect of the selective logging was evident and showed a drastic reduction in biomass for the species logged.