Logging, pervasive across the lowland tropics, affects millions of hectares of forest, yet its influence on nutrient cycling remains poorly understood. One hypothesis is that logging influences phosphorus (P) cycling, because this scarce nutrient is removed in extracted timber and eroded soil, leading to shifts in ecosystem functioning and community composition. However, testing this is challenging because P varies within landscapes as a function of geology, topography and climate. Superimposed upon these trends are compositional changes in logged forests, with species with more acquisitive traits, characterized by higher foliar P concentrations, more dominant. It is difficult to resolve these patterns using traditional field approaches alone. Here, we use airborne light detection and ranging-guided hyperspectral imagery to map foliar nutrient (i.e. P, nitrogen [N]) concentrations, calibrated using field measured traits, over 400 km2 of northeastern Borneo, including a landscape-level disturbance gradient spanning old-growth to repeatedly logged forests. The maps reveal that canopy foliar P and N concentrations decrease with elevation. These relationships were not identified using traditional field measurements of leaf and soil nutrients. After controlling for topography, canopy foliar nutrient concentrations were lower in logged forest than in old-growth areas, reflecting decreased nutrient availability. However, foliar nutrient concentrations and specific leaf area were greatest in relatively short patches in logged areas, reflecting a shift in composition to pioneer species with acquisitive traits. N:P ratio increased in logged forest, suggesting reduced soil P availability through disturbance. Through the first landscape scale assessment of how functional leaf traits change in response to logging, we find that differences from old-growth forest become more pronounced as logged forests increase in stature over time, suggesting exacerbated phosphorus limitation as forests recover.

Centre for Conservation Science Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Cambridge UK

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Lancaster Environment Centre Lancaster UK

Department of Forest Botany Dendrology and Geobiocoenology Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology Mendel University in Brno Brno Czech Republic

Environmental and Rural Science University of New England Armidale NSW Australia

Environmental Change Institute School of Geography and the Environment University of Oxford Oxford UK

Forest Ecology and Conservation Group Department of Plant Sciences University of Cambridge Cambridge UK

Imperial College London Ascot UK

Lancaster Environment Centre Lancaster University Lancaster UK

National Centre for Earth Observation University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK

Sabah Forestry Department Forest Research Centre Sandakan Malaysia

School of Biological Sciences University of Aberdeen Aberdeen UK

School of Biological Sciences University of Bristol Bristol UK

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences The University of Manchester Manchester UK

School of GeoSciences University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK

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