Authors: Asad, Sami; Guharajan, Roshan;Abrams, Jesse;Lagan, Peter;Kissing, Johnny;Sikui, Julsun;Wilting, Andreas;Rödel, Mark-Oliver;

Although sustainable forestry methods such as Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) may mitigate severe biodiversity declines, RIL’s direct/indirect impacts are poorly understood, particularly in taxa utilizing multiple habitats, i.e. amphibians. To determine amphibian responses to RIL and its direct/indirect impacts, we assessed amphibians in stream and terrestrial habitats before/immediately after logging (<1 year) in Malaysian Borneo. We used multi-species community occupancy models, to determine species and community responses to direct/indirect RIL effects, followed by diversity profiles to identify shifts in post-RIL diversity. Indirect logging impacts (distance to logging roads), proved a better predictor of stream amphibian occupancy, whereas direct logging impacts (leaf litter depth shifts), were more associated with terrestrial species. Communities across habitats generally exhibited increased diversity metrics after logging compared to control sites. These increases are likely due to temporary fluxes and/or delayed RIL impacts, as we previously identified a decline in stream amphibian diversity 4–5 years post-RIL, followed by a swift recovery over 20 years as habitats and amphibians returned toward pre-logging states. These findings, not only suggest that amphibian communities respond similarly to RIL despite species level variation in direct/indirect RIL impacts, but also supports the use of RIL for amphibian conservation within tropical timber concessions.