Effects of polyculture and monoculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on tropical fruit‐feeding butterfly diversity

Asmah, Siti; Ghazali, Amal; Syafiq, Muhammad; Yahya, Muhammad Syafiq; Peng, Tan Li; Norhisham, Ahmad R.; Puan, Chong Leong; Azhar, Badrul; Lindenmayer, David B.

doi:10.1111/afe.12182

Cited by 26 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Intercropping with flowering plants such as banana was particularly beneficial for frugivorous bats (Ghazali et al, 2016), even though they did not have a similar significant impacts on fruit feeding butterflies (Asmah et al, 2017). Moreover there was no big difference in community composition and abundance for some of the surveyed biodiversity groups (Ghazali et al, 2016;Asmah et al, 2017), nor a mention of intercropping supporting crucial forest species. However, all of those studies suggest that increased habitat complexity with intercropping or polyculture, as a better management practice than oil palm monocropping for improving biodiversity.…”

Section: Impacts Of Oil Palm On Biodiversity-amelioration Of Biodivermentioning

confidence: 95%

“…These studies included wide varieties of intercrops such as pineapple, banana, tapioca, sugarcane, corn and jackfruit, and included non-peat soils (Syafiq et al, 2016). Intercropping with flowering plants such as banana was particularly beneficial for frugivorous bats (Ghazali et al, 2016), even though they did not have a similar significant impacts on fruit feeding butterflies (Asmah et al, 2017). Moreover there was no big difference in community composition and abundance for some of the surveyed biodiversity groups (Ghazali et al, 2016;Asmah et al, 2017), nor a mention of intercropping supporting crucial forest species.…”

Section: Impacts Of Oil Palm On Biodiversity-amelioration Of Biodivermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is Intercropping an Environmentally-Wise Alternative to Established Oil Palm Monoculture in Tropical Peatlands?

Dhandapani¹,

Girkin²,

Evers³

et al. 2020

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia are important ecosystems that play a crucial role in global biogeochemical cycles, with a potential for strong climate feedback loops. The degradation of tropical peatlands due to the expansion of oil palm plantations and their impact on biodiversity and the carbon balance is a global concern. The majority of conversion of Southeast Asian peatlands to agriculture has been by smallholder oil palm farmers, who follow more varied cropping systems compared to industrial plantations, and have better scope for expansion of other alternative varied cropping systems if supported and encouraged. Using previously-published data on peat physicochemical properties, biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions from smallholder oil palm plantations, we determined that prolonged oil palm monocropping for two generations would result in loss of carbon and peat functional properties that may lead to potential declassification of peatlands. We propose intercropping during the early stages of oil palm as a wise alternative for already-existing plantations in tropical peatlands to ameliorate some of the negative environmental impacts of oil palm on the physio-chemical properties of peat. However, we emphasize the need to more fully explore the sustainability of intercropping systems throughout the life cycle of palm plantations on peatlands, and integrate with current management practices. We also emphasize the further need for research to fully assess the impacts of oil palm intercropping compared to widelypracticed oil palm monocropping. Finally, we suggest changes in government certification policies to encourage intercropping practices by smallholders.

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Section: Impacts Of Oil Palm On Biodiversity-amelioration Of Biodivermentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Impacts Of Oil Palm On Biodiversity-amelioration Of Biodivermentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Intercropping an Environmentally-Wise Alternative to Established Oil Palm Monoculture in Tropical Peatlands?

Dhandapani¹,

Girkin²,

Evers³

et al. 2020

Front. For. Glob. Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Such practice may increase habitat heterogeneity that is the key for maintaining biodiversity and also provide additional food sources in the case of fruit crops. The maintenance of faunal biodiversity in oil palm agriculture is mainly determined by multiple vegetation structure characteristics (Asmah et al., ; Azhar et al., ; Ghazali et al., ; Syafiq et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Switching from monoculture to polyculture farming benefits birds in oil palm production landscapes: Evidence from mist netting data

Yahya

Syafiq

Ashton‐Butt

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Monoculture farming is pervasive in industrial oil palm agriculture, including those RSPO plantations certified as sustainably managed. This farming practice does not promote the maintenance of farmland biodiversity. However, little scientific attention has been given to polyculture farming in oil palm production landscapes. Polyculture farming is likely to increase the floristic diversity and stand structural complexity that underpins biodiversity. Mist nets were used to sample birds at 120 smallholdings in Peninsular Malaysia. At each site, 12 vegetation structure characteristics were measured. We compared bird species richness, abundance, and composition between monoculture and polyculture smallholdings and used predictive models to examine the effects of habitat quality on avian biodiversity. Bird species richness was significantly greater in polyculture than that of monoculture smallholdings. The number of fallen and standing, dead oil palms were also important positive predictors of species richness. Bird abundance was also strongly increased by standing and dead oil palms and decreased with oil palm stand height. Our results indicate that polyculture farming can improve bird species richness in oil palm production landscapes. In addition, key habitat variables that are closely associated with farming practices, such as the removal of dead trees, should and can be managed by oil palm growers in order to promote biodiversity. To increase the sustainability of oil palm agriculture, it is imperative that stakeholders modify the way oil palms are currently planted and managed. Our findings can guide policy makers and certification bodies to promote oil palm production landscapes that will function more sustainably and increase existing biodiversity of oil palm landscapes.

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“…Large scale plantations apply monoculture systems while the smallholdings use mixed planting systems of monoculture and mainly intercropped with other economic crops. In smallholdings polyculture systems, multiple crops are integrated with oil palms, thus canopy cover is a mixture of different trees species creating vegetation heterogeneity and a heterogeneous canopy structure when compared to large-scale monocultures (Asmah et al, 2017). From the observation at these smallholding and large scale plantations, differences of the vegetation structure created from different planting designs and management between both plantations, greatly influence light penetration underneath tree canopies, thus affecting the microclimate and soil characteristics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land use conversion from peat swamp forest to oil palm agriculture greatly modifies microclimate and soil conditions

Anamulai

Sanusi

Zubaid

et al. 2019

PeerJ

Self Cite

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Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) agriculture is rapidly expanding and requires large areas of land in the tropics to meet the global demand for palm oil products. Land cover conversion of peat swamp forest to oil palm (large- and small-scale oil palm production) is likely to have negative impacts on microhabitat conditions. This study assessed the impact of peat swamp forest conversion to oil palm plantation on microclimate conditions and soil characteristics. The measurement of microclimate (air temperature, wind speed, light intensity and relative humidity) and soil characteristics (soil surface temperature, soil pH, soil moisture, and ground cover vegetation temperature) were compared at a peat swamp forest, smallholdings and a large-scale plantation. Results showed that the peat swamp forest was 1.5–2.3 °C cooler with significantly greater relative humidity, lower light intensities and wind speed compared to the smallholdings and large-scale plantations. Soil characteristics were also significantly different between the peat swamp forest and both types of oil palm plantations with lower soil pH, soil and ground cover vegetation surface temperatures and greater soil moisture in the peat swamp forest. These results suggest that peat swamp forests have greater ecosystem benefits compared to oil palm plantations with smallholdings agricultural approach as a promising management practice to improve microhabitat conditions. Our findings also justify the conservation of remaining peat swamp forest as it provides a refuge from harsh microclimatic conditions that characterize large plantations and smallholdings.

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Effects of polyculture and monoculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on tropical fruit‐feeding butterfly diversity

Cited by 26 publications

References 79 publications

Is Intercropping an Environmentally-Wise Alternative to Established Oil Palm Monoculture in Tropical Peatlands?

Is Intercropping an Environmentally-Wise Alternative to Established Oil Palm Monoculture in Tropical Peatlands?

Switching from monoculture to polyculture farming benefits birds in oil palm production landscapes: Evidence from mist netting data

Land use conversion from peat swamp forest to oil palm agriculture greatly modifies microclimate and soil conditions

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