Identifying critical limits in oil palm cover for the conservation of terrestrial mammals in Colombia

Pardo, Lain E.; Roque, Fábio de Oliveira; Campbell, Mason J.; Younes, Nicolás; Edwards, Will; Laurance, William F.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2018.08.026

Cited by 34 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The landscape is still a mosaic of forest patches, cattle pastures, and plantations, and our results show how important those remaining forest patches are to the regional mammal community. Our results also underscore the fact that southern Mexico was already highly transformed by agriculture, hunting, and other human activities before the oil palm was planted, and thus the regional mammal community had likely been reduced to species that could adapt to these changes (Prugh et al, 2008;Pardo et al, 2018b). Further, subsistence hunting of mammals still commonly occurs in our study landscape, especially in the secondary forest fragments where access is less restricted than the oil palm plantations, and hunting dogs and feral dogs are common in both land uses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

“…However, there might also be a regional pool of open country/grassland species which invade and complement forest species that can survive in pastures-but that oil palm provides a harsher environment which these species cannot utilize. In terms of landscapelevel forest cover, many studies estimate that between 25 and 45% of a landscape should remain forested in order to conserve the majority of Neotropical bird and mammal species (Andrén, 1994;Estavillo et al, 2013;Ochoa-Quintero et al, 2015;Pardo et al, 2018b). While our study landscape has this minimum forest coverage, the forest is young and very fragmented, and is under continuous pressure from human hunters and domestic and feral animals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mammal Diversity in Oil Palm Plantations and Forest Fragments in a Highly Modified Landscape in Southern Mexico

Knowlton

Mata-Zayas

Ripley

et al. 2019

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantations are one of the most rapidly expanding agroecosystems in the tropics, including Latin America. While many studies have demonstrated that large oil palm monocultures (>100 ha) are detrimental to biodiversity, including mammals, little is known about the impact of small-scale oil palm plantations, especially in the Neotropics. Here we used a camera trapping survey to compare species richness, community structure, and relative abundances of mid to large-bodied terrestrial mammals in small-scale oil palm plantations (<100 ha) and secondary forest fragments within a highly modified landscape mosaic in the southeastern lowlands of Tabasco, Mexico. Contrary to our expectations, we found no differences in the overall mammal communities between the oil palm and forest fragments, including species richness or mean relative abundance. Individual species showed some apparent differences in their total detections between the two habitats, with 11 having greater detections in forest than oil palm, and only two with greater detections in oil palm. Further, oil palm sites were more similar to one another in terms of mammal community structure than the secondary forest fragments. We found that shorter distance to forest patches was related to higher mammal species richness in both forest fragments and oil palm plantations. Twelve terrestrial mammal species known to occur in forested areas in the state of Tabasco were never detected in either vegetation type in our surveys, highlighting the fact that the mammal community in this landscape had already been reduced to those species most resilient to human disturbance. Our findings suggest that small-scale oil palm plantations in this region are used at least to some degree by most mammals that are also found in the remaining secondary forest fragments in this landscape, but that access to nearby forest is important for these species. In order to recover more of the original mammal community of the region and prevent further reductions in biodiversity, conservation priorities should center around reducing hunting pressure, allowing forest regeneration and increasing connectivity between protected areas and along waterways.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mammal Diversity in Oil Palm Plantations and Forest Fragments in a Highly Modified Landscape in Southern Mexico

Knowlton

Mata-Zayas

Ripley

et al. 2019

Front. For. Glob. Change

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“…The assumption that planning units converted to agriculture provide no effective value to biodiversity is warranted because, while there are exceptions, most of the species considered are strongly dependent on native savannah habitat, and agricultural lands when intensely farmed may be unlikely to support sustainable populations of species (Fleischner 1994, Alkemade et al 2013, Newbold et al 2015, Pardo et al 2018. Furthermore, we assume that once a planning unit is converted to agriculture it contributes no water to downstream regions, which we believe is reasonable as most water resources would be allocated to sustaining agriculture (Hanasaki et al 2010, Power 2010.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development

Williams

Grantham

Watson

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

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As humanity's demand for resources continues to rise and productive arable lands become increasingly scarce, many of Earth's remaining intact regions are at heightened risk of destruction from agricultural development. In situations where agricultural expansion is inevitable, it is important to manage intact landscape transformation so that impacts on environmental values are minimised. Here, we present a novel, spatially explicit, land use planning framework that addresses the decision making needed to account for different, competing economic-environment objectives (agricultural production value, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service retention) when land use change is inevitable within an intact landscape. We apply our framework to the globally significant savannahs of the Orinoquia (Colombia), which in a post-conflict era is under increased agricultural development pressure. We show that while negative environmental impacts can be reduced through planning, the total area of land converted to agriculture is the unavoidable principal driver of biodiversity and ecosystem service loss. We therefore identify planning solutions that perform well across all objectives simultaneously, despite trade-offs among them. When 15%, 20%, 30% and 40% of the study area is allowed to be converted to agriculture, on average planning can improve species persistence and ecosystem service retention by up to 16%, 15%, 12%, and 9%, respectively, when compared to agricultural-focused solutions. Development in the region so far has had an unnecessarily large impact on environmental objectives due to a lack of effective land use planning, creating an 'opportunity debt'. Our study provides an evidence base to inform proactive planning and the development of environmentally sensible agricultural development policy and practice in the region. This framework can be used by stakeholders to achieve agriculture expansion goals and maximise economic profit while minimising impacts on the environment in the Orinoquia, or any relatively intact region that is being developed.

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“…Sunarto and colleagues highlight that with adjustments in plantation management, tigers could use mosaics of plantations (as additional roaming zones), riparian forests (as corridors), and smaller forest patches (as stepping stones), potentially maintaining a metapopulation structure in fragmented landscapes. In the Colombian llanos when oil palm cover increased to 75% or more, almost the entire terrestrial mammal community declined abruptly (Pardo et al, 2018b).…”

Section: Management Of Oil Palm Plantationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Future of Wild Mammals in Oil Palm Landscapes in the Neotropics

Payán

Boron

2019

Front. For. Glob. Change

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We assume conservation lessons learnt from Southeast Asia adapted to the growing body of knowledge in oil palm impacts in Colombia, and adapt it to the Neotropical realm with a focus on mammals. Aspects of science, policy, and practice are reviewed. Colombia is the fourth largest producer of palm oil in the world with a growth of 42% in 2017, affecting its ecosystems and biodiversity. In order to prevent large mammal species erosion and decimation as has happened in SE Asia, the following lessons in zoning, infrastructure, harvest, monitoring, and research should be implemented. Native habitat is irreplaceable. New oil palm frontiers should occur in degraded ecosystems, with adequate governance and without requirement of new infrastructure. Roads favor hunting, logging, and disorganized human occupation. Plantations should conserve water bodies and forests to ensure connectivity and refuge for sensitive mammal species. Higher structural complexity with added plants is desired for a varied mammal species composition. Harvest should be done manually and crepuscular work hours should be avoided. How new oil palm frontiers are opened and developed will define the extent of alteration of natural mammal assemblages, the intensity of mesopredator release affecting other species from cascading trophic phenomenon and even the continuation of key large iconic herbivores and carnivores.

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Identifying critical limits in oil palm cover for the conservation of terrestrial mammals in Colombia

Cited by 34 publications

References 59 publications

Mammal Diversity in Oil Palm Plantations and Forest Fragments in a Highly Modified Landscape in Southern Mexico

Mammal Diversity in Oil Palm Plantations and Forest Fragments in a Highly Modified Landscape in Southern Mexico

Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development

The Future of Wild Mammals in Oil Palm Landscapes in the Neotropics

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