Responses of tropical fruit bats to monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings

Syafiq, Muhamad; Atiqah, Abd Rahman Nur; Ghazali, Amal; Asmah, Siti; Yahya, Muhammad Syafiq; Aziz, Najjib; Puan, Chong Leong; Azhar, Badrul

doi:10.1016/j.actao.2016.06.005

Cited by 39 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Previous research has indicated that polyculture smallholdings can provide more diverse resources for biota than monoculture smallholdings because structural complexity and floristic diversity are greater in polyculture smallholdings (Azhar et al , ; Ghazali et al , ; Syafiq et al , ). However, butterflies may not be good surrogate species in this context.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the outset of the present study, we predicted that polyculture smallholdings would support higher levels of butterfly richness and more diverse species assemblages than monoculture smallholdings. This was because of greater structural complexity and floristic richness in polyculture smallholdings (Azhar et al , ; Ghazali et al , ; Syafiq et al , ). We also examined the relationships between butterfly species richness and local‐scale habitat quality characteristics (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Asmah

Ghazali

Syafiq

et al. 2016

Agri and Forest Entomology

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1 In many developing countries, commercial oil palm farming supports the livelihood of millions of small-scale farmers in the rural areas. However, forest conversion into oil palm monocultures has a major impact on tropical biodiversity. In existing oil palm production landscapes, little is known about how different oil palm agricultural practices affect farmland biodiversity, particularly insect biota. 2 We quantified fruit-feeding butterfly species richness and community composition in oil palm areas subject to polyculture and monoculture farming in Peninsular Malaysia.Polyculture smallholdings were predicted to support greater butterfly diversity than monoculture smallholdings because of the greater structural complexity and floristic diversity associated with crop diversity in polyculture smallholdings. 3 We also identified local-scale habitat attributes important for maintaining fruit-feeding butterfly species richness. 4 We found no significant differences in butterfly species richness, abundance and the composition of butterfly assemblages between polyculture and monoculture smallholdings. Local-scale habitat quality explained 32.1% of the variation in fruit-feeding butterfly richness in oil palm smallholdings. 5 We found that polyculture farming failed to increase fruit-feeding butterfly diversity as a result of a limited number of crop species in oil palm smallholdings. To improve current agricultural practices and maintain high levels of butterfly diversity, commercial growers should increase the number of crop species planted in oil palm smallholdings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Asmah

Ghazali

Syafiq

et al. 2016

Agri and Forest Entomology

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“…With polyculture farming, oil palm smallholdings are likely to provide a higher quality habitat matrix that can permit the movement of forest organisms among patches of natural vegetation (Azhar et al., ; Azhar, Puan et al., ; Linkie et al., ). These agricultural practices may synergistically minimize adverse effects of simplified ecosystems like those found in oil palm production landscapes (Azhar et al., ; Ghazali et al., ; Syafiq et al., ). Both large protected areas (i.e., land sparing) and wildlife‐friendly agricultural matrices (i.e., land sharing) are needed to promote biodiversity conservation; they work synergistically and are not mutually exclusive (Kremen, ).…”

Section: Conclusion and Policy Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…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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“…Species richness and species abundance are reduced when original land cover changes (Danielsen et al., ; Fitzherbert et al., ; Foster et al., ). These baseline data are mostly available from well‐known taxa such as birds and mammals (Azhar et al., , ; Hawa, Azhar, Top, & Zubaid, ; Mandal & Shankar Raman, ; Prabowo et al., ; Sasidhran et al., ; Syafiq et al., ). There is an urgent need to understand the effects of peat swamp forest conversion to oil palm agriculture on macrofungal diversity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Logged peat swamp forest supports greater macrofungal biodiversity than large‐scale oil palm plantations and smallholdings

Shuhada

Salim

Nobilly

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Intensive land expansion of commercial oil palm agricultural lands results in reducing the size of peat swamp forests, particularly in Southeast Asia. The effect of this land conversion on macrofungal biodiversity is, however, understudied. We quantified macrofungal biodiversity by identifying mushroom sporocarps throughout four different habitats; logged peat swamp forest, large‐scale oil palm plantation, monoculture, and polyculture smallholdings. We recorded a total of 757 clusters of macrofungi belonging to 127 morphospecies and found that substrates for growing macrofungi were abundant in peat swamp forest; hence, morphospecies richness and macrofungal clusters were significantly greater in logged peat swamp forest than converted oil palm agriculture lands. Environmental factors that influence macrofungi in logged peat swamp forests such as air temperature, humidity, wind speed, soil pH, and soil moisture were different from those in oil palm plantations and smallholdings. We conclude that peat swamp forests are irreplaceable with respect to macrofungal biodiversity. They host much greater macrofungal biodiversity than any of the oil palm agricultural lands. It is imperative that further expansion of oil palm plantation into remaining peat swamp forests should be prohibited in palm oil producing countries. These results imply that macrofungal distribution reflects changes in microclimate between habitats and reduced macrofungal biodiversity may adversely affect decomposition in human‐modified landscapes.

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Responses of tropical fruit bats to monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings

Cited by 39 publications

References 47 publications

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

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

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

Logged peat swamp forest supports greater macrofungal biodiversity than large‐scale oil palm plantations and smallholdings

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