Lucey, JM, Tawatao, N, Senior, MJM et al. (7 more authors) (2014) Tropical forest fragments contribute to species richness in adjacent oil palm plantations. Biological Conservation, 169. pp. 268-276. ISSN 0006-3207
Abstract
In Southeast Asia, large-scale conversion of rainforest to oil palm plantations is one of the major causes of biodiversity declines. Recommendations for reducing species losses and increasing the sustainability of palm oil production advocate the retention of natural forest patches within plantations, but there is little evidence for the effectiveness of this strategy. Here, we examine to what extent rainforest remnants with different characteristics contribute to biodiversity within surrounding plantations. We sampled ground-dwelling ants in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo) using unbaited pit-fall traps along 1. km transects spanning forest-plantation ecotones of 10 forest fragments (area 5. ha-500. ha) and two continuous forest sites which bordered plantations. Ant species richness in plantations varied according to richness in adjacent forest fragments, which increased with fragment size. A trend of declining species richness in plantations with distance from the forest ecotone was consistent with spillover of forest species into plantations adjacent to forest remnants. Ant assemblages in plantations also contained more carnivorous species adjacent to large forest fragments, suggesting large fragments may have benefits for pest control in plantations, as well as benefits for local biodiversity. Our results indicate that large forest fragments support distinctive ant assemblages and increase diversity within the planted area, but small fragments (<~200. ha) contribute little to plantation diversity. Thus retaining large fragments of forest may help mitigate the loss of species within oil palm plantations.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Crown Copyright (c) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Biological Conservation. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Biological Conservation, 169,(2014) DOI 10.1016/j.biocon.2013.11.014 |
Keywords: | Agricultural matrix; Ants; Borneo; Fragmentation; Spillover; Trophic level |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Earth Surface Science Institute (ESSI) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 22 Sep 2014 13:23 |
Last Modified: | 07 Dec 2020 16:45 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2013.11.014 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsvier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.biocon.2013.11.014 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:80197 |