Spiders in canopy and ground microhabitats are robust to changes in understory vegetation management practices in mature oil palm plantations (Riau, Indonesia)
Conversion of natural habitats to oil palm agriculture has caused declines in biodiversity and changes in ecosystem functions. To preserve biodiversity we must protect natural habitats, but once oil palm plantations are established, developing more-environmentally friendly management strategies coul...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Basic and Applied Ecology |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179122000718 |
| _version_ | 1797755081932668928 |
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| author | Michael D. Pashkevich Dakota M. Spear Andreas Dwi Advento Jean-Pierre Caliman William A. Foster Sarah H. Luke Mohammad Naim Sudharto Ps Jake L. Snaddon Edgar C. Turner |
| author_facet | Michael D. Pashkevich Dakota M. Spear Andreas Dwi Advento Jean-Pierre Caliman William A. Foster Sarah H. Luke Mohammad Naim Sudharto Ps Jake L. Snaddon Edgar C. Turner |
| author_sort | Michael D. Pashkevich |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Conversion of natural habitats to oil palm agriculture has caused declines in biodiversity and changes in ecosystem functions. To preserve biodiversity we must protect natural habitats, but once oil palm plantations are established, developing more-environmentally friendly management strategies could support higher levels of within-plantation biodiversity and boost the delivery of ecosystem services, possibly increasing oil palm productivity. In this study, we use a before-after control-impact (BACI) experiment to test whether three understory vegetation management strategies affect spider abundance, species richness, and species-level community composition in canopy and ground microhabitats in mature oil palm plantations. Our treatments encompassed the range of current management practices and included heavy applications of herbicides to eliminate all understory vegetation, maintaining some understory vegetation using business-as-usual herbicide applications, and enhancing understory vegetation by not applying any herbicides. We focussed on spiders, as they are both biologically and economically important in oil palm plantations, owing to their important pest control services. We identified more than 1000 spiders, representing 20 families and 83 morphospecies. The treatments did not affect any aspects of spider biodiversity, although the abundance and species richness of canopy-dwelling spiders changed between pre- and post-treatment sample periods, independent of treatment. Our findings indicate that differences in understory vegetation management practices do not affect spiders, or the pest management services that they provide, in mature oil palm plantations. As such, more extreme changes in management would probably be required to enhance spider biodiversity in oil palm plantations in the long-term. Further studies are needed to determine the practicalities of such approaches, to assess how changes in vegetation management practices affect spiders in additional microhabitats, and how the impacts of such approaches vary across the 20–30 year oil palm commercial life cycle. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:41:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-79ca49bd7b784d2a8a0b53dd6adbe9f0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1439-1791 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:41:44Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Basic and Applied Ecology |
| spelling | doaj.art-79ca49bd7b784d2a8a0b53dd6adbe9f02023-08-04T05:46:37ZengElsevierBasic and Applied Ecology1439-17912022-11-0164120133Spiders in canopy and ground microhabitats are robust to changes in understory vegetation management practices in mature oil palm plantations (Riau, Indonesia)Michael D. Pashkevich0Dakota M. Spear1Andreas Dwi Advento2Jean-Pierre Caliman3William A. Foster4Sarah H. Luke5Mohammad Naim6Sudharto Ps7Jake L. Snaddon8Edgar C. Turner9Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK; Corresponding author.Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UKSMART Research Institute, PT SMART Tbk, Jalan Soekarno-Hatta No.19, Pekanbaru, Riau 28294, IndonesiaSMART Research Institute, PT SMART Tbk, Jalan Soekarno-Hatta No.19, Pekanbaru, Riau 28294, IndonesiaDepartment of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UKDepartment of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK; School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough LE12 5RD, UKSMART Research Institute, PT SMART Tbk, Jalan Soekarno-Hatta No.19, Pekanbaru, Riau 28294, IndonesiaSMART Research Institute, PT SMART Tbk, Jalan Soekarno-Hatta No.19, Pekanbaru, Riau 28294, IndonesiaSchool of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UKDepartment of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UKConversion of natural habitats to oil palm agriculture has caused declines in biodiversity and changes in ecosystem functions. To preserve biodiversity we must protect natural habitats, but once oil palm plantations are established, developing more-environmentally friendly management strategies could support higher levels of within-plantation biodiversity and boost the delivery of ecosystem services, possibly increasing oil palm productivity. In this study, we use a before-after control-impact (BACI) experiment to test whether three understory vegetation management strategies affect spider abundance, species richness, and species-level community composition in canopy and ground microhabitats in mature oil palm plantations. Our treatments encompassed the range of current management practices and included heavy applications of herbicides to eliminate all understory vegetation, maintaining some understory vegetation using business-as-usual herbicide applications, and enhancing understory vegetation by not applying any herbicides. We focussed on spiders, as they are both biologically and economically important in oil palm plantations, owing to their important pest control services. We identified more than 1000 spiders, representing 20 families and 83 morphospecies. The treatments did not affect any aspects of spider biodiversity, although the abundance and species richness of canopy-dwelling spiders changed between pre- and post-treatment sample periods, independent of treatment. Our findings indicate that differences in understory vegetation management practices do not affect spiders, or the pest management services that they provide, in mature oil palm plantations. As such, more extreme changes in management would probably be required to enhance spider biodiversity in oil palm plantations in the long-term. Further studies are needed to determine the practicalities of such approaches, to assess how changes in vegetation management practices affect spiders in additional microhabitats, and how the impacts of such approaches vary across the 20–30 year oil palm commercial life cycle.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179122000718 |
| spellingShingle | Michael D. Pashkevich Dakota M. Spear Andreas Dwi Advento Jean-Pierre Caliman William A. Foster Sarah H. Luke Mohammad Naim Sudharto Ps Jake L. Snaddon Edgar C. Turner Spiders in canopy and ground microhabitats are robust to changes in understory vegetation management practices in mature oil palm plantations (Riau, Indonesia) Basic and Applied Ecology |
| title | Spiders in canopy and ground microhabitats are robust to changes in understory vegetation management practices in mature oil palm plantations (Riau, Indonesia) |
| title_full | Spiders in canopy and ground microhabitats are robust to changes in understory vegetation management practices in mature oil palm plantations (Riau, Indonesia) |
| title_fullStr | Spiders in canopy and ground microhabitats are robust to changes in understory vegetation management practices in mature oil palm plantations (Riau, Indonesia) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spiders in canopy and ground microhabitats are robust to changes in understory vegetation management practices in mature oil palm plantations (Riau, Indonesia) |
| title_short | Spiders in canopy and ground microhabitats are robust to changes in understory vegetation management practices in mature oil palm plantations (Riau, Indonesia) |
| title_sort | spiders in canopy and ground microhabitats are robust to changes in understory vegetation management practices in mature oil palm plantations riau indonesia |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179122000718 |
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