Maintaining understory vegetation in oil palm plantations supports higher assassin bug numbers
Abstract The expansion of oil palm agriculture across Southeast Asia has caused significant biodiversity losses, with the reduction in habitat heterogeneity that accompanies the conversion of forest to oil palm being a major contributing factor. However, owing to their long commercial lifespan, oil...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Ecological Solutions and Evidence |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12293 |
| _version_ | 1797359907279732736 |
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| author | Jake Stone Andreas Dwi Advento Michael D. Pashkevich Anak Agung Ketut Aryawan Jean‐Pierre Caliman Amelia S. C. Hood William A. Foster Mohammad Naim Pujianto Dedi Purnomo Suhardi Ribka Sionita Tarigan Tuani Dzulfikar Siguga Rambe Rudy Harto Widodo Sarah H. Luke Jake L. Snaddon Edgar C. Turner |
| author_facet | Jake Stone Andreas Dwi Advento Michael D. Pashkevich Anak Agung Ketut Aryawan Jean‐Pierre Caliman Amelia S. C. Hood William A. Foster Mohammad Naim Pujianto Dedi Purnomo Suhardi Ribka Sionita Tarigan Tuani Dzulfikar Siguga Rambe Rudy Harto Widodo Sarah H. Luke Jake L. Snaddon Edgar C. Turner |
| author_sort | Jake Stone |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The expansion of oil palm agriculture across Southeast Asia has caused significant biodiversity losses, with the reduction in habitat heterogeneity that accompanies the conversion of forest to oil palm being a major contributing factor. However, owing to their long commercial lifespan, oil palm plantations can support relatively high levels of vegetation complexity compared to annual crops. There is therefore potential for the implementation of management strategies to increase vegetation complexity and associated within‐plantation habitat heterogeneity, enhancing species richness and associated ecosystem functioning within productive oil palm landscapes. This study focusses on two species of asassin bugs Cosmolestes picticeps and Sycanus dichotomus, which are important agents of pest control within oil palm systems. Using a Before‐After Control‐Impact experimental manipulation in Sumatra, Indonesia, we tested the effect of three alternative herbicide spraying regimes and associated vegetation complexity treatments on assassin bug numbers. Our treatments encompass a range of current understory vegetation management practices used in oil palm plantations and include removing vegetation only in areas key to harvesting (“Normal”), removing all understory vegetation (“Reduced”), and allowing native vegetation to regrow naturally (“Enhanced”). We assessed both the long‐term (18 months) and short‐term (within 2 weeks) effects of our treatments following herbicide spraying. Pre‐treatment, we found high numbers of assassin bugs of both species in all plots. Long‐term post‐treatment, the abundance of both C. picticeps and S. dichotomus declined in reduced understory plots, although this decline was only significant for C. picticeps (98%). In contrast, there were no significant differences in the post‐treatment abundance of either species in the short‐term. These results suggest that the long‐term decline in assassin bug abundance was likely to be caused by loss of vegetation, rather than any immediate effects of the herbicide spraying. Our findings have clear management implications as they demonstrate that maintaining vegetation in oil palm understories can benefit an important pest control agent. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:30:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-84276643542f4bdb9cccc12fe0d7ee56 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2688-8319 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:30:34Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Solutions and Evidence |
| spelling | doaj.art-84276643542f4bdb9cccc12fe0d7ee562024-01-10T04:46:16ZengWileyEcological Solutions and Evidence2688-83192023-10-0144n/an/a10.1002/2688-8319.12293Maintaining understory vegetation in oil palm plantations supports higher assassin bug numbersJake Stone0Andreas Dwi Advento1Michael D. Pashkevich2Anak Agung Ketut Aryawan3Jean‐Pierre Caliman4Amelia S. C. Hood5William A. Foster6Mohammad Naim7Pujianto8Dedi Purnomo9Suhardi10Ribka Sionita Tarigan11Tuani Dzulfikar Siguga Rambe12Rudy Harto Widodo13Sarah H. Luke14Jake L. Snaddon15Edgar C. Turner16Department of Zoology University of Cambridge Cambridge UKSinar Mas Agro Resources Technology Research Institute (SMARTRI), Libo Estate Kandis Riau IndonesiaDepartment of Zoology University of Cambridge Cambridge UKSinar Mas Agro Resources Technology Research Institute (SMARTRI), Libo Estate Kandis Riau IndonesiaSinar Mas Agro Resources Technology Research Institute (SMARTRI), Libo Estate Kandis Riau IndonesiaCentre for Agri‐Environmental Research (CAER), School of Agriculture, Policy and Development University of Reading Reading UKDepartment of Zoology University of Cambridge Cambridge UKSinar Mas Agro Resources Technology Research Institute (SMARTRI), Libo Estate Kandis Riau IndonesiaSinar Mas Agro Resources Technology Research Institute (SMARTRI), Libo Estate Kandis Riau IndonesiaSinar Mas Agro Resources Technology Research Institute (SMARTRI), Libo Estate Kandis Riau IndonesiaSinar Mas Agro Resources Technology Research Institute (SMARTRI), Libo Estate Kandis Riau IndonesiaSinar Mas Agro Resources Technology Research Institute (SMARTRI), Libo Estate Kandis Riau IndonesiaSinar Mas Agro Resources Technology Research Institute (SMARTRI), Libo Estate Kandis Riau IndonesiaSinar Mas Agro Resources Technology Research Institute (SMARTRI), Libo Estate Kandis Riau IndonesiaDepartment of Zoology University of Cambridge Cambridge UKSchool of Geography and Environmental Science University of Southampton Southampton UKDepartment of Zoology University of Cambridge Cambridge UKAbstract The expansion of oil palm agriculture across Southeast Asia has caused significant biodiversity losses, with the reduction in habitat heterogeneity that accompanies the conversion of forest to oil palm being a major contributing factor. However, owing to their long commercial lifespan, oil palm plantations can support relatively high levels of vegetation complexity compared to annual crops. There is therefore potential for the implementation of management strategies to increase vegetation complexity and associated within‐plantation habitat heterogeneity, enhancing species richness and associated ecosystem functioning within productive oil palm landscapes. This study focusses on two species of asassin bugs Cosmolestes picticeps and Sycanus dichotomus, which are important agents of pest control within oil palm systems. Using a Before‐After Control‐Impact experimental manipulation in Sumatra, Indonesia, we tested the effect of three alternative herbicide spraying regimes and associated vegetation complexity treatments on assassin bug numbers. Our treatments encompass a range of current understory vegetation management practices used in oil palm plantations and include removing vegetation only in areas key to harvesting (“Normal”), removing all understory vegetation (“Reduced”), and allowing native vegetation to regrow naturally (“Enhanced”). We assessed both the long‐term (18 months) and short‐term (within 2 weeks) effects of our treatments following herbicide spraying. Pre‐treatment, we found high numbers of assassin bugs of both species in all plots. Long‐term post‐treatment, the abundance of both C. picticeps and S. dichotomus declined in reduced understory plots, although this decline was only significant for C. picticeps (98%). In contrast, there were no significant differences in the post‐treatment abundance of either species in the short‐term. These results suggest that the long‐term decline in assassin bug abundance was likely to be caused by loss of vegetation, rather than any immediate effects of the herbicide spraying. Our findings have clear management implications as they demonstrate that maintaining vegetation in oil palm understories can benefit an important pest control agent.https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12293assassin bugs (Reduviidae)biological control agentshabitat heterogeneityintegrated pest management (IPM)oil palm agroecologytropical agriculture |
| spellingShingle | Jake Stone Andreas Dwi Advento Michael D. Pashkevich Anak Agung Ketut Aryawan Jean‐Pierre Caliman Amelia S. C. Hood William A. Foster Mohammad Naim Pujianto Dedi Purnomo Suhardi Ribka Sionita Tarigan Tuani Dzulfikar Siguga Rambe Rudy Harto Widodo Sarah H. Luke Jake L. Snaddon Edgar C. Turner Maintaining understory vegetation in oil palm plantations supports higher assassin bug numbers Ecological Solutions and Evidence assassin bugs (Reduviidae) biological control agents habitat heterogeneity integrated pest management (IPM) oil palm agroecology tropical agriculture |
| title | Maintaining understory vegetation in oil palm plantations supports higher assassin bug numbers |
| title_full | Maintaining understory vegetation in oil palm plantations supports higher assassin bug numbers |
| title_fullStr | Maintaining understory vegetation in oil palm plantations supports higher assassin bug numbers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Maintaining understory vegetation in oil palm plantations supports higher assassin bug numbers |
| title_short | Maintaining understory vegetation in oil palm plantations supports higher assassin bug numbers |
| title_sort | maintaining understory vegetation in oil palm plantations supports higher assassin bug numbers |
| topic | assassin bugs (Reduviidae) biological control agents habitat heterogeneity integrated pest management (IPM) oil palm agroecology tropical agriculture |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12293 |
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