Managing oil palm plantations more sustainably : large-scale experiments within the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme
Conversion of tropical forest to agriculture results in reduced habitat heterogeneity, and associated declines in biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Management strategies to increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes have therefore often focused on increasing habitat complexity; however, th...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/145945 |
| _version_ | 1824456408998871040 |
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| author | Luke, Sarah H. Advento, Andreas Dwi Aryawan, Anak Agung Ketut Adhy, Dwi Nugroho Ashton-Butt, Adham Barclay, Holly Dewi, Jassica Prajna Drewer, Julia Dumbrell, Alex J. Edi Eycott, Amy E. Harianja, Martina F. Hinsch, Julie K. Hood, Amelia S. C. Kurniawan, Candra Kurz, David J. Mann, Darren J. Matthews Nicholass, Kirsty J. Naim, Mohammad Pashkevich, Michael D. Prescott, Graham W. Ps, Sudharto Pujianto Purnomo, Dedi Purwoko, Rizky Rajabillah Putra, Syafrisar Rambe, T. Dzulfikar S. Soeprapto Spear, Dakota M. Suhardi Tan, David J. X. Tao, Hsiao-Hang Tarigan, Ribka Sionita Wahyuningsih, Resti Waters, Helen S. Widodo, Rudi Harto Whendy Woodham, Christopher R. Caliman, Jean-Pierre Slade, Eleanor M. Snaddon, Jake L. Foster, William A. Turner, Edgar C. |
| author2 | Asian School of the Environment |
| author_facet | Asian School of the Environment Luke, Sarah H. Advento, Andreas Dwi Aryawan, Anak Agung Ketut Adhy, Dwi Nugroho Ashton-Butt, Adham Barclay, Holly Dewi, Jassica Prajna Drewer, Julia Dumbrell, Alex J. Edi Eycott, Amy E. Harianja, Martina F. Hinsch, Julie K. Hood, Amelia S. C. Kurniawan, Candra Kurz, David J. Mann, Darren J. Matthews Nicholass, Kirsty J. Naim, Mohammad Pashkevich, Michael D. Prescott, Graham W. Ps, Sudharto Pujianto Purnomo, Dedi Purwoko, Rizky Rajabillah Putra, Syafrisar Rambe, T. Dzulfikar S. Soeprapto Spear, Dakota M. Suhardi Tan, David J. X. Tao, Hsiao-Hang Tarigan, Ribka Sionita Wahyuningsih, Resti Waters, Helen S. Widodo, Rudi Harto Whendy Woodham, Christopher R. Caliman, Jean-Pierre Slade, Eleanor M. Snaddon, Jake L. Foster, William A. Turner, Edgar C. |
| author_sort | Luke, Sarah H. |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Conversion of tropical forest to agriculture results in reduced habitat heterogeneity, and associated declines in biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Management strategies to increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes have therefore often focused on increasing habitat complexity; however, the large-scale, long-term ecological experiments that are needed to test the effects of these strategies are rare in tropical systems. Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.)—one of the most widespread and important tropical crops—offers substantial potential for developing wildlife-friendly management strategies because of its long rotation cycles and tree-like structure. Although there is awareness of the need to increase sustainability, practical options for how best to manage oil palm plantations, for benefits to both the environment and crop productivity, have received little research attention. In this paper we introduce the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme: a long-term research collaboration between academia and industry in Sumatra, Indonesia. The BEFTA Programme aims to better understand the oil palm agroecosystem and test sustainability strategies. We hypothesise that adjustments to oil palm management could increase structural complexity, stabilise microclimate, and reduce reliance on chemical inputs, thereby helping to improve levels of biodiversity and ecosystem functions. The Programme has established four major components: (1) assessing variability within the plantation under business-as-usual conditions; (2) the BEFTA Understory Vegetation Project, which tests the effects of varying herbicide regimes; (3) the Riparian Ecosystem Restoration in Tropical Agriculture (RERTA) Project, which tests strategies for restoring riparian habitat; and (4) support for additional collaborative projects within the Programme landscape. Across all projects, we are measuring environmental conditions, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions. We also measure oil palm yield and production costs, in order to assess whether suggested sustainability strategies are feasible from an agronomic perspective. Early results show that oil palm plantation habitat is more variable than might be expected from a monoculture crop, and that everyday vegetation management decisions have significant impacts on habitat structure. The BEFTA Programme highlights the value of large-scale collaborative projects for understanding tropical agricultural systems, and offers a highly valuable experimental set-up for improving our understanding of practices to manage oil palm more sustainably. |
| first_indexed | 2025-02-19T03:53:38Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/145945 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T03:53:38Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1459452023-02-28T16:42:33Z Managing oil palm plantations more sustainably : large-scale experiments within the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme Luke, Sarah H. Advento, Andreas Dwi Aryawan, Anak Agung Ketut Adhy, Dwi Nugroho Ashton-Butt, Adham Barclay, Holly Dewi, Jassica Prajna Drewer, Julia Dumbrell, Alex J. Edi Eycott, Amy E. Harianja, Martina F. Hinsch, Julie K. Hood, Amelia S. C. Kurniawan, Candra Kurz, David J. Mann, Darren J. Matthews Nicholass, Kirsty J. Naim, Mohammad Pashkevich, Michael D. Prescott, Graham W. Ps, Sudharto Pujianto Purnomo, Dedi Purwoko, Rizky Rajabillah Putra, Syafrisar Rambe, T. Dzulfikar S. Soeprapto Spear, Dakota M. Suhardi Tan, David J. X. Tao, Hsiao-Hang Tarigan, Ribka Sionita Wahyuningsih, Resti Waters, Helen S. Widodo, Rudi Harto Whendy Woodham, Christopher R. Caliman, Jean-Pierre Slade, Eleanor M. Snaddon, Jake L. Foster, William A. Turner, Edgar C. Asian School of the Environment Science::Biological sciences::Ecology Tropical Forest Oil Palm Conversion of tropical forest to agriculture results in reduced habitat heterogeneity, and associated declines in biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Management strategies to increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes have therefore often focused on increasing habitat complexity; however, the large-scale, long-term ecological experiments that are needed to test the effects of these strategies are rare in tropical systems. Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.)—one of the most widespread and important tropical crops—offers substantial potential for developing wildlife-friendly management strategies because of its long rotation cycles and tree-like structure. Although there is awareness of the need to increase sustainability, practical options for how best to manage oil palm plantations, for benefits to both the environment and crop productivity, have received little research attention. In this paper we introduce the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme: a long-term research collaboration between academia and industry in Sumatra, Indonesia. The BEFTA Programme aims to better understand the oil palm agroecosystem and test sustainability strategies. We hypothesise that adjustments to oil palm management could increase structural complexity, stabilise microclimate, and reduce reliance on chemical inputs, thereby helping to improve levels of biodiversity and ecosystem functions. The Programme has established four major components: (1) assessing variability within the plantation under business-as-usual conditions; (2) the BEFTA Understory Vegetation Project, which tests the effects of varying herbicide regimes; (3) the Riparian Ecosystem Restoration in Tropical Agriculture (RERTA) Project, which tests strategies for restoring riparian habitat; and (4) support for additional collaborative projects within the Programme landscape. Across all projects, we are measuring environmental conditions, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions. We also measure oil palm yield and production costs, in order to assess whether suggested sustainability strategies are feasible from an agronomic perspective. Early results show that oil palm plantation habitat is more variable than might be expected from a monoculture crop, and that everyday vegetation management decisions have significant impacts on habitat structure. The BEFTA Programme highlights the value of large-scale collaborative projects for understanding tropical agricultural systems, and offers a highly valuable experimental set-up for improving our understanding of practices to manage oil palm more sustainably. Published version This work was funded by The Isaac Newton Trust Cambridge, Golden Agri Resources, ICOPE (the International Conference on Oil Palm and the Environment), and the Natural Environment Research Council (grant number NE/P00458X/1). Open access publication was funded by the University of Cambridge’s Open Access Service, as a result of this project’s Research Council UK (RCUK) funding. 2021-01-18T01:15:29Z 2021-01-18T01:15:29Z 2020 Journal Article Luke, S. H., Advento, A. D., Aryawan, A. A. K., Adhy, D. N., Ashton-Butt, A., Barclay, H., ... Turner, E. C. (2020). Managing oil palm plantations more sustainably : large-scale experiments within the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 2(75). doi:10.3389/ffgc.2019.00075 2624-893X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/145945 10.3389/ffgc.2019.00075 75 2 en Frontiers in Forests and Global Change © 2020 Luke, Advento, Aryawan, Adhy, Ashton-Butt, Barclay, Dewi, Drewer, Dumbrell, Edi, Eycott, Harianja, Hinsch, Hood, Kurniawan, Kurz, Mann, Matthews Nicholass, Naim, Pashkevich, Prescott, Ps, Pujianto, Purnomo, Purwoko, Putra, Rambe, Soeprapto, Spear, Suhardi, Tan, Tao, Tarigan, Wahyuningsih, Waters, Widodo, Whendy, Woodham, Caliman, Slade, Snaddon, Foster and Turner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Science::Biological sciences::Ecology Tropical Forest Oil Palm Luke, Sarah H. Advento, Andreas Dwi Aryawan, Anak Agung Ketut Adhy, Dwi Nugroho Ashton-Butt, Adham Barclay, Holly Dewi, Jassica Prajna Drewer, Julia Dumbrell, Alex J. Edi Eycott, Amy E. Harianja, Martina F. Hinsch, Julie K. Hood, Amelia S. C. Kurniawan, Candra Kurz, David J. Mann, Darren J. Matthews Nicholass, Kirsty J. Naim, Mohammad Pashkevich, Michael D. Prescott, Graham W. Ps, Sudharto Pujianto Purnomo, Dedi Purwoko, Rizky Rajabillah Putra, Syafrisar Rambe, T. Dzulfikar S. Soeprapto Spear, Dakota M. Suhardi Tan, David J. X. Tao, Hsiao-Hang Tarigan, Ribka Sionita Wahyuningsih, Resti Waters, Helen S. Widodo, Rudi Harto Whendy Woodham, Christopher R. Caliman, Jean-Pierre Slade, Eleanor M. Snaddon, Jake L. Foster, William A. Turner, Edgar C. Managing oil palm plantations more sustainably : large-scale experiments within the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme |
| title | Managing oil palm plantations more sustainably : large-scale experiments within the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme |
| title_full | Managing oil palm plantations more sustainably : large-scale experiments within the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme |
| title_fullStr | Managing oil palm plantations more sustainably : large-scale experiments within the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme |
| title_full_unstemmed | Managing oil palm plantations more sustainably : large-scale experiments within the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme |
| title_short | Managing oil palm plantations more sustainably : large-scale experiments within the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme |
| title_sort | managing oil palm plantations more sustainably large scale experiments within the biodiversity and ecosystem function in tropical agriculture befta programme |
| topic | Science::Biological sciences::Ecology Tropical Forest Oil Palm |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/145945 |
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