Key environmental factors underlying terrestrial arthropod abundance and diversity in alley-cropping and monoculture oil palm plantations
Oil palms are extensively planted in tropical countries and causing a severe decline in biodiversity. Alley-cropping is an agroforestry practice that has been proven to sustain greater diversity of terrestrial arthropods than monoculture plantations. However, the environmental factors responsible fo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
The Japan Society of Tropical Ecology
2023
|
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109539/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109539/1/advpub_MS22-10.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848865398459465728 |
|---|---|
| author | Ashraf, Mohamad Hosaka, Tetsuro Norhisham, Ahmad R. Sanusi, Ruzana Tohiran, Kamil A. Zulkifli, Raja Azhar, Badrul |
| author_facet | Ashraf, Mohamad Hosaka, Tetsuro Norhisham, Ahmad R. Sanusi, Ruzana Tohiran, Kamil A. Zulkifli, Raja Azhar, Badrul |
| author_sort | Ashraf, Mohamad |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Oil palms are extensively planted in tropical countries and causing a severe decline in biodiversity. Alley-cropping is an agroforestry practice that has been proven to sustain greater diversity of terrestrial arthropods than monoculture plantations. However, the environmental factors responsible for these differences remain unclear. This study aimed to identify the environmental factors influencing terrestrial arthropod abundance and richness in alley-cropping and monoculture oil palm plantations. We sampled terrestrial arthropod using 840 pitfall traps under seven treatments: oil palm alley-cropping systems with Bactris, bamboo, black pepper, cacao, and pineapple; and two oil palm monoculture systems. We assessed the microenvironment (presence/absence of alley cropping, vegetation coverage, soil surface temperature, soil moisture, light intensity, and relative air humidity) at each sampling site. Overall, 14,358 arthropods belonging to 19 orders were collected. The presence of alley-cropping was the only factor that positively affected the arthropod abundance and order richness. Arthropod abundance was negatively affected by soil moisture, suggesting that the dominant species, even in alley-cropping, were generalist species acclimated to dry soil conditions. Our study suggests that alley-cropping in oil palm plantations could increase the terrestrial arthropods diversity by increasing the diversity of vegetation (even with only one additional crop), rather than improving habitat microclimate. However, as microclimate remained intense, alley-cropping with only one secondary crop in our study site would not be sufficient to conserve forest specialist species. We suggest that producers of oil palm pay close attention to the potential of alley-cropping incorporating multiple secondary crops to increase biodiversity in plantations. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T14:04:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-109539 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T14:04:04Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | The Japan Society of Tropical Ecology |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-1095392024-12-17T03:07:21Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109539/ Key environmental factors underlying terrestrial arthropod abundance and diversity in alley-cropping and monoculture oil palm plantations Ashraf, Mohamad Hosaka, Tetsuro Norhisham, Ahmad R. Sanusi, Ruzana Tohiran, Kamil A. Zulkifli, Raja Azhar, Badrul Oil palms are extensively planted in tropical countries and causing a severe decline in biodiversity. Alley-cropping is an agroforestry practice that has been proven to sustain greater diversity of terrestrial arthropods than monoculture plantations. However, the environmental factors responsible for these differences remain unclear. This study aimed to identify the environmental factors influencing terrestrial arthropod abundance and richness in alley-cropping and monoculture oil palm plantations. We sampled terrestrial arthropod using 840 pitfall traps under seven treatments: oil palm alley-cropping systems with Bactris, bamboo, black pepper, cacao, and pineapple; and two oil palm monoculture systems. We assessed the microenvironment (presence/absence of alley cropping, vegetation coverage, soil surface temperature, soil moisture, light intensity, and relative air humidity) at each sampling site. Overall, 14,358 arthropods belonging to 19 orders were collected. The presence of alley-cropping was the only factor that positively affected the arthropod abundance and order richness. Arthropod abundance was negatively affected by soil moisture, suggesting that the dominant species, even in alley-cropping, were generalist species acclimated to dry soil conditions. Our study suggests that alley-cropping in oil palm plantations could increase the terrestrial arthropods diversity by increasing the diversity of vegetation (even with only one additional crop), rather than improving habitat microclimate. However, as microclimate remained intense, alley-cropping with only one secondary crop in our study site would not be sufficient to conserve forest specialist species. We suggest that producers of oil palm pay close attention to the potential of alley-cropping incorporating multiple secondary crops to increase biodiversity in plantations. The Japan Society of Tropical Ecology 2023-12-01 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109539/1/advpub_MS22-10.pdf Ashraf, Mohamad and Hosaka, Tetsuro and Norhisham, Ahmad R. and Sanusi, Ruzana and Tohiran, Kamil A. and Zulkifli, Raja and Azhar, Badrul (2023) Key environmental factors underlying terrestrial arthropod abundance and diversity in alley-cropping and monoculture oil palm plantations. Tropics, 32 (2). pp. 73-84. ISSN 0917-415X; eISSN: 1882-5729 https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/tropics/32/2/32_MS22-10/_article 10.3759/tropics.ms22-10 |
| spellingShingle | Ashraf, Mohamad Hosaka, Tetsuro Norhisham, Ahmad R. Sanusi, Ruzana Tohiran, Kamil A. Zulkifli, Raja Azhar, Badrul Key environmental factors underlying terrestrial arthropod abundance and diversity in alley-cropping and monoculture oil palm plantations |
| title | Key environmental factors underlying terrestrial arthropod abundance and diversity in alley-cropping and monoculture oil palm plantations |
| title_full | Key environmental factors underlying terrestrial arthropod abundance and diversity in alley-cropping and monoculture oil palm plantations |
| title_fullStr | Key environmental factors underlying terrestrial arthropod abundance and diversity in alley-cropping and monoculture oil palm plantations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Key environmental factors underlying terrestrial arthropod abundance and diversity in alley-cropping and monoculture oil palm plantations |
| title_short | Key environmental factors underlying terrestrial arthropod abundance and diversity in alley-cropping and monoculture oil palm plantations |
| title_sort | key environmental factors underlying terrestrial arthropod abundance and diversity in alley-cropping and monoculture oil palm plantations |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109539/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109539/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109539/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/109539/1/advpub_MS22-10.pdf |