Effects of monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on terrestrial arthropod diversity

Oil palm agriculture has become one of the economic mainstays for biodiversity-rich countries in the tropics. The conversion of native forests to oil palm monoculture plantation has caused unprecedented biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia. Little is known about the effects of oil palm polyculture fa...

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Main Authors: Nasron, Amal Ghazali, Muslim, Siti Asmah, Muhammad Syafiq, Yahya, Muhammad Syafiq, Abdul Aziz, Mohamed Najjib, Tan, Li Peng, Ahmad Razi, Norhisham, Puan, Chong Leong, Turner, Edgar C., Md Sharif, Badrul Azhar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2016
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54099/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54099/1/Effects%20of%20monoculture%20and%20polyculture%20farming%20in%20oil%20palm%20smallholdings%20.pdf
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author Nasron, Amal Ghazali
Muslim, Siti Asmah
Muhammad Syafiq
Yahya, Muhammad Syafiq
Abdul Aziz, Mohamed Najjib
Tan, Li Peng
Ahmad Razi, Norhisham
Puan, Chong Leong
Turner, Edgar C.
Md Sharif, Badrul Azhar
author_facet Nasron, Amal Ghazali
Muslim, Siti Asmah
Muhammad Syafiq
Yahya, Muhammad Syafiq
Abdul Aziz, Mohamed Najjib
Tan, Li Peng
Ahmad Razi, Norhisham
Puan, Chong Leong
Turner, Edgar C.
Md Sharif, Badrul Azhar
author_sort Nasron, Amal Ghazali
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Oil palm agriculture has become one of the economic mainstays for biodiversity-rich countries in the tropics. The conversion of native forests to oil palm monoculture plantation has caused unprecedented biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia. Little is known about the effects of oil palm polyculture farming on arthropod diversity. In this study, arthropods were sampled using pitfall traps at 120 sites in Peninsular Malaysia. We examined how arthropod biodiversity responded to different oil palm farming practices and local-scale vegetation structure characteristics. We found that the number of arthropod orders was significantly greater in polyculture than monoculture smallholdings. However, we did not detect a significant difference in arthropod order composition nor abundance between monoculture and polyculture practices. In situ habitat characteristics explained 16% of the variation in arthropod order richness, with key predictor variables including farming practice, height of oil palm stands, and number of immature palm. The findings of this study suggest that polyculture farming together with management for in situ habitat complexity may be a useful strategy in supporting biodiversity within in oil palm plantations.
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spelling upm-540992018-03-16T07:52:13Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54099/ Effects of monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on terrestrial arthropod diversity Nasron, Amal Ghazali Muslim, Siti Asmah Muhammad Syafiq Yahya, Muhammad Syafiq Abdul Aziz, Mohamed Najjib Tan, Li Peng Ahmad Razi, Norhisham Puan, Chong Leong Turner, Edgar C. Md Sharif, Badrul Azhar Oil palm agriculture has become one of the economic mainstays for biodiversity-rich countries in the tropics. The conversion of native forests to oil palm monoculture plantation has caused unprecedented biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia. Little is known about the effects of oil palm polyculture farming on arthropod diversity. In this study, arthropods were sampled using pitfall traps at 120 sites in Peninsular Malaysia. We examined how arthropod biodiversity responded to different oil palm farming practices and local-scale vegetation structure characteristics. We found that the number of arthropod orders was significantly greater in polyculture than monoculture smallholdings. However, we did not detect a significant difference in arthropod order composition nor abundance between monoculture and polyculture practices. In situ habitat characteristics explained 16% of the variation in arthropod order richness, with key predictor variables including farming practice, height of oil palm stands, and number of immature palm. The findings of this study suggest that polyculture farming together with management for in situ habitat complexity may be a useful strategy in supporting biodiversity within in oil palm plantations. Elsevier 2016 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54099/1/Effects%20of%20monoculture%20and%20polyculture%20farming%20in%20oil%20palm%20smallholdings%20.pdf Nasron, Amal Ghazali and Muslim, Siti Asmah and Muhammad Syafiq and Yahya, Muhammad Syafiq and Abdul Aziz, Mohamed Najjib and Tan, Li Peng and Ahmad Razi, Norhisham and Puan, Chong Leong and Turner, Edgar C. and Md Sharif, Badrul Azhar (2016) Effects of monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on terrestrial arthropod diversity. Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology, 19 (2). pp. 415-421. ISSN 1876-7990; ESSN: 1226-8615 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1226861515302028 10.1016/j.aspen.2016.04.016
spellingShingle Nasron, Amal Ghazali
Muslim, Siti Asmah
Muhammad Syafiq
Yahya, Muhammad Syafiq
Abdul Aziz, Mohamed Najjib
Tan, Li Peng
Ahmad Razi, Norhisham
Puan, Chong Leong
Turner, Edgar C.
Md Sharif, Badrul Azhar
Effects of monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on terrestrial arthropod diversity
title Effects of monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on terrestrial arthropod diversity
title_full Effects of monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on terrestrial arthropod diversity
title_fullStr Effects of monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on terrestrial arthropod diversity
title_full_unstemmed Effects of monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on terrestrial arthropod diversity
title_short Effects of monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on terrestrial arthropod diversity
title_sort effects of monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on terrestrial arthropod diversity
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54099/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54099/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54099/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/54099/1/Effects%20of%20monoculture%20and%20polyculture%20farming%20in%20oil%20palm%20smallholdings%20.pdf