The Impact of Oil Palm Expansion on Environmental Change: Putting Conservation Research in Context

Turner, Edgar C.; Snaddon, Jake L.; Ewers, Robert M.; Fayle, Tom M.; Foster, William A.

doi:10.5772/20263

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…S9) but subsequently fell. The crop price is closely related to demand and may further impact the oil palm market and production (Turner et al, 2011). However, although there is a ∼ 10 %-20 % slowdown of the conversion rate, oil palm plantation area continuously increased after 2011.…”

Section: Comparison Of Our Results With Statistics and Other Productsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual oil palm plantation maps in Malaysia and Indonesia from 2001 to 2016

et al. 2020

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

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Abstract. Increasing global demand of vegetable oils and biofuels results in significant oil palm expansion in southeastern Asia, predominately in Malaysia and Indonesia. The land conversion to oil palm plantations has posed risks to deforestation (50 % of the oil palm was taken from forest during 1990–2005; Koh and Wilcove, 2008), loss of biodiversity and greenhouse gas emission over the past decades. Quantifying the consequences of oil palm expansion requires fine-scale and frequently updated datasets of land cover dynamics. Previous studies focused on total changes for a multi-year interval without identifying the exact time of conversion, causing uncertainty in the timing of carbon emission estimates from land cover change. Using Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR), ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) datasets, we produced an annual oil palm area dataset (AOPD) at 100 m resolution in Malaysia and Indonesia from 2001 to 2016. We first mapped the oil palm extent using PALSAR and PALSAR-2 data for 2007–2010 and 2015–2016 and then applied a disturbance and recovery algorithm (Breaks For Additive Season and Trend – BFAST) to detect land cover change time points using MODIS data during the years without PALSAR data (2011–2014 and 2001–2006). The new oil palm land cover maps are assessed to have an accuracy of 86.61 % in the mapping step (2007–2010 and 2015–2016). During the intervening years when MODIS data are used, 75.74 % of the detected change time matched the timing of actual conversion using Google Earth and Landsat images. The AOPD revealed spatiotemporal oil palm dynamics every year and shows that plantations expanded from 2.59 to 6.39×106 ha and from 3.00 to 12.66×106 ha in Malaysia and Indonesia, respectively (i.e. a net increase of 146.60 % and 322.46 %) between 2001 and 2016. The higher trends from our dataset are consistent with those from the national inventories, with limited annual average difference in Malaysia (0.2×106 ha) and Indonesia (−0.17×106 ha). We highlight the capability of combining multiple-resolution radar and optical satellite datasets in annual plantation mapping to a large extent by using image classification and statistical boundary-based change detection to achieve long time series. The consistent characterization of oil palm dynamics can be further used in downstream applications. The annual oil palm plantation maps from 2001 to 2016 at 100 m resolution are published in the Tagged Image File Format with georeferencing information (GeoTIFF) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3467071 (Xu et al., 2019).

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Section: Comparison Of Our Results With Statistics and Other Productsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual oil palm plantation maps in Malaysia and Indonesia from 2001 to 2016

et al. 2020

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

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“…Dendrogram of clustering of termite species based on present-absent data generated by PC-ORD analysis of distance measure by Sorensen. Five groups of termite community were generated and two group of soil generated with 100% similarity in both shallow and peat soil (Black=presence; white=absence) of termites (Turner et al 2011). The present study can aid understanding of termite occurrence in peatland converted oil palm plantations.…”

Section: Clustering Analysis Based On Soil Typesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Termite Associated to Oil Palm Stands in Three Types of Soils in Ladang Endau Rompin, Pahang, Malaysia

Jalaludin

Rahim

Yaakop³

2018

JSM

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Termites are found in various habitats, particularly diverse communities occurring in tropical forest and peatlands. Termites are beneficial insects, which function as soil engineers, improving the soil quality. However, in peatlands converted to commercial oil palm plantations, they are considered as pests. There is lack of studies on termite communities in converted peatlands in Peninsular Malaysia. Thus, this study investigated termite species associated with oil palm stands in three soil types (clay, shallow peat and deep peat) in Endau Rompin Plantation. The stand scouting method was used to record the numbers and types of termites associated with palm trees in the individual stands on different soil types. A total of 29 termite species associated with the palm stands were identified morphologically. All the species belonged to the families Rhinotermitidae and Termitidae. Twenty-three of the 29 species were found in the shallow peat, 16 in clay soil and 15 in deep peat. The community structure was synthesized by two-way cluster analysis with Sorensen (Bray Curtis) distance measure. Five termite groups associated with two soil types (clay soil and shallow/deep peat) were generated. Moisture levels and organic content were likely to determine the presence of soil feeders identified in the presence study. This study provides information on the status of termite species in oil palm plantation areas. Such information may be useful in future planning strategies by the plantation management.

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“…For example in Indonesia, the world's largest producer, production increased by 68% from 2005(Murphy, 2014. A significant proportion of this expansion has come at the expense of tropical forests (Turner et al 2011, Meijaard et al 2018 and has been driven by oil palm's cost-effective production (Woittiez et al 2017), wide use, extreme productivity and profitability (Corley, 2009, Wilcove andKoh, 2010). Demand for palm oil is likely to triple by 2050, potentially resulting in a further expansion of 12 million hectares (Corley 2009) and intensified production within the existing land area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite biodiversity declines, many species are still found within oil palm landscapes (e.g. Turner andFoster 2009, Azhar et al 2011). Although these are predominately generalist or widespread species (Fayle et al 2010) and therefore not a conservation priority, such species can provide valuable ecosystem services to promote crop production (Rusch et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The majority of oil palm is cultivated in Southeast Asia (Turner et al 2011), where high rainfall generally promotes high productivity in the crop. However, the region experiences occasional droughts (Walsh and Newbery 1999), which together with haze events, can be associated with the El Niño -Southern Oscillation (ENSO) (Khandekar et al 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resilience of ecological functions to drought in an oil palm agroecosystem

Eycott

Advento²,

Waters

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Commun.

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Oil palm is a major habitat in the tropics. It is highly productive and contributes substantially to the economies of producing countries, but its expansion has caused widespread deforestation, with negative consequences for biodiversity. Such biodiversity losses may have substantial impacts on ecosystem functions within oil palm and resilience of functions to changing rainfall patterns, with impacts on yield. However, although the direct effects of water deficit on yield have been studied, little work has investigated ecosystem processes within plantations or the resilience of functions to changing rainfall. We conducted ecosystem function experiments within mature oil palm at the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme site in Sumatra, Indonesia. We measured rates of leaf litter decomposition, seed removal, mealworm predation, and herbivory at multiple time points spanning the 2015-2016 El Niño -Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event that caused widespread drought within Southeast Asia. We found that mealworm predation, seed removal, and decomposition rates were high, whilst herbivory levels were low, indicating a healthy ecosystem with high levels of pest control and organic matter breakdown. Exclusion tests showed that the presence of invertebrates was associated with higher levels of seed removal and decomposition and the presence of vertebrates with higher predation. All functions were relatively robust to changes in rainfall. Yet, whilst seed removal and herbivory did not alter with rainfall, decomposition and predation showed more complex effects, with levels of both processes increasing with current rainfall levels when rainfall in preceding time periods was low. This suggests that both processes are resilient to change and able to recover following drought. Our results indicate that the ecosystem processes measured within oil palm plantations are healthy and resilient to changing rainfall patterns. This is hopeful and suggests that the crop may be fairly robust to future changes in precipitation.

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The Impact of Oil Palm Expansion on Environmental Change: Putting Conservation Research in Context

Cited by 9 publications

References 64 publications

Annual oil palm plantation maps in Malaysia and Indonesia from 2001 to 2016

Annual oil palm plantation maps in Malaysia and Indonesia from 2001 to 2016

Termite Associated to Oil Palm Stands in Three Types of Soils in Ladang Endau Rompin, Pahang, Malaysia

Resilience of ecological functions to drought in an oil palm agroecosystem

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