Understory Vegetation in Oil Palm Plantations Benefits Soil Biodiversity and Decomposition Rates

Ashton‐Butt, Adham; Aryawan, Anak A. K.; Hood, Amelia S. C.; Naim, Mohammad; Purnomo, Dedi; Suhardi, .; Wahyuningsih, Resti; Willcock, Simon; Poppy, Guy M.; Caliman, Jean‐Pierre; Turner, Edgar C.; Foster, William A.; Peh, Kelvin S.‐H.; Snaddon, Jake L.

doi:10.3389/ffgc.2018.00010

Cited by 70 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 61 publications

(77 reference statements)

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“…The effect was stronger for small cryptic soil-associated spiders, suggesting that they predominantly suffer from the loss of litter shelter. A positive effect of understory density and height on density and diversity of soil-associated and litter-associated spiders supports other studies showing that complex ground vegetation promotes ground invertebrate communities in plantations (Ashton-Butt et al 2018). Unlike taxonomic and functional diversity, predation by spiders was affected rather by plant diversity than habitat structure.…”

Section: Predation Loss In Litter and Soilsupporting

confidence: 87%

Functional losses in ground spider communities due to habitat structure degradation under tropical land‐use change

Potapov

Dupérré

Eisenhauer

et al. 2020

Ecology

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Deforestation and land‐use change in tropical regions result in habitat loss and extinction of species that are unable to adapt to the conditions in agricultural landscapes. If the associated loss of functional diversity is not compensated by species colonizing the converted habitats, extinctions might be followed by a reduction or loss of ecosystem functions including biological control. To date, little is known about how land‐use change in the tropics alters the functional diversity of invertebrate predators and which key environmental factors may mitigate the decline in functional diversity and predation in litter and soil communities. We applied litter sieving and heat extraction to study ground spider communities and assessed structural characteristics of vegetation and parameters of litter in rainforest and agricultural land‐use systems (jungle rubber, rubber, and oil palm monocultures) in a Southeast Asian hotspot of rainforest conversion: Sumatra, Indonesia. We found that (1) spider density, species richness, functional diversity, and community predation (energy flux to spiders) were reduced by 57–98% from rainforest to oil palm monoculture; (2) jungle rubber and rubber monoculture sustained relatively high diversity and predation in ground spiders, but small cryptic spider species strongly declined; (3) high species turnover compensated losses of some functional trait combinations, but did not compensate for the overall loss of functional diversity and predation per unit area; (4) spider diversity was related to habitat structure such as amount of litter, understory density, and understory height, while spider predation was better explained by plant diversity. Management practices that increase habitat‐structural complexity and plant diversity such as mulching, reduced weeding, and intercropping monocultures with other plants may contribute to maintaining functional diversity of and predation services provided by ground invertebrate communities in plantations.

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Section: Predation Loss In Litter and Soilsupporting

confidence: 87%

Functional losses in ground spider communities due to habitat structure degradation under tropical land‐use change

Potapov

Dupérré

Eisenhauer

et al. 2020

Ecology

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“…increased vegetation could also prevent soil degradation and aid regeneration of SOM (Ashton-Butt et al, 2018) as seen in other crops (Keesstra et al, 2016;Parfitt et al, 2010). We recognize that due to the relatively coarse level of identification of soil macrofauna in this study, more nuanced relationships of diversity and community composition change between oil palm ages may have been missed.…”

Section: Change In Soil Macrofauna Composition After Replantingmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Soil monoliths were taken from both the weeded circle and the windrow of each palm (see Ashton-Butt et al, 2018;Carron et al, 2015). Soil monoliths were taken from both the weeded circle and the windrow of each palm (see Ashton-Butt et al, 2018;Carron et al, 2015).…”

Section: Sampling Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The weeded circle is relatively devoid of vegetation, receives higher levels of chemical fertilizers and herbicides, and is exposed to more disturbance by oil palm workers than the windrow (Carron et al, 2015). Simplified understory in oil palm has been linked with lower above-and belowground invertebrate densities and decreased ecosystem functioning (Ashton-Butt et al, 2018;Spear et al, 2018). Simplified understory in oil palm has been linked with lower above-and belowground invertebrate densities and decreased ecosystem functioning (Ashton-Butt et al, 2018;Spear et al, 2018).…”

Section: Influence Of Oil Palm Zone On Abundance and Richnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Replanting of first‐cycle oil palm results in a second wave of biodiversity loss

Ashton‐Butt

Willcock

Purnomo³

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Conversion of forest to oil palm plantations results in a significant loss of biodiversity. Despite this, first‐cycle oil palm plantations can sustain relatively high biodiversity compared to other crops. However, the long‐term effects of oil palm agriculture on flora and fauna are unknown. Oil palm has a 25‐year commercial lifespan before it must be replanted, due to reduced productivity and difficulty of harvesting. Loss of the complex vegetation structure of oil palm plantations during the replanting process will likely have impacts on the ecosystem at a local and landscape scale. However, the effect of replanting on biodiversity is poorly understood. Here, we investigate the effects of replanting oil palm on soil macrofauna communities. We assessed ordinal richness, abundance, and community composition of soil macrofauna in first‐ (25‐ to 27‐year‐old) and second‐cycle oil palm (freshly cleared, 1‐year‐old, 3‐year‐old, and 7‐year‐old mature). Macrofauna abundance and richness drastically declined immediately after replanting. Macrofauna richness showed some recovery 7 years after replanting, but was still 19% lower than first‐cycle oil palm. Macrofauna abundance recovered to similar levels to that of first‐cycle oil palm plantations, 1 year after replanting. This was mainly due to high ant abundance, possibly due to the increased understory vegetation as herbicides are not used at this age. However, there were subsequent declines in macrofauna abundance 3 and 7 years after replanting, resulting in a 59% drop in macrofauna abundance compared to first‐cycle levels. Furthermore, soil macrofauna community composition in all ages of second‐cycle oil palm was different to first‐cycle plantations, with decomposers suffering particular declines. After considerable biodiversity loss due to forest conversion for oil palm, belowground invertebrate communities suffer a second wave of biodiversity loss due to replanting. This is likely to have serious implications for soil invertebrate diversity and agricultural sustainability in oil palm landscapes, due to the vital ecosystem functions that soil macrofauna provide.

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“…In oil palm plantations, habitat complexity has been implemented by preserving forest patches, preserving and creating riparian buffers, and by enhancing understory vegetation (Lucey et al, 2014;Luke et al, 2018). The latter can grow up to several meters tall in mature oil palm plantations (Tan, Kanniah, & Cracknell, 2014), and studies have shown that maintaining understory vegetation encourages plant, invertebrate and vertebrate biodiversity (Ashton-Butt et al, 2018;Luke, Purnomo, et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Termite mounds house a diversity of taxa in oil palm plantations irrespective of understory management

et al. 2020

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We investigated the effects of oil palm understory vegetation management on termite mound activity and non‐termite inhabitants. We found a diversity of taxa, most of which were unaffected by understory management. Mound volume and termite activity had taxa‐specific effects on abundance. Preserving mounds in oil palm plantations will benefit biodiversity. Abstract in Indonesian is available with online material.

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Understory Vegetation in Oil Palm Plantations Benefits Soil Biodiversity and Decomposition Rates

Cited by 70 publications

References 61 publications

Functional losses in ground spider communities due to habitat structure degradation under tropical land‐use change

Functional losses in ground spider communities due to habitat structure degradation under tropical land‐use change

Replanting of first‐cycle oil palm results in a second wave of biodiversity loss

Termite mounds house a diversity of taxa in oil palm plantations irrespective of understory management

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