Managing Oil Palm Plantations More Sustainably: Large-Scale Experiments Within the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme

Sarah H Luke,Amy E Eycott,Whendy Whendy,Resti Wahyuningsih,William A Foster,Michael D Pashkevich,Andreas Dwi Advento,Julie K Hinsch,Dwi Nugroho Adhy,David J X Tan,Jassica Prajna Dewi,Martina F Harianja,Sudharto Ps,Edgar C Turner,Rizky Rajabillah Purwoko,Dedi Purnomo,Ribka Sionita Tarigan,Rudi Harto Widodo,Soeprapto Soeprapto,Anak Agung Ketut Aryawan,Christopher R Woodham,Amelia S C Hood,Jake L Snaddon,David J Kurz,Holly Barclay,Graham W Prescott,Syafrisar Putra,Mohammad Naim,Kirsty J Matthews Nicholass,Candra Kurniawan,Julia Drewer,Eleanor M Slade,Alex J Dumbrell,Darren J Mann,Dakota M Spear,Suhardi ,Tuani Dzulfikar Siguga Rambe ,Helen Waters ,Hsiao‐Hang Tao ,Pujianto Pujianto ,Adham Ashton‐Butt ,Jean‐Pierre Caliman

doi:10.3389/ffgc.2019.00075

Abstract

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.

Highlights

Agriculture has expanded and intensified rapidly in recent decades, with rates of change greatest in the tropics (Foley et al, 2005, 2011; Laurance et al, 2014)
Opportunities for collaboration, to allow tests of the effects of a range of other habitat management options within the plantation ecosystem. We introduce these key components in this paper, and provide early results from the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Understory Vegetation Project, and from baseline data collected as part of the Restoration in Tropical Agriculture (RERTA) Project
In the BEFTA Understory Vegetation Project plots, we found differences in vegetation cover between Core and Edge areas before understory management treatments started, highlighting the heterogeneity existing within oil palm plantations (Figure 5)

Summary

Introduction

Agriculture has expanded and intensified rapidly in recent decades, with rates of change greatest in the tropics (Foley et al, 2005, 2011; Laurance et al, 2014). The tropics contain the majority of the world’s biodiversity “hotspots” (Myers et al, 2000), and conversion of natural habitats to agriculture in these regions leads to substantial reductions in biodiversity (e.g., Fitzherbert et al, 2008; Gibson et al, 2011; Barnes et al, 2014, 2017; Laurance et al, 2014; Clough et al, 2016). One of the major reasons for loss of biodiversity, when natural habitat is converted to agriculture, is a reduction in structural complexity and heterogeneity of vegetation, and consequent reductions in shading, alterations to microclimate, and changes to soil physical and chemical properties (Matson et al, 1997; Benton et al, 2003; Wilson et al, 2005; Luskin and Potts, 2011; Drescher et al, 2016; Meijide et al, 2018)

Methods

Results

Conclusion