Weed diversity in oil palm plantation: benefit from the unexpected ground cover community

Abstract

Weeds in oil palm plantations are commonly associated with harmful ground cover species that can compete with oil palm at some level. Here, we discuss weeds from the perspective of communities impacting other taxonomic groups of agro-biodiversity in oil palm plantations. Differences in the age of oil palm in large-scale plantations affect micro conditions such as differences in canopy cover, light intensity, and humidity. The young oil palm provides less canopy, which allows more sunlight on the plantation floor, whereas older plantation supports less canopy with lower light intensity. Each weed species has a different level of adaptation to changing micro conditions. The adaptation differences affect the composition, distribution, and community structure of weeds and thus affect the diversity of other related taxa. We tried to observe the relationship between oil palm age and weeds. This results showed that the structure of the weed community changed with the age difference of the oil palm plant. The younger oil palm plantations supported a higher number of weed species compared to older plantations. The management of oil palm plantations needs to maintain the sustainability of beneficial weed species to ensure the contribution of existing agro-biodiversity, especially for pest control.