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The impact of forest conversion to oil palm on arthropod abundance and biomass in Sabah, Malaysia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

Edgar C. Turner  and
William A. Foster
Edgar C. Turner*
Affiliation:
Insect Ecology Group, University Museum of Zoology, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
William A. Foster
Affiliation:
Insect Ecology Group, University Museum of Zoology, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
*
1Corresponding author. Email: ect23@cam.ac.uk
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Abstract:

Deforestation rates in South-East Asia are among the highest of any tropical region, with expansion of oil palm being one important factor. Despite this, few studies have investigated the impact of oil palm expansion on the arthropod fauna. We report here the first study on the impact of forest conversion to oil palm on overall arthropod abundance, biomass and composition. We compared arthropod abundance and biomass, collected from epiphytic bird's nest ferns, the canopy, and leaf litter between primary forest, logged forest and oil palm plantation. Epiphytes, canopy and litter all contained a lower abundance (epiphytes: 67.2%, canopy: 2.3% and litter: 77.1% reduction) and biomass (epiphytes: 87.5%, canopy: 37.9% and litter: 72.4% reduction) of arthropods in oil palm compared with primary forest. However, not all orders of arthropods showed the same level of decline, with some groups having higher abundance and biomass in oil palm, resulting in an altered community composition in the epiphytes and canopy in oil palm compared with forest. Our results show that forest conversion to oil palm impacts detrimentally on invertebrates in all compartments of the forest ecosystem.

Keywords

Asplenium nidusbird's nest ferndeforestationElaeis guineensislogging
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 23 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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