Assessment of variability of peat physicochemical properties, subsidence and their interactions within Selangor forests

Tropical peat swamp forests are carbon-rich ecosystems both above- and belowground, which play a major role in the climate balance of the earth. The majority of the world's tropical peat forest cover is located in Southeast Asia and is increasingly threatened by anthropogenic disturbances. Despite their importance for biodiversity conservation and climatic balance of the earth, pristine peatlands are almost extinct in many parts of Southeast Asia. Peninsular Malaysia is one such region, where there are no undisturbed peatlands left in the west coast. We studied the largest peat forest area in the west coast of Malaysia, located in the state of Selangor. We evaluated variability of peat subsidence (for 1 year), peat physicochemical properties and macronutrient contents between forest regions and between different depths (not for subsidence) covering the top 50 cm, and the complex interactions between them. We found that there was significant peat subsidence in all the studied regions, however, there was no significant difference in subsidence between different forest regions. Physicochemical properties such as peat moisture, pH and carbon (C) content and all macronutrient contents except phosphorus (P), either varied between regions, or showed significant interactions between region and depth in Selangor peat forests. All the measured peat physicochemical properties varied with depth. Among macronutrients, only nitrogen (N), P and calcium (Ca) showed significant change with depth, while there were no changes with depth for sulphur (S), potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg) contents. These changes in each peat physicochemical property and macronutrient contents correlated with changes in other peat physicochemical properties and nutrient contents; however, there is a need for controlled experiments to further understand these significant interactions. The findings show continued carbon loss in secondary peat swamp forests through subsidence, indicating the long-term impact of selective logging and associated historical drainage. The significant variability of peat physicochemical properties and macronutrient contents with region and depth, also show the need for intensive sampling to characterise large secondary peat swamp forests

BIOSMART - Política agroambiental, sistemas silvopastoriles, biodiversidad y cambio climático

BIOSMART1 es un proyecto interdisciplinario e internacional con duración de 3 años dedicado al estudio de la implementación de sistemas silvopastoriles (SSP)2 y otros esquemas agroambientales en la Amazonía colombiana en pro de la sociedad, el medio ambiente y la economía local. El proyecto Paisajes Sostenibles para la Amazonía, liderado por el CIAT3 fue uno de los esquemas estudiados. Los métodos de investigación incluyeron entrevistas semiestructuradas, sondeos telefónicos, grupos focales, juegos de percepción de riesgo, modelación de cambios en el uso del suelo y ecología de campo. Aspiramos a una mejor comprensión de estos sistemas para apoyar los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible relacionados con la erradicación de la pobreza, el impulso del desarrollo rural, el logro de una producción pecuaria neto cero carbono y la conservación de los bosques y la biodiversidad

BIOSMART Agri-environmental policy, silvopastoral systems, biodiversity, and climate change

BIOSMART1 is a 3-year interdisciplinary and international project focused on studying the implementation of silvopastoral systems (SPS)2 and other agrienvironmental schemes in the Colombian Amazon for the benefit of society, the environment, and the local economy. These schemes include the Sustainable Amazonian Landscapes project led by CIAT.3 Our methods include semi-structured interviews, telephone surveys, focus groups, risk-perception games, land-use change modeling, and ecological fieldwork. Our aims are to improve understanding of these systems to support sustainable development goals around eradication of poverty, boosting rural development, achieving net-zero carbon farming, and conserving forests and biodiversity

Resilience of tropical invertebrate community assembly processes to a gradient of land use intensity

Understanding how community assembly processes drive biodiversity patterns is a central goal of community ecology. While it is generally accepted that ecological communities are assembled by both stochastic and deterministic processes, quantifying their relative importance remains challenging. Few studies have investigated how the relative importance of stochastic and deterministic community assembly processes vary among taxa and along gradients of habitat degradation. Using data on 1645 arthropod species across seven taxonomic groups in Malaysian Borneo, we quantified the importance of ecological stochasticity and of a suite of community assembly processes across a gradient of logging intensity. The relationship between logging and community assembly varied depending on the specific combination of taxa and stochasticity metric used, but, in general, the processes that govern invertebrate community assembly were remarkably robust to changes in land use intensity

Addressing pollination deficits in orchard crops through habitat management for wild pollinators

There is increasing evidence that farmers in many areas are achieving below maximum yields due to insufficient pollination. Practical and effective approaches are needed to maintain wild pollinator populations within agroecosystems so they can deliver critical pollination services that underpin crop production. We established nesting and wildflower habitat interventions in 24 UK apple orchards and measured effects on flower-visiting insects and the pollination they provide, exploring how this was affected by landscape context. We quantified the extent of pollination deficits and assessed whether the management of wild pollinators can reduce deficits and deliver improved outcomes for growers over 3 years. Wildflower interventions increased solitary bee numbers visiting apple flowers by over 20%, but there was no effect of nesting interventions. Other pollinator groups were influenced by both local and landscape-scale factors, with bumblebees and hoverflies responding to the relative proportion of semi-natural habitat at larger spatial scales (1000 m), while honeybees and other flies responded at 500 m or less. By improving fruit number and quality, pollinators contributed more than £16 k per hectare. However, deficits (where maximum potential was not being reached due to a lack of pollination) were recorded and the extent of these varied across orchards, and from year to year, with a 22% deficit in output in the worst (equivalent to ~£14 k/ha) compared to less than 3% (equivalent to ~£2 k/ha) in the best year. Although no direct effect of our habitat interventions on deficits in gross output was observed, initial fruit set and seed set deficits were reduced by abundant bumblebees, and orchards with a greater abundance of solitary bees saw lower deficits in fruit size. The abundance of pollinators in apple orchards is influenced by different local and landscape factors that interact and vary between years. Consequently, pollination, and the extent of economic output deficits, also vary between orchards and years. We highlight how approaches, including establishing wildflower areas and optimizing the ratio of cropped and non-cropped habitats can increase the abundance of key apple pollinators and improve outcomes for growers

Invertebrate data from malaise traps and sweep transects according to habitat type on farms in Caquetá, Colombia

These datasets include abundance data for invertebrates caught in three different habitat types on five farms in Caquetá, Colombia. Invertebrates were caught using two sampling methods, sweep net transects and malaise traps. Invertebrates were identified to order level at the Universidad de la Amazonia. These data were collected to investigate the impact of adopting silvopasture farming practices on biodiversity. As such, invertebrates were sampled in silvopasture plots, traditional intensive pasture plots and in forest remnants on each farm. Fieldwork was carried out over a three week period in August 2018

Flower visitor, fruit yield and fruit quality data from UK apple orchards under flowering and nesting habitat interventions

These data include information on flower visitors, fruit set and fruit quality (size, weight and seed number) of apples grown under different pollination treatments including pollinator exclusion (no visitation by insects), open pollination (visitation by insects) and supplementary pollination (hand pollinated) in orchards receiving combinations of nesting floral habitat interventions. Data were collected for the Sustainable Pollination Services for UK crops project

Assessment of variability of peat physico-chemical properties, subsidence and their interactions within Selangor forests

Tropical peat swamp forests are carbon rich ecosystems both above- and below-ground, which play a major role in the climate balance of the earth. The majority of the world’s tropical peat forest cover is located in Southeast Asia and is increasingly threatened by anthropogenic disturbances. Despite their importance for biodiversity conservation and climatic balance of the earth, pristine peatlands are almost extinct in many parts of Southeast Asia. Peninsular Malaysia is one such region, where there are no undisturbed peatlands left in the west coast. We studied the largest peat forest area in the west coast of Malaysia, located in the state of Selangor. We evaluated variability of peat subsidence (for 1 year), peat physico-chemical properties and macronutrient contents between forest regions and between different depths (not for subsidence) covering the top 50 cm, and the complex interactions between them. We found that there was significant peat subsidence in all the studied regions, however there was no significant difference in subsidence between different forest regions. Physico-chemical properties such as peat moisture, pH and C content, and all macronutrient contents except P, either varied between regions, or showed significant interactions between region and depth in Selangor peat forests. All the measured peat physico-chemical properties varied with depth. Among macronutrients, only N, P, and Ca showed significant change with depth, while there were no changes with depth for S, K and Mg contents. These changes in each peat physico-chemical property and macronutrient contents correlated with changes in other peat-physicochemical properties and nutrient contents, however there is a need for controlled experiments to further understand these significant interactions. The findings show continued carbon loss in secondary peat swamp forests through subsidence, indicating the long-term impact of selective logging and associated historical drainage. The significant variability of peat physico-chemical properties and macronutrient contents with region and depth, also show the need for intensive sampling to characterise large secondary peat swamp forests