Spiders in canopy and ground microhabitats are robust to changes in understory vegetation management practices in mature oil palm plantations (Riau, Indonesia)
Spiders in canopy and ground microhabitats are robust to changes in understory vegetation management practices in mature oil palm plantations (Riau, Indonesia)
Conversion of natural habitats to oil palm agriculture has caused declines in biodiversity and changes in ecosystem functions. To preserve biodiversity we must protect natural habitats, but once oil palm plantations are established, developing more-environmentally friendly management strategies could support higher levels of within-plantation biodiversity and boost the delivery of ecosystem services, possibly increasing oil palm productivity. In this study, we use a before-after control-impact (BACI) experiment to test whether three understory vegetation management strategies affect spider abundance, species richness, and species-level community composition in canopy and ground microhabitats in mature oil palm plantations. Our treatments encompassed the range of current management practices and included heavy applications of herbicides to eliminate all understory vegetation, maintaining some understory vegetation using business-as-usual herbicide applications, and enhancing understory vegetation by not applying any herbicides. We focussed on spiders, as they are both biologically and economically important in oil palm plantations, owing to their important pest control services. We identified more than 1000 spiders, representing 20 families and 83 morphospecies. The treatments did not affect any aspects of spider biodiversity, although the abundance and species richness of canopy-dwelling spiders changed between pre- and post-treatment sample periods, independent of treatment. Our findings indicate that differences in understory vegetation management practices do not affect spiders, or the pest management services that they provide, in mature oil palm plantations. As such, more extreme changes in management would probably be required to enhance spider biodiversity in oil palm plantations in the long-term. Further studies are needed to determine the practicalities of such approaches, to assess how changes in vegetation management practices affect spiders in additional microhabitats, and how the impacts of such approaches vary across the 20–30 year oil palm commercial life cycle.
Management, Oil palm, Spider, Tropical agriculture, Understory vegetation
120-133
Pashkevich, Michael D.
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Spear, Dakota M.
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Dwi Advento, Andreas
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Caliman, Jean-Pierre
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Foster, William A.
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Luke, Sarah H.
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Naim, Mohammad
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Ps, Sudharto
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Snaddon, Jake
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Turner, Edgar C.
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November 2022
Pashkevich, Michael D.
40767e0d-21a2-4f6e-a2d2-c127271a78c5
Spear, Dakota M.
533d2833-53e7-4d6f-9ed5-4c3b606205b1
Dwi Advento, Andreas
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Caliman, Jean-Pierre
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Foster, William A.
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Luke, Sarah H.
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Naim, Mohammad
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Ps, Sudharto
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Snaddon, Jake
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Turner, Edgar C.
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Pashkevich, Michael D., Spear, Dakota M., Dwi Advento, Andreas, Caliman, Jean-Pierre, Foster, William A., Luke, Sarah H., Naim, Mohammad, Ps, Sudharto, Snaddon, Jake and Turner, Edgar C.
(2022)
Spiders in canopy and ground microhabitats are robust to changes in understory vegetation management practices in mature oil palm plantations (Riau, Indonesia).
Basic and Applied Ecology, 64, .
(doi:10.1016/j.baae.2022.08.004).
Abstract
Conversion of natural habitats to oil palm agriculture has caused declines in biodiversity and changes in ecosystem functions. To preserve biodiversity we must protect natural habitats, but once oil palm plantations are established, developing more-environmentally friendly management strategies could support higher levels of within-plantation biodiversity and boost the delivery of ecosystem services, possibly increasing oil palm productivity. In this study, we use a before-after control-impact (BACI) experiment to test whether three understory vegetation management strategies affect spider abundance, species richness, and species-level community composition in canopy and ground microhabitats in mature oil palm plantations. Our treatments encompassed the range of current management practices and included heavy applications of herbicides to eliminate all understory vegetation, maintaining some understory vegetation using business-as-usual herbicide applications, and enhancing understory vegetation by not applying any herbicides. We focussed on spiders, as they are both biologically and economically important in oil palm plantations, owing to their important pest control services. We identified more than 1000 spiders, representing 20 families and 83 morphospecies. The treatments did not affect any aspects of spider biodiversity, although the abundance and species richness of canopy-dwelling spiders changed between pre- and post-treatment sample periods, independent of treatment. Our findings indicate that differences in understory vegetation management practices do not affect spiders, or the pest management services that they provide, in mature oil palm plantations. As such, more extreme changes in management would probably be required to enhance spider biodiversity in oil palm plantations in the long-term. Further studies are needed to determine the practicalities of such approaches, to assess how changes in vegetation management practices affect spiders in additional microhabitats, and how the impacts of such approaches vary across the 20–30 year oil palm commercial life cycle.
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 9 August 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 August 2022
Published date: November 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
We thank PT Ivo Mas Tunggal and Golden Agri Resources for allowing us to conduct fieldwork within their plantations. We thank all SMARTRI staff who assisted with fieldwork, especially Memo K.W. and Wira. MDP thanks Gates Cambridge Trust, Cambridge Global Food Security, Tim Whitmore Fund, and Jesus College Cambridge. DMS thanks Gates Cambridge Trust. Long-standing partnerships between University of Cambridge and SMARTRI are partly funded by the Isaac Newton Trust Cambridge, the Natural Environment Research Council (grant number NE/P00458X/1 ) and Golden Agri Resources . We thank RISTEK for permission for ECT, SHL, and MDP to conduct research in Indonesia that established and developed the wider Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme, as well as this particular study (ECT: permit numbers 426/SIP/FRP/SM/XI/2012, 72/EXT/SIP/FRP/SM/IX/2013, 44/EXT/SIP/FRP/SM/IX/2014; SHL: permit numbers 354/SIP/FRP/E5/Dit.KI/X/2016, 66/EXT/SIP/FRP/E5/Dit.KI/IX/2017, 45/EXT/SIP/FRP/E5/Dit.KI/X/2018, 431/E5/E5.4/SIP/2019, 53/E5/E5.4/SIP.EXT/2020; MDP permit numbers: 1068/FRP/E5/Dit.KI/II/2018; 7/EXT/FRP/E.5/Dit.KI/1/2019; 7/EXT/FRP/E.5/Dit.KI/I/2020).
Funding Information:
MDP analysed the data and wrote the manuscript (supported by DMS). ADA led the fieldwork. DMS identified the spiders. DMS, ADA, WAF, MN, J-PC, SHL, JLS, SP, and ECT designed the study, and contributed to the design of spider sampling and identification protocols. All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript.We thank PT Ivo Mas Tunggal and Golden Agri Resources for allowing us to conduct fieldwork within their plantations. We thank all SMARTRI staff who assisted with fieldwork, especially Memo K.W. and Wira. MDP thanks Gates Cambridge Trust, Cambridge Global Food Security, Tim Whitmore Fund, and Jesus College Cambridge. DMS thanks Gates Cambridge Trust. Long-standing partnerships between University of Cambridge and SMARTRI are partly funded by the Isaac Newton Trust Cambridge, the Natural Environment Research Council (grant number NE/P00458X/1) and Golden Agri Resources. We thank RISTEK for permission for ECT, SHL, and MDP to conduct research in Indonesia that established and developed the wider Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme, as well as this particular study (ECT: permit numbers 426/SIP/FRP/SM/XI/2012, 72/EXT/SIP/FRP/SM/IX/2013, 44/EXT/SIP/FRP/SM/IX/2014; SHL: permit numbers 354/SIP/FRP/E5/Dit.KI/X/2016, 66/EXT/SIP/FRP/E5/Dit.KI/IX/2017, 45/EXT/SIP/FRP/E5/Dit.KI/X/2018, 431/E5/E5.4/SIP/2019, 53/E5/E5.4/SIP.EXT/2020; MDP permit numbers: 1068/FRP/E5/Dit.KI/II/2018; 7/EXT/FRP/E.5/Dit.KI/1/2019; 7/EXT/FRP/E.5/Dit.KI/I/2020).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)
Keywords:
Management, Oil palm, Spider, Tropical agriculture, Understory vegetation
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 469420
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/469420
ISSN: 1439-1791
PURE UUID: 465c584c-4e8c-4aad-ad03-0911876caae6
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Date deposited: 14 Sep 2022 16:48
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:34
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Contributors
Author:
Michael D. Pashkevich
Author:
Dakota M. Spear
Author:
Andreas Dwi Advento
Author:
Jean-Pierre Caliman
Author:
William A. Foster
Author:
Sarah H. Luke
Author:
Mohammad Naim
Author:
Sudharto Ps
Author:
Edgar C. Turner
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