Understory vegetation supports more abundant and diverse butterfly communities in oil palm plantations

Reiss-Woolever, Valentine Joy; Advento, Andreas Dwi; Aryawan, Anak Agung Ketut; Caliman, Jean-Pierre; Foster, William A.; Naim, Mohammad; Pujianto; Purnomo, Dedi; Soeprapto; Suhardi; Tarigan, Ribka Sionita; Wahyuningsih, Resti; Rambe, Tuani Dzulfikar Siguga; Ps, Sudharto; Widodo, Rudy Harto; Luke, Sarah H.; Snaddon, Jake L.; Turner, Edgar C.

doi:10.3389/ffgc.2023.1205744

Understory vegetation supports more abundant and diverse butterfly communities in oil palm plantations

Reiss-Woolever, Valentine Joy; Advento, Andreas Dwi; Aryawan, Anak Agung Ketut; Caliman, Jean-Pierre; Foster, William A.; Naim, Mohammad; Pujianto; Purnomo, Dedi; Soeprapto; Suhardi; Tarigan, Ribka Sionita; Wahyuningsih, Resti; Rambe, Tuani Dzulfikar Siguga; Ps, Sudharto; Widodo, Rudy Harto; Luke, Sarah H.; Snaddon, Jake L.; Turner, Edgar C.

Authors

Valentine Joy Reiss-Woolever

Andreas Dwi Advento

Anak Agung Ketut Aryawan

Jean-Pierre Caliman

William A. Foster

Mohammad Naim

Pujianto

Dedi Purnomo

Soeprapto

Suhardi

Ribka Sionita Tarigan

Resti Wahyuningsih

Tuani Dzulfikar Siguga Rambe

Sudharto Ps

Rudy Harto Widodo

SARAH LUKE Sarah.Luke@nottingham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor

Jake L. Snaddon

Edgar C. Turner

Contributors

SARAH LUKE Sarah.Luke@nottingham.ac.uk
Researcher

Abstract

Introduction: The cultivation of oil palm, from which palm oil, the world’s most widely traded vegetable oil, is processed, has had marked effects on ecosystems and native species across the tropics. While declines in biodiversity due to conversion to oil palm have been well recorded across plant and animal taxa, less work has been done to identify approaches to plantation management which will enable producers to satisfy growing global demand while limiting environmental damage. Methods: Through a large-scale understory management experiment, we investigated the long- and short-term effects of varying vegetation management regimes on the abundance, richness, and diversity of day-flying Lepidoptera. Results: Over the long-term, the lowest levels of vegetation complexity resulted in significantly lower Lepidoptera abundance, species richness and evenness. Less intensive understory clearing resulted in healthier communities, with limited differences between removal by herbicide application or chemical-free removal. Over the short-term, biodiversity was not directly affected by vegetation complexity, suggesting that manual removal of vegetation may be equally damaging to butterfly or moth communities as removal by intermediate levels of herbicide spraying. Discussion: These findings substantiate calls to limit vegetation clearing and maintain habitat heterogeneity on both a local and landscape scale, while also suggesting that a hard “no-spray” guideline may not be the only option to support butterfly friendly plantations.

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jul 31, 2023
Online Publication Date	Aug 17, 2023
Publication Date	Aug 17, 2023
Deposit Date	Aug 31, 2023
Publicly Available Date	Sep 1, 2023
Journal	Frontiers in Forests and Global Change
Print ISSN	2624-893X
Electronic ISSN	2624-893X
Publisher	Frontiers Media SA
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	6
Article Number	1205744
DOI	https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2023.1205744
Keywords	agricultural inputs, herbicides, invertebrate biodiversity, Lepidoptera, palm oil, sustainable agriculture, tropical agriculture, understory vegetation
Public URL	https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/24826603
Publisher URL	https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2023.1205744/full