Oil palm research in context: Identifying the need for biodiversity assessment

Recent years have seen a broadening in the scope of the research with a slight increase in research focusing on the environment and a dramatic increase in research focusing on biofuel. Despite this, hardly any oil palm publications focused on biodiversity and species conservation. Of these publications, the majority were related to mammals and birds. Although these larger animals are important flagships for the state of the tropical environment, they are not good indicators of oil palm biodiversity. The vast majority of the species worldwide are insects and it is they that carry out the lion’s share of the ecosystem function.

Head of the Insect Ecology Research Group, Dr William Foster said: “Much more research must be carried out to determine the impacts of habitat conversion on insect biodiversity. We need to move on from merely cataloguing biodiversity impacts, to understanding how all aspects of ecosystem services are affected by agricultural expansion.”

Citation: Turner EC, Snaddon JL, Fayle TM, Foster WA (2008) Oil Palm Research in Context: Identifying the Need for Biodiversity Assessment. PLoS ONE 3(2): e1572. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001572 (http://www.plosone … pone.0001572)

Source: Public Library of Science