The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme
The BEFTA Programme investigates management strategies to support biodiversity and ecosystem processes in oil palm landscapes. The overall aim of the BEFTA Programme is to test whether increasing landscape structural complexity can enhance oil palm sustainability at little or no cost to yields and profitability. Uniquely, the BEFTA Programme is a collaboration between universities, research institutes, and the oil palm industry, ensuring that management practices are realistic and implementable by land managers.
Plastic plates
When people find out that I carry out research, they often assume that I use cutting edge and complex equipment, bristling with state-of-the-art gadgets and gizmos. Although it is certainly true that there have been huge and exciting advances in this sort of technology, expanding the scope and accuracy of…
Swarms of dragonflies
When we drive around the plantation, I am always struck by the sheer number of dragonflies. Enormous ebony ones soar over the replanting areas, while smaller blood-red and bright crimson ones perch on ferns at the edge of older plantations, only taking off as the car goes past. Perhaps most…