The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture
The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme aims to quantify the effect of incorporating habitat complexity within oil palm plantations on biodiversity and experimentally test the role of this biodiversity in ecosystem functioning and productivity.
Palm oil is among the most important sources of vegetable oil worldwide. With increasing demand as a feedstock for biofuel production, its global demand is set to increase. It is clear that forest conversion to oil palm plantation has severe impacts on biodiversity. However, little research has focused on methods that can be employed to maximise biodiversity within plantation habitats, nor the role this biodiversity plays in ecosystem functioning and crop production.
Working with the oil palm industry and an international team of collaborative researches, the projects aim to establish the role of biodiversity within tropical agro-ecosystems, which will support the development of improved oil palm management and industry-compatible biodiversity surveys and guides.
June 2017 – Oil palm plantations: a beginner’s guide to invertebrate interactions
A blog post from Amy Eycott, a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Insect Ecology Group Left: The Golden silk orb weaver, Nephila, was cause for some excitement. Photo credit: Ed Turner. I’ve just joined the Insect Ecology Group as a postdoc studying oil palm biodiversity as part of the…
The European Conference of Tropical Ecology, Brussels
The BEFTA team recently attended and presented their work at The European Conference of Tropical Ecology in Brussels. The conference was hosted by the Society for Tropical Ecology (formerly Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie e.V., gtö) – Europe’s largest tropical ecology society – and was attended by over 360 delegates, from…