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Canopy Science |
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Assessing the importance of rainforest fragments and their associated arthropod biodiversity to oil-palm plantations
Scientist: Tim Cockerill
Contact Email: tdc30@cam.ac.uk
Institution: University of Cambridge, UK
Project Description:
Natural habitats can have wider value to agriculture than simply as potential sites for conversion to farmland. Ecosystem functions provided by nature can confer many irreplaceable direct or indirect benefits on human populations.
My UK NERC-funded PhD project involves collecting data to support or refute the hypothesis that areas of high parasitoid wasp diversity in fragments of natural rainforest adjacent to oil-palm plantations can enhance the ecosystem service of pest control provided by the wasps. I am collecting field data in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, based in the Danum Valley Conservation Area, the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, and rainforest fragments near the town of Tawau, and have currently completed the first of three four-month field seasons.
My project involves collecting data to describe the diversity and abundance of parasitic Hymenoptera in fragments of natural forest and in adjacent oil-palm plantations, and at increasing distances from the forest into the plantation. The main collecting technique is ground-based canopy fogging, in order to sample the canopy understory. I have completed the BCAP course and have used canopy access techniques to gain direct access to the canopy for preliminary investigations prior to next year’s data collection. I am also heavily reliant on BCAP techniques in order to rig trees for fogging, and have used similar techniques during the initial evaluation of various sampling techniques e.g. water-filled pan-trapping and malaise trapping.
Participants:
Tim Cockerill, PhD student, University of Cambridge, BCAP graduate.
William A. Foster, Supervisor, University of Cambridge.
Gavin Broad, Supervisor, Natural History Museum, London.
Johnny Larenus, Senior Research Assistant.
Jamiludin Jami, Research Assistant, Fieldskills qualified climber.
Adam, Research Assistant.
Project Location: Sabah, Malaysia
Added Date: 23-Oct-2009
Photo Title: The descent back down to earth, entering the lower understorey.
Photo Credits: Tom Fayle
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