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Ecological and socio-economic functions across tropical land use systems after rainforest conversion

Drescher, Jochen ; Rembold, Katja ; Allen, Kara ; Beckschäfer, Philip ; Buchori, Damayanti ; Clough, Yann LU ; Faust, Heiko ; Fauzi, Anas M. ; Gunawan, Dodo and Hertel, Dietrich , et al. (2016) In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 371(1694).
Abstract

Tropical lowland rainforests are increasingly threatened by the expansion of agriculture and the extraction of natural resources. In Jambi Province, Indonesia, the interdisciplinary EFForTS project focuses on the ecological and socio-economic dimensions of rainforest conversion to jungle rubber agroforests and monoculture plantations of rubber and oil palm. Our data confirm that rainforest transformation and land use intensification lead to substantial losses in biodiversity and related ecosystem functions, such as decreased above-and below-ground carbon stocks. Owing to rapid step-wise transformation from forests to agroforests to monoculture plantations and renewal of each plantation type every few decades, the converted land use... (More)

Tropical lowland rainforests are increasingly threatened by the expansion of agriculture and the extraction of natural resources. In Jambi Province, Indonesia, the interdisciplinary EFForTS project focuses on the ecological and socio-economic dimensions of rainforest conversion to jungle rubber agroforests and monoculture plantations of rubber and oil palm. Our data confirm that rainforest transformation and land use intensification lead to substantial losses in biodiversity and related ecosystem functions, such as decreased above-and below-ground carbon stocks. Owing to rapid step-wise transformation from forests to agroforests to monoculture plantations and renewal of each plantation type every few decades, the converted land use systems are continuously dynamic, thus hampering the adaptation of animal and plant communities. On the other hand, agricultural rainforest transformation systems provide increased income and access to education, especially for migrant smallholders. Jungle rubber and rubber monocultures are associated with higher financial land productivity but lower financial labour productivity compared to oil palm, which influences crop choice: smallholders that are labour-scarce would prefer oil palm while land-scarce smallholders would prefer rubber. Collecting long-term data in an interdisciplinary context enables us to provide decision-makers and stakeholders with scientific insights to facilitate the reconciliation between economic interests and ecological sustainability in tropical agricultural landscapes.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Agroforestry, Biodiversity and ecosystem function, Deforestation, EFForTS, Jungle rubber, Oil palm
in
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
volume
371
issue
1694
article number
20150275
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • pmid:27114577
  • wos:000375896500010
  • scopus:84964421410
ISSN
0962-8436
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2015.0275
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0ed539bd-9a64-4e6d-9003-5b0b9fc3d414
date added to LUP
2016-09-27 14:44:52
date last changed
2024-09-20 23:45:20
@article{0ed539bd-9a64-4e6d-9003-5b0b9fc3d414,
  abstract     = {{<p>Tropical lowland rainforests are increasingly threatened by the expansion of agriculture and the extraction of natural resources. In Jambi Province, Indonesia, the interdisciplinary EFForTS project focuses on the ecological and socio-economic dimensions of rainforest conversion to jungle rubber agroforests and monoculture plantations of rubber and oil palm. Our data confirm that rainforest transformation and land use intensification lead to substantial losses in biodiversity and related ecosystem functions, such as decreased above-and below-ground carbon stocks. Owing to rapid step-wise transformation from forests to agroforests to monoculture plantations and renewal of each plantation type every few decades, the converted land use systems are continuously dynamic, thus hampering the adaptation of animal and plant communities. On the other hand, agricultural rainforest transformation systems provide increased income and access to education, especially for migrant smallholders. Jungle rubber and rubber monocultures are associated with higher financial land productivity but lower financial labour productivity compared to oil palm, which influences crop choice: smallholders that are labour-scarce would prefer oil palm while land-scarce smallholders would prefer rubber. Collecting long-term data in an interdisciplinary context enables us to provide decision-makers and stakeholders with scientific insights to facilitate the reconciliation between economic interests and ecological sustainability in tropical agricultural landscapes.</p>}},
  author       = {{Drescher, Jochen and Rembold, Katja and Allen, Kara and Beckschäfer, Philip and Buchori, Damayanti and Clough, Yann and Faust, Heiko and Fauzi, Anas M. and Gunawan, Dodo and Hertel, Dietrich and Irawan, Bambang and Jaya, I. Nengah S and Klarner, Bernhard and Kleinn, Christoph and Knohl, Alexander and Kotowska, Martyna M. and Krashevska, Valentyna and Krishna, Vijesh and Leuschner, Christoph and Lorenz, Wolfram and Meijide, Ana and Melati, Dian and Nomura, Miki and Pérez-Cruzado, César and Qaim, Matin and Siregar, Iskandar Z. and Steinebach, Stefanie and Tjoa, Aiyen and Tscharntke, Teja and Wick, Barbara and Wiegand, Kerstin and Kreft, Holger and Scheu, Stefan}},
  issn         = {{0962-8436}},
  keywords     = {{Agroforestry; Biodiversity and ecosystem function; Deforestation; EFForTS; Jungle rubber; Oil palm}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{1694}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
  title        = {{Ecological and socio-economic functions across tropical land use systems after rainforest conversion}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0275}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rstb.2015.0275}},
  volume       = {{371}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}