Tree islands enhance biodiversity and functioning in oil palm landscapes

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 618; no. 7964; pp. 316 - 321
• Main Authors: Zemp, Delphine Clara, Guerrero-Ramirez, Nathaly, Brambach, Fabian, Darras, Kevin, Grass, Ingo, Potapov, Anton, Röll, Alexander, Arimond, Isabelle, Ballauff, Johannes, Behling, Hermann, Berkelmann, Dirk, Biagioni, Siria, Buchori, Damayanti, Craven, Dylan, Daniel, Rolf, Gailing, Oliver, Ellsäßer, Florian, Fardiansah, Riko, Hennings, Nina, Irawan, Bambang, Khokthong, Watit, Krashevska, Valentyna, Krause, Alena, Kückes, Johanna, Li, Kevin, Lorenz, Hendrik, Maraun, Mark, Merk, Miryam Sarah, Moura, Carina C. M., Mulyani, Yeni A., Paterno, Gustavo B., Pebrianti, Herni Dwinta, Polle, Andrea, Prameswari, Di Ajeng, Sachsenmaier, Lena, Scheu, Stefan, Schneider, Dominik, Setiajiati, Fitta, Setyaningsih, Christina Ani, Sundawati, Leti, Tscharntke, Teja, Wollni, Meike, Hölscher, Dirk, Kreft, Holger
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 08-06-2023; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/158/2445; 631/158/2450; 631/158/2458; 631/158/670; 704/158/854; Agricultural production; Agriculture - methods; Arthropods; Biodiversity; Cash crops; Crops, Agricultural - supply & distribution; Ecological function; Ecosystem restoration; Ecosystems; Enrichment; Environmental restoration; Environmental Restoration and Remediation - methods; Food chains; Forests; Graphs; Humanities and Social Sciences; Indicators; Islands; Landscape; multidisciplinary; Palm Oil - supply & distribution; Plantations; Productivity; Rainforests; Restoration strategies; Riparian buffers; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Seeds; Trees; Trees - physiology; Tropical Climate; United Nations; Vegetable oils; Vegetation
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06086-5

In the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
1
, large knowledge gaps persist on how to increase biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in cash crop-dominated tropical landscapes
2
. Here, we present findings from a large-scale, 5-year ecosystem restoration experiment in an oil palm landscape enriched with 52 tree islands, encompassing assessments of ten indicators of biodiversity and 19 indicators of ecosystem functioning. Overall, indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, as well as multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality, were higher in tree islands compared to conventionally managed oil palm. Larger tree islands led to larger gains in multidiversity through changes in vegetation structure. Furthermore, tree enrichment did not decrease landscape-scale oil palm yield. Our results demonstrate that enriching oil palm-dominated landscapes with tree islands is a promising ecological restoration strategy, yet should not replace the protection of remaining forests.
A large-scale, five-year study in Indonesia finds that enriching oil palm-dominated landscapes with patches of trees bolsters biodiversity and ecosystem functioning without impairing oil palm yields but should not replace forest protection.