title: Mitigating the impact of oil-palm monoculture on freshwater fishes in Southeast Asia.
abstract: Anthropogenic land-cover change is driving biodiversity loss worldwide. At the epicenter of this crisis lies Southeast Asia, where biodiversity-rich forests are being converted to oil-palm monocultures. As demand for palm oil increases, there is an urgent need to find strategies that maintain biodiversity in plantations. Previous studies found that retaining forest patches within plantations benefited some terrestrial taxa but not others. However, no study has focused on aquatic taxa such as fishes, despite their importance to human well-being. We assessed the efficacy of forested riparian reserves in conserving freshwater fish biodiversity in oil-palm monoculture by sampling stream fish communities in an oil-palm plantation in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Forested riparian reserves maintained preconversion local fish species richness and functional diversity. In contrast, local and total species richness, biomass, and functional diversity declined markedly in streams without riparian reserves. Mechanistically, riparian reserves appeared to increase local species richness by increasing leaf litter cover and maintaining coarse substrate. The loss of fishes specializing in leaf litter and coarse substrate decreased functional diversity and altered community composition in oil-palm plantation streams that lacked riparian reserves. Thus, a land-sharing strategy that incorporates the retention of forested riparian reserves may maintain the ecological integrity of fish communities in oil-palm plantations. We urge policy makers and growers to make retention of riparian reserves in oil-palm plantations standard practice, and we encourage palm-oil purchasers to source only palm oil from plantations that employ this practice.
authors: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, U.S.A.|Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore, S117546, Singapore.
authors: Xingli
authors: X
authors: Giam
authors: Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Research Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Cibinong, 16911, Indonesia.
authors: Renny K
authors: RK
authors: Hadiaty
authors: Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore, S117546, Singapore.
authors: Heok Hui
authors: HH
authors: Tan
authors: Division of Fishes, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 159, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 20013, U.S.A.
authors: Lynne R
authors: LR
authors: Parenti
authors: Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Research Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Cibinong, 16911, Indonesia.
authors: Daisy
authors: D
authors: Wowor
authors: Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Research Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Cibinong, 16911, Indonesia.
authors: Sopian
authors: S
authors: Sauri
authors: Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, S117543, Singapore.
authors: Kwek Yan
authors: KY
authors: Chong
authors: Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, S117543, Singapore.
authors: Darren C J
authors: DC
authors: Yeo
authors: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, U.S.A.|Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, U.S.A.
authors: David S
authors: DS
authors: Wilcove
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D028023:Arecaceae; D044822:Biodiversity; D001893:Borneo; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology*; D005618:Fresh Water; D007214:Indonesia
keywords: agricultura; agriculture; amortiguadores; arroyo; buffers; diversidad funcional; fishes; functional diversity; land sharing; modelo de la ecuación estructural; peces; reservas; ribereño; riparian reserves; stream; structural equation model; tierras compartidas