Overall_the_ecological_impacts_of__.html

<div>Overall the ecological impacts of conversion from rainforest to oil palm are negative, with almost all organisms studied thus far showing a decrease in biodiversity from forest to oil palm (Fitzherbert et al. 2008; Foster et al. 2011; Barnes et al. 2014). More importantly, this biodiversity loss is often non-random, with forest specialists and certain functional groups such as predators being particularly threatened, endangering ecosystem functioning (Denmead et al. , Fitzherbert et al. 2008). For example, Fitzherbert et al. (2008) found that across all taxa an average of only 15% of forest species also occur in oil palm plantations. &nbsp;However, there are certain features of oil palm plantations that can impact the amount of biodiversity able to persist in the plantations such as landscape context and plantation management. For example, increased weed cover and epiphyte presence had positive impacts on butterflies and birds respectively oil palm plantations in Sabah, Malaysia (Koh 2008) and these plantation features are strongly dependent on plantation management. The primary reason for management options such as epiphyte or total weed removal in oil palm plantations is to make harvesting easier (although some farmers do incorrectly assume epiphytes are parasitic) (Koh 2008) and therefore accepted practices such as these are unlikely to change for increased biodiversity alone. &nbsp;However, if there is any relationship between biodiversity and yield and/or any beneficial ecosystem services this might alter a farmer’s willingness to change.</div>