Category: News

Connection between drought and climate change experiment 50HA plot SEARRP

The results of the study found that all seedlings responded to drought, but that seedlings in more diverse groups had less water stress than seedlings in monocultures after a severe drought. In addition, seedlings in the diverse groups maintained their growth similar to seedlings that never experienced drought. Therefore, complementary interactions among multiple species delayed the point at which water limited growth. Because seedling growth determines the future forest structure, these results demonstrate the importance of plant diversity for promoting drought resistance in tropical forests.

These findings have two major implications for our understanding of tropical forests under climate change. First, diversity promotes tree resistance to drought in tropical forests, which is important because drought is predicted to become more frequent and severe under climate-change scenarios. Second, because seedlings in monoculture neighborhoods were more inhibited by reduced water, drought has a role in driving diversity in tropical forests by reducing the success of seedlings in areas with low diversity. This indicates that a feedback exists whereby drought encourages diversity and diverse forests are more resistant to drought. However, this also means that biodiversity loss reduces the resistance of forests to drought which in turn can lead to further biodiversity loss. To prevent this reverse feedback loop, it is essential to conserve biodiversity in tropical forests — both by maintaining existing diverse forests and by using diverse seed mixtures when planting new forests during restoration. Using such diversity strategies will improve forest resistance to climate change.

Read the full paper here: Resistance of tropical seedlings to drought is mediated by neighbourhood diversity

SAFE’s charges were set seven years ago but due to price increases across Malaysia, they are no longer able to offer these low rates. The new rates will start on the 1st of August 2017, and can be found here. The SAFE staff will begin taking this payment for room & board in cash, upon arrival at the SAFE camp. As before, all bookings should be made using the SAFE website.

Bookings for Maliau have also changed and now must be made two weeks in prior to going and payment to be made in advance. See here for more details. Please note that booking through the SAFE website will help with this process.

If you have any further questions regarding this new payment system please contact a member of the SEARRP team Adrian (adrian@searrp.org) or Katie (katie@searrp.org).

As in previous years, SEARRP will be hosting two sessions at the Heart of Borneo (HoB) conference in Kota Kinabalu, October 23rd-25th 2017 at the Magellan Sutera Harbor. The focus of this year’s HoB will be revisiting the five primary objectives: Protection; Ecotoursim; Sustainable Development; Transboundry Cooperation; and Capacity Building. We will be sure to keep everyone updated on further details running up to the event. In addition, the annual RSPO Round Table meeting will be held in Bali this year November 27th-30th 2017 and, again, please look out for updates here.

A new Oxford University collaboration revealing the world’s prime insect predation hotspots, achieved its landmark findings using an unusual aid: plasticine ‘dummy caterpillars.’

Fake caterpillar study reveals global pattern in predation

SEARRP recently hosted a science meeting for our network of Universities and collaborating scientists at the Cambridge Conservation Initiative. The meeting provided an opportunity for post-docs and early career scientists associated with SEARRP to present their current work, which described the breadth of work that is being carried out in Sabah. The meeting was also an occasion for everyone to discuss future research opportunities, with a particular emphasis on a proposed SEARRP-led habitat restoration project in Aceh, Indonesia. This large scale project aims to return an existing, mature oil palm plantation to forest cover – with opportunities to design the project in a way that enables key questions in habitat restoration to be experimentally tested at a landscape level. The project, which is intended to discharge, in part, the compensation liability of a major RSPO-certified plantation company, has received preliminary approval and we expect to receive final sign-off and budget confirmation later this year – with baseline surveys to commence in 2018. Please see our meeting agenda and workshop discussion summary for more details.

SFD’s Fred Kugan & Datuk Sam Mannan with SEARRP’s Dr Glen Reynolds & Dr Agnes Agama

The Sabah Forestry Department signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP) on April 20th 2017, launching a landmark project that will harness world-class science to support the Sabah State Government’s target of increasing protected area coverage to 30% of Sabah’s land area by 2025. Speaking at the opening of the MoU signing, Chief Conservator of Forests Datuk Sam Mannan emphasised how forest conservation is a major priority for the State Government of Sabah. “I am pleased to confirm that the Sabah Government is committed to increasing the extent of protected forests from the current 26% to 30% of land area by 2025. This will involve the protection of an additional c. 1 million acres of rainforest in Sabah.”

The MoU marks the launch of a landmark science project supported by the Rainforest Trust and based on a strategic partnership between the Sabah Forestry Department, SEARRP, the Carnegie Institution for Science, PACOS Trust and BC Initiative. Leading the coordination of this project, Dr Glen Reynolds, Director of SEARRP, explained that “between now and 2020, the project will generate maps of forest carbon, biodiversity and functional composition that will be integrated with archived and new field observations across a range of key taxa, including narrow-range endemic trees, and state-of-the-art meta-population models that identify critical habitat connections for range-shifting species.” The project will also consider other species, including those that provide important ecosystem services such as pollination and dispersal to ensure the efficacy of forest protection over time, especially resilience to climate change. “Integrating the livelihood requirements of forest-dependent communities will be a vital consideration in the selection of new protected areas. Led by our partners PACOS Trust and BC Initiative, the project will consult with local communities and stakeholders to generate cost-benefit options and reach consensus on an optimal scenario for rainforest protection,” Dr Reynolds added.

Speaking to over 60 scientists from leading universities in the UK, Europe, USA, Australia and Malaysia at the Cambridge Conservation Initiative’s David Attenborough Building, Datuk Sam Mannan reiterated how, “science plays a major role in all we do and indeed the Royal Society-SEARRP, has been one of our longest standing partners. I am pleased to be working together with SEARRP and this exciting consortium of partners to identify new protected areas that not only conserve biodiversity but protect the livelihoods of our people”.

The Tropical Biology Association, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, and SEARRP are reintroducing capacity building field courses at Danum Valley Field Centre for young conservation scientists from Southeast Asia and around the world starting in October 2017.

Borneo Field Course