ORCID Profile
0000-0002-6108-1196
Current Organisation
Nanyang Technological University
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Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 17-01-2020
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 19-05-2017
Abstract: Biotic interactions underlie ecosystem structure and function, but predicting interaction outcomes is difficult. We tested the hypothesis that biotic interaction strength increases toward the equator, using a global experiment with model caterpillars to measure predation risk. Across an 11,660-kilometer latitudinal gradient spanning six continents, we found increasing predation toward the equator, with a parallel pattern of increasing predation toward lower elevations. Patterns across both latitude and elevation were driven by arthropod predators, with no systematic trend in attack rates by birds or mammals. These matching gradients at global and regional scales suggest consistent drivers of biotic interaction strength, a finding that needs to be integrated into general theories of herbivory, community organization, and life-history evolution.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-12-2020
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 06-12-2019
Abstract: Habitat fragmentation caused by human activities has consequences for the distribution and movement of organisms. Betts et al. present a global analysis of how exposure to habitat fragmentation affects the composition of ecological communities (see the Perspective by Hargreaves). In a dataset consisting of 4489 animal species, regions that historically experienced little disturbance tended to harbor a higher proportion of species vulnerable to fragmentation. Species in more frequently disturbed regions were more resilient. High-latitude areas historically experienced more disturbance and harbor more resilient species, which suggests that extinction has removed fragmentation-sensitive species. Thus, conservation efforts to limit fragmentation are particularly important in the tropics. Science , this issue p. 1236 see also p. 1196
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 18-12-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.12.15.520573
Abstract: Tropical forests are threatened by degradation and deforestation but the consequences for these ecosystems are poorly understood, particularly at the landscape scale. We present the most extensive ecosystem analysis to date of the impacts of logging and conversion of tropical forest to oil palm from a large-scale study in Borneo, synthesizing responses from 79 variables categorized into four hierarchical ecological ‘levels’: 1) structure and environment, 2) species traits, 3) bio ersity and 4) ecosystem functions. Variables at the lowest levels that were directly impacted by the physical processes of timber extraction, such as soil characteristics, were sensitive to even moderate amounts of logging, whereas bio ersity and ecosystem functions proved remarkably resilient to logging in many cases, but were more affected by conversion to oil palm plantation. Logging tropical forest mostly impacts structure while bio ersity and functions are more vulnerable to habitat conversion
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-11-2022
Abstract: Traits are key for understanding the environmental responses and ecological roles of organisms. Trait approaches to functional ecology are well established for plants, whereas consistent frameworks for animal groups are less developed. Here we suggest a framework for the study of the functional ecology of animals from a trait-based response-effect approach, using dung beetles as model system. Dung beetles are a key group of decomposers that are important for many ecosystem processes. The lack of a trait-based framework tailored to this group has limited the use of traits in dung beetle functional ecology. We review which dung beetle traits respond to the environment and affect ecosystem processes, covering the wide range of spatial, temporal and biological scales at which they are involved. Dung beetles show trait-based responses to variation in temperature, water, soil properties, trophic resources, light, vegetation structure, competition, predation and parasitism. Dung beetles' influence on ecosystem processes includes trait-mediated effects on nutrient cycling, bioturbation, plant growth, seed dispersal, other dung-based organisms and parasite transmission, as well as some cases of pollination and predation. We identify 66 dung beetle traits that are either response or effect traits, or both, pertaining to six main categories: morphology, feeding, reproduction, physiology, activity and movement. Several traits pertain to more than one category, in particular dung relocation behaviour during nesting or feeding. We also identify 136 trait-response and 77 trait-effect relationships in dung beetles. No response to environmental stressors nor effect over ecological processes were related with traits of a single category. This highlights the interrelationship between the traits shaping body-plans, the multi-functionality of traits, and their role linking responses to the environment and effects on the ecosystem. Despite current developments in dung beetle functional ecology, many knowledge gaps remain, and there are biases towards certain traits, functions, taxonomic groups and regions. Our framework provides the foundations for the thorough development of trait-based dung beetle ecology. It also serves as an ex le framework for other taxa.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-02-2020
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.13471
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-11-2020
Abstract: There is growing interest in the ecological value of set‐aside habitats around rivers in tropical agriculture. These riparian buffers typically comprise forest or other non‐production habitat, and are established to maintain water quality and hydrological processes, while also supporting bio ersity, ecosystem function and landscape connectivity. We investigated the capacity for riparian buffers to act as microclimatic refugia by combining field‐based measurements of temperature, humidity and dung beetle communities with remotely sensed data from LiDAR across an oil palm dominated landscape in Borneo. Riparian buffers offer a cool and humid habitat relative to surrounding oil palm plantations, with wider buffers characterised by conditions comparable to riparian sites in continuous logged forest. High vegetation quality and topographic sheltering were strongly associated with cooler and more humid microclimates in riparian habitats across the landscape. Variance in beetle ersity was also predicted by both proximity‐to‐edge and microclimatic conditions within the buffer, suggesting that narrow buffers lify the negative impacts that high temperatures have on bio ersity. Synthesis and applications . Widely legislated riparian buffer widths of 20–30 m each side of a river may provide drier and less humid microclimatic conditions than continuous forest. Adopting wider buffers and maintaining high vegetation quality will ensure set‐asides established for hydrological reasons bring co‐benefits for terrestrial bio ersity, both now, and in the face of anthropogenic climate change.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2015
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 14-11-2022
Abstract: Current policy is driving renewed impetus to restore forests to return ecological function, protect species, sequester carbon and secure livelihoods. Here we assess the contribution of tree planting to ecosystem restoration in tropical and sub-tropical Asia we synthesize evidence on mortality and growth of planted trees at 176 sites and assess structural and bio ersity recovery of co-located actively restored and naturally regenerating forest plots. Mean mortality of planted trees was 18% 1 year after planting, increasing to 44% after 5 years. Mortality varied strongly by site and was typically ca 20% higher in open areas than degraded forest, with height at planting positively affecting survival. Size-standardized growth rates were negatively related to species-level wood density in degraded forest and plantations enrichment settings. Based on community-level data from 11 landscapes, active restoration resulted in faster accumulation of tree basal area and structural properties were closer to old-growth reference sites, relative to natural regeneration, but tree species richness did not differ. High variability in outcomes across sites indicates that planting for restoration is potentially rewarding but risky and context-dependent. Restoration projects must prepare for and manage commonly occurring challenges and align with efforts to protect and reconnect remaining forest areas. The abstract of this article is available in Bahasa Indonesia in the electronic supplementary material. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Understanding forest landscape restoration: reinforcing scientific foundations for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-11-2020
DOI: 10.1111/MEC.15724
Abstract: The application of metabarcoding to environmental and invertebrate‐derived DNA (eDNA and iDNA) is a new and increasingly applied method for monitoring bio ersity across a erse range of habitats. This approach is particularly promising for s ling in the bio erse humid tropics, where rapid land‐use change for agriculture means there is a growing need to understand the conservation value of the remaining mosaic and degraded landscapes. Here we use iDNA from blood‐feeding leeches ( Haemadipsa picta ) to assess differences in mammalian ersity across a gradient of forest degradation in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We screened 557 in idual leeches for mammal DNA by targeting fragments of the 16S rRNA gene and detected 14 mammalian genera. We recorded lower mammal ersity in the most heavily degraded forest compared to higher quality twice logged forest. Although the accumulation curves of ersity estimates were comparable across these habitat types, ersity was higher in twice logged forest, with more taxa of conservation concern. In addition, our analysis revealed differences between the community recorded in the heavily logged forest and that of the twice logged forest. By revealing differences in mammal ersity across a human‐modified tropical landscape, our study demonstrates the value of iDNA as a noninvasive biomonitoring approach in conservation assessments.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-08-2023
Publisher: California Digital Library (CDL)
Date: 06-01-2020
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 07-2023
DOI: 10.3390/RS15133374
Abstract: In intelligent traffic control systems, the features extracted by loop detectors are insufficient to accurately impute missing data. Most of the existing imputation methods use only these extracted features, which leads to the construction of data models that cannot fulfill the required accuracy. This deficiency is the main motivation to propose an enrichment imputation method for loop detectors namely EIM-LD, in which the imputation accuracy is increased for different missing patterns and ratios by introducing a data enrichment technique using statistical multi-class labeling. It first enriches the clean data by adding a statistical multi-class label, including C1…Cn classes. Then, the class of s les in the missed-volume data is labeled using the best data model constructed from the labeled clean data by five different classifiers. Experts of the traffic control department in Isfahan city determined classes of the statistical multi-class label for n = 5 (class labels), and we also developed subclass labels (n = 20) since the number of s les in the subclass labels was sufficient. Next, the enriched data are ided into n datasets, each of them is imputed independently using various imputation methods, and their results are finally merged. To evaluate the impact of using the proposed method, the original data, including missing volumes, are first imputed without our enrichment method. Then, the proposed method’s accuracy is evaluated by considering two class labels and subclass labels. The experimental and statistical results prove that the proposed EIM-LD method can enrich the real data collected by loop detectors, by which the comparative imputation methods construct a more accurate data model. In addition, using subclass labels further enhances the imputation method’s accuracy.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-03-2014
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.1036
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-05-2022
Abstract: Temperature change is an often‐assumed, but rarely tested, mechanism by which sensitive species may decline in forest landscapes following habitat degradation, fragmentation and destruction. Traits mediate how species respond to environmental change, with physiological, morphological and behavioural traits key to determining the response of ectotherms to temperature. We collected data on traits linked to thermal sensitivity (critical thermal maxima, body size, cuticle lightness and pilosity) for 46 dung beetle species ( Scarabaeinae ) in a forest–oil palm mosaic in Malaysian Borneo. By combining these data with a large‐scale community s ling c aign ( ,000 in iduals s led from traps) and an airborne Light Detection and Ranging‐derived thermal map, we investigated how traits mediate species‐ and community‐level responses to temperature. Using hierarchical models, we found that critical thermal maxima predicted how species respond to maximum temperatures. These results were mirrored in community‐level analyses alongside similar patterns in other thermal traits. Increased body size and decreased pilosity were associated with higher temperatures, while cuticle lightness showed a complex relationship with temperature across the disturbance gradient. Our findings highlight the potential mechanisms by whichforest specialists decline in human‐modified landscapes, resulting in changes to community patterns and processes. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2013
DOI: 10.1890/11-2059.1
Abstract: A typical way to quantify aboveground carbon in forests is to measure tree diameters and use species-specific allometric equations to estimate biomass and carbon stocks. Using "citizen scientists" to collect data that are usually time-consuming and labor-intensive can play a valuable role in ecological research. However, data validation, such as establishing the s ling error in volunteer measurements, is a crucial, but little studied, part of utilizing citizen science data. The aims of this study were to (1) evaluate the quality of tree diameter and height measurements carried out by volunteers compared to expert scientists and (2) estimate how sensitive carbon stock estimates are to these measurement s ling errors. Using all diameter data measured with a diameter tape, the volunteer mean s ling error (difference between repeated measurements of the same stem) was 9.9 mm, and the expert s ling error was 1.8 mm. Excluding those s ling errors > 1 cm, the mean s ling errors were 2.3 mm (volunteers) and 1.4 mm (experts) (this excluded 14% [volunteer] and 3% [expert] of the data). The s ling error in diameter measurements had a small effect on the biomass estimates of the plots: a volunteer (expert) diameter s ling error of 2.3 mm (1.4 mm) translated into 1.7% (0.9%) change in the biomass estimates calculated from species-specific allometric equations based upon diameter. Height s ling error had a dependent relationship with tree height. Including height measurements in biomass calculations compounded the s ling error markedly the impact of volunteer s ling error on biomass estimates was +/- 15%, and the expert range was +/- 9%. Using dendrometer bands, used to measure growth rates, we calculated that the volunteer (vs. expert) s ling error was 0.6 mm (vs. 0.3 mm), which is equivalent to a difference in carbon storage of +/- 0.011 kg C/yr (vs. +/- 0.002 kg C/yr) per stem. Using a citizen science model for monitoring carbon stocks not only has benefits in educating and engaging the public in science, but as demonstrated here, can also provide accurate estimates of biomass or forest carbon stocks.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Eleanor Slade.