ORCID Profile
0000-0002-1166-6591
Current Organisation
Wageningen University & Research
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Surfacewater Hydrology | Environmental Science and Management | Atmospheric Sciences | Environmental Management | Forestry Management and Environment | Landscape Ecology | Natural Resource Management | Climate Change Processes
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Fresh, Ground and Surface Water Environments | Effects of Climate Change and Variability on Australia (excl. Social Impacts) | Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Forest and Woodlands Environments | Climate Change Adaptation Measures | Economic Incentives for Environmental Protection | Expanding Knowledge in the Environmental Sciences |
Related Links
Publications
Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-07-2012
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE11318
Abstract: The rapid disruption of tropical forests probably imperils global bio ersity more than any other contemporary phenomenon. With deforestation advancing quickly, protected areas are increasingly becoming final refuges for threatened species and natural ecosystem processes. However, many protected areas in the tropics are themselves vulnerable to human encroachment and other environmental stresses. As pressures mount, it is vital to know whether existing reserves can sustain their bio ersity. A critical constraint in addressing this question has been that data describing a broad array of bio ersity groups have been unavailable for a sufficiently large and representative s le of reserves. Here we present a uniquely comprehensive data set on changes over the past 20 to 30 years in 31 functional groups of species and 21 potential drivers of environmental change, for 60 protected areas stratified across the world’s major tropical regions. Our analysis reveals great variation in reserve ‘health’: about half of all reserves have been effective or performed passably, but the rest are experiencing an erosion of bio ersity that is often alarmingly widespread taxonomically and functionally. Habitat disruption, hunting and forest-product exploitation were the strongest predictors of declining reserve health. Crucially, environmental changes immediately outside reserves seemed nearly as important as those inside in determining their ecological fate, with changes inside reserves strongly mirroring those occurring around them. These findings suggest that tropical protected areas are often intimately linked ecologically to their surrounding habitats, and that a failure to stem broad-scale loss and degradation of such habitats could sharply increase the likelihood of serious bio ersity declines.
The Potential for Species Conservation in Tropical Secondary Forests
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-11-2009
DOI: 10.1111/J.1523-1739.2009.01338.X
Abstract: In the wake of widespread loss of old-growth forests throughout the tropics, secondary forests will likely play a growing role in the conservation of forest bio ersity. We considered a complex hierarchy of factors that interact in space and time to determine the conservation potential of tropical secondary forests. Beyond the characteristics of local forest patches, spatial and temporal landscape dynamics influence the establishment, species composition, and persistence of secondary forests. Prospects for conservation of old-growth species in secondary forests are maximized in regions where the ratio of secondary to old-growth forest area is relatively low, older secondary forests have persisted, anthropogenic disturbance after abandonment is relatively low, seed-dispersing fauna are present, and old-growth forests are close to abandoned sites. The conservation value of a secondary forest is expected to increase over time, as species arriving from remaining old-growth forest patches accumulate. Many studies are poorly replicated, which limits robust assessments of the number and abundance of old-growth species present in secondary forests. Older secondary forests are not often studied and few long-term studies are conducted in secondary forests. Available data indicate that both old-growth and second-growth forests are important to the persistence of forest species in tropical, human-modified landscapes.
The global abundance of tree palms
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-07-2020
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.13123
The environmental impacts of palm oil in context
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-12-2020
The Schistosoma japonicum self-cure phenomenon in water buffaloes: potential impact on the control and elimination of schistosomiasis in China
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2014
DOI: 10.1016/J.IJPARA.2013.10.007
Abstract: Schistosomiasis japonica, caused by Schistosoma japonicum, is an important zoonotic disease in China, the Philippines and small pockets of Indonesia. In addition to infecting people, S. japonicum can infect over 40 species of wild and domestic animals which have varying impacts on human infection. It is now generally accepted that bovines, particularly water buffaloes, are the major reservoir for human infection in China as they are naturally infected with schistosomes and deposit more eggs into the environment than humans or any other animal host. This complicates control efforts and the economic burden associated with schistosomiasis morbidity and mortality has taken its toll on both human and livestock populations. Over the last 50years, the schistosomiasis control program in China has made great strides in reducing prevalence and morbidity, and the Chinese authorities now aim to eliminate the disease nationwide in the next decade. Current Chinese control strategies place particular importance on interventions targeting bovines including: praziquantel treatment, barrier farming to prevent grazing in transmission areas, their replacement with mechanized tractors and possible bovine vaccination. A number of studies have shown that in the period following S. japonicum infection, the worm burden drops sharply in water buffaloes and some other animal hosts such as pigs. This is due to a self-cure phenomenon whereby there is parasite clearance by both immune and non-immune factors. Here we review studies investigating the self-cure effect, paying particular attention to S. japonicum infection in water buffaloes, and discuss its potential impact on the future schistosomiasis control and elimination efforts in China. Further understanding of the mechanism of self-cure in water buffaloes could be important for future schistosome vaccine design and delivery.
How are soil carbon and tropical biodiversity related?
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 15-02-2016
DOI: 10.1017/S0376892916000011
Abstract: This article discusses how biological conservation can benefit from an understanding of soil carbon. Protecting natural areas not only safeguards the biota but also curtails atmospheric carbon emissions. Opportunities for funding biological conservation could potentially be greater if soil carbon content is considered. In this article current knowledge concerning the magnitude and vulnerability of soil carbon stocks is reviewed and the relationship of these stocks to biological conservation values is explored. Looking at two relatively well-studied tropical regions we find that 15 of 21 animal species of conservation concern in the Virunga Landscape (Central Africa), and nine of ten such species in the Federal District of Brazil (Central Brazil), rely on carbon-rich habitats (alluvial and/or wetlands). At national scales, densities of species, endemics and threatened taxa (plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, hibians and fish) show positive and significant relations with mean soil carbon content in all but two cases (threatened hibians and threatened fish). Of more than 1000 threatened species in 37 selected tropical nations, 85% rely on carbon-rich habitats. This tendency is observed in plants, mammals, reptiles, hibians and crustaceans, while birds appear more evenly distributed. Research to clarify and explore these relationships is needed. Soil carbon offers major opportunities for conservation.
Asynchronous carbon sink saturation in African and Amazonian tropical forests
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-03-2020
The Interpretation and Misinterpretation of Mortality Rate Measures
Publisher: JSTOR
Date: 04-1995
DOI: 10.2307/2261571
Sharing Future Conservation Costs
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 18-01-2013
Better estimates of soil carbon from geographical data: a revised global approach
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-05-2018
Restoring the orangutan in a Whole- or Half-Earth context
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 13-10-2022
DOI: 10.1017/S003060532200093X
Abstract: Various global-scale proposals exist to reduce the loss of biological ersity. These include the Half-Earth and Whole-Earth visions that respectively seek to set aside half the planet for wildlife conservation or to ersify conservation practices fundamentally and change the economic systems that determine environmental harm. Here we assess these visions in the specific context of Bornean orangutans Pongo pygmaeus and their conservation. Using an expert-led process we explored three scenarios over a 10-year time frame: continuation of Current Conditions, a Half-Earth approach and a Whole-Earth approach. In addition, we examined a 100-year population recovery scenario assuming 0% offtake of Bornean orangutans. Current Conditions were predicted to result in a population c. 73% of its current size by 2032. Half-Earth was judged comparatively easy to achieve and predicted to result in an orangutan population of c. 87% of its current size by 2032. Whole-Earth was anticipated to lead to greater forest loss and ape killing, resulting in a prediction of c. 44% of the current orangutan population for 2032. Finally, under the recovery scenario, populations could be c. 148% of their current size by 2122. Although we acknowledge uncertainties in all of these predictions, we conclude that the Half-Earth and Whole-Earth visions operate along different timelines, with the implementation of Whole-Earth requiring too much time to benefit orangutans. None of the theorized proposals provided a complete solution, so drawing elements from each will be required. We provide recommendations for equitable outcomes.
Biological control protects tropical forests
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 15-08-2018
DOI: 10.1101/391748
Abstract: Biological control of invasive species can restore crop yields, and thus ease land pressure and contribute to forest conservation. In this study, we show how biological control against the mealybug Phenacoccus manihoti (Hemiptera) slowed deforestation across Southeast Asia. In Thailand, the newly-arrived mealybug caused an 18% decline in cassava yields over 2009-2010, a shortfall in national production and an escalation in the price of cassava products. This spurred an expansion of cassava cropping in neighboring countries from 713,000 ha in 2009 to million ha by 2011: satellite imagery reveal 388%, 330%, 185% and 608% increases in peak deforestation rates in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam focused in cassava crop expansion areas. Following release of the host-specific natural enemy Anagyrus lopezi (Hymenoptera) in 2010, mealybug outbreaks were reduced, cropping area contracted and associated deforestation slowed by 31-94% in in idual countries. When used with due caution and according to current guidelines, biological control offers broad benefits for people and the environment.
Author Correction: Climatic controls of decomposition drive the global biogeography of forest-tree symbioses
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-06-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-019-1342-9
Abstract: In this Letter, a middle initial and additional affiliation have been added for author G. J. Nabuurs two statements have been added to the Supplementary Acknowledgements and a citation to the French National Institute has been added to the Methods see accompanying Author Correction for further details.
Pangolins in global camera trap data: Implications for ecological monitoring
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2019
Reconciling Forest Conservation and Logging in Indonesian Borneo
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 14-08-2013
A More Realistic Portrayal of Tropical Forestry: Response to Kormos and Zimmerman
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-07-2013
DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12044
Forest restoration: Transformative trees
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 18-10-2019
Carbon payments as a safeguard for threatened tropical mammals
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2009
Forest loss and Borneo’s climate
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Date: 23-03-2018
Biodiversity State and Trends in Southeast Asia
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2013
Long-term thermal sensitivity of Earth’s tropical forests
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 22-05-2020
Abstract: A key uncertainty in climate change models is the thermal sensitivity of tropical forests and how this value might influence carbon fluxes. Sullivan et al. measured carbon stocks and fluxes in permanent forest plots distributed globally. This synthesis of plot networks across climatic and biogeographic gradients shows that forest thermal sensitivity is dominated by high daytime temperatures. This extreme condition depresses growth rates and shortens the time that carbon resides in the ecosystem by killing trees under hot, dry conditions. The effect of temperature is worse above 32°C, and a greater magnitude of climate change thus risks greater loss of tropical forest carbon stocks. Nevertheless, forest carbon stocks are likely to remain higher under moderate climate change if they are protected from direct impacts such as clearance, logging, or fires. Science , this issue p. 869
Phylogenetic classification of the world’s tropical forests
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 05-02-2018
Abstract: Identifying and explaining regional differences in tropical forest dynamics, structure, ersity, and composition are critical for anticipating region-specific responses to global environmental change. Floristic classifications are of fundamental importance for these efforts. Here we provide a global tropical forest classification that is explicitly based on community evolutionary similarity, resulting in identification of five major tropical forest regions and their relationships: ( i ) Indo-Pacific, ( ii ) Subtropical, ( iii ) African, ( iv ) American, and ( v ) Dry forests. African and American forests are grouped, reflecting their former western Gondwanan connection, while Indo-Pacific forests range from eastern Africa and Madagascar to Australia and the Pacific. The connection between northern-hemisphere Asian and American forests is confirmed, while Dry forests are identified as a single tropical biome.
Major atmospheric emissions from peat fires in Southeast Asia during non-drought years: evidence from the 2013 Sumatran fires
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-08-2014
DOI: 10.1038/SREP06112
Abstract: Trans-boundary haze events in Southeast Asia are associated with large forest and peatland fires in Indonesia. These episodes of extreme air pollution usually occur during drought years induced by climate anomalies from the Pacific (El Niño Southern Oscillation) and Indian Oceans (Indian Ocean Dipole). However, in June 2013 – a non-drought year – Singapore's 24-hr Pollutants Standards Index reached an all-time record 246 (rated “very unhealthy”). Here, we show using remote sensing, rainfall records and other data, that the Indonesian fires behind the 2013 haze followed a two-month dry spell in a wetter-than-average year. These fires were short-lived (one week) and limited to a localized area in Central Sumatra (1.6% of Indonesia): burning an estimated 163,336 ha, including 137,044 ha (84%) on peat. Most burning was confined to deforested lands (82% 133,216 ha). The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during this brief, localized event were considerable: 172 ± 59 Tg CO 2 -eq (or 31 ± 12 Tg C), representing 5–10% of Indonesia's mean annual GHG emissions for 2000–2005. Our observations show that extreme air pollution episodes in Southeast Asia are no longer restricted to drought years. We expect major haze events to be increasingly frequent because of ongoing deforestation of Indonesian peatlands.
Estimates of soil carbon concentration in tropical and temperate forest and woodland from available GIS data on three continents
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-09-2012
Conservation in a Wicked Complex World; Challenges and Solutions
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-07-2013
DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12050
Improved Tropical Forest Management for Carbon Retention
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 15-07-2008
The environmental impacts of palm oil in context
Publisher: California Digital Library (CDL)
Date: 06-01-2020
Climatic controls of decomposition drive the global biogeography of forest-tree symbioses
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-019-1128-0
Abstract: The identity of the dominant root-associated microbial symbionts in a forest determines the ability of trees to access limiting nutrients from atmospheric or soil pools
Illumination-size relationships of 109 coexisting tropical forest tree species
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2006
Co-limitation towards lower latitudes shapes global forest diversity gradients.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-08-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41559-022-01831-X
Abstract: The latitudinal ersity gradient (LDG) is one of the most recognized global patterns of species richness exhibited across a wide range of taxa. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed in the past two centuries to explain LDG, but rigorous tests of the drivers of LDGs have been limited by a lack of high-quality global species richness data. Here we produce a high-resolution (0.025° × 0.025°) map of local tree species richness using a global forest inventory database with in idual tree information and local biophysical characteristics from ~1.3 million s le plots. We then quantify drivers of local tree species richness patterns across latitudes. Generally, annual mean temperature was a dominant predictor of tree species richness, which is most consistent with the metabolic theory of bio ersity (MTB). However, MTB underestimated LDG in the tropics, where high species richness was also moderated by topographic, soil and anthropogenic factors operating at local scales. Given that local landscape variables operate synergistically with bioclimatic factors in shaping the global LDG pattern, we suggest that MTB be extended to account for co-limitation by subordinate drivers.
Carbon isotopic signatures of soil organic matter correlate with leaf area index across woody biomes
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-09-2014
Invasions: the trail behind, the path ahead, and a test of a disturbing idea
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-12-2011
Trees, forests and water: Cool insights for a hot world
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2017
High aboveground carbon stock of African tropical montane forests
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-08-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-021-03728-4
Abstract: Tropical forests store 40-50 per cent of terrestrial vegetation carbon
Four Decades of Forest Persistence, Clearance and Logging on Borneo
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 16-07-2014
Biological control of an agricultural pest protects tropical forests
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-01-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S42003-018-0257-6
Abstract: Though often perceived as an environmentally-risky practice, biological control of invasive species can restore crop yields, ease land pressure and thus contribute to forest conservation. Here, we show how biological control against the mealybug Phenacoccus manihoti (Hemiptera) slows deforestation across Southeast Asia. In Thailand, this newly-arrived mealybug caused an 18% decline in cassava yields over 2009–2010 and an escalation in prices of cassava products. This spurred an expansion of cassava cropping in neighboring countries from 713,000 ha in 2009 to 1 million ha by 2011: satellite imagery reveals 388%, 330%, 185% and 608% increases in peak deforestation rates in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam focused in cassava crop expansion areas. Following release of the host-specific parasitoid Anagyrus lopezi (Hymenoptera) in 2010, mealybug outbreaks were reduced, cropping area contracted and deforestation slowed by 31–95% in in idual countries. Hence, when judiciously implemented, insect biological control can deliver substantial environmental benefits.
Related Organisations
Related Funding Activities
Linkage Projects - Grant ID: LP130100498
Start Date: 12-2013
End Date: 11-2017
Amount: $354,746.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP160102107
Start Date: 06-2016
End Date: 06-2022
Amount: $478,600.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity