ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4657-4216
Current Organisation
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2013
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 21-11-2016
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 19-06-2019
DOI: 10.3390/ENVIRONMENTS6060072
Abstract: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the largest infrastructure scheme in our lifetime, bringing unprecedented geopolitical and economic shifts far larger than previous rising powers. Concerns about its environmental impacts are legitimate and threaten to thwart China’s ambitions, especially since there is little precedent for analysing and planning for environmental impacts of massive infrastructure development at the scale of BRI. In this paper, we review infrastructure development under BRI to characterise the nature and types of environmental impacts and demonstrate how social, economic and political factors can shape these impacts. We first address the ambiguity around how BRI is defined. Then we describe our interdisciplinary framework for considering the nature of its environmental impacts, showing how impacts interact and aggregate across multiple spatiotemporal scales creating cumulative impacts. We also propose a typology of BRI infrastructure, and describe how economic and socio-political drivers influence BRI infrastructure and the nature of its environmental impacts. Increasingly, environmental policies associated with BRI are being designed and implemented, although there are concerns about how these will translate effectively into practice. Planning and addressing environmental issues associated with the BRI is immensely complex and multi-scaled. Understanding BRI and its environment impacts is the first step for China and countries along the routes to ensure the assumed positive socio-economic impacts associated with BRI are sustainable.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-11-2019
DOI: 10.1111/CSP2.133
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-05-2011
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2021
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-01-2018
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2013
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-04-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-02-2021
DOI: 10.1111/ACV.12668
Abstract: Misconceptions about species’ ecological preferences compromise conservation efforts. Whenever people and elephants share landscapes, human–elephant conflicts (HEC) occur in the form of crop raiding, elephant attacks on people and retaliatory actions from people on elephants. HEC is considered the main threat to the endangered Asian elephant Elephas maximus . Much of HEC mitigation in Asia is based on rescuing elephants from conflict areas and returning them to nature , for ex le, by means of ‘problem elephant’ translocation. Here, we used two independent and extensive datasets comprising elephant GPS telemetry and HEC incident reports to assess the relationship between elephant habitat preferences and the occurrence of HEC at a broad spatial scale in Peninsular Malaysia. Specifically, we assessed (a) the habitat suitability of agricultural landscapes where HEC incidents occur and (b) sexual differences in habitat preferences with implications for HEC mitigation and elephant conservation. We found strong differences in habitat use between females and males and that the locations of HEC incidents were areas of very high habitat suitability for elephants, especially for females. HEC reports suggest that in Peninsular Malaysia females are involved in more crop damage conflicts than males, whereas males are more prone to direct encounters with people. Our results show that human‐dominated landscapes are prime elephant habitat, and not merely marginal areas that elephants use in the absence of other options. The high ecological overlap between elephants and people means that conflict will continue to happen when both species share landscapes. HEC mitigation strategies, therefore, cannot be based on elephant removal (e.g. translocation) and need to be holistic approaches that integrate both ecological and human social dimensions to promote tolerated human–elephant coexistence.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2023
DOI: 10.1002/INC3.21
Abstract: Tropical Southeast Asia is a hotspot for global bio ersity, and also a hotspot for rapidly expanding urbanisation. There is a need to identify, protect, restore and connect remaining green spaces in the urban matrix before this opportunity is lost to urban development. The objective of this study is to characterise ecological connectivity for mammals and identify important patches and linkages for connecting urban green spaces for Greater Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. We first map land cover across the region using a linear mixture model with preprocessed multidate cloud‐free mosaics derived from Sentinel 2 remote sensing data in Google Earth Engine. We then model connectivity using the land cover maps, expert‐based parameterisation of Euclidian distance and graph‐based connectivity models for a range of dispersal guilds representing small and medium terrestrial and arboreal mammals. Our analysis showed large differences in the effects of fragmentation within Greater KL on the different dispersal groups, with some groups perceiving the landscape as disconnected. However, our analysis identified a network of green patches and pathways which potentially could support connectivity in the urban landscape. Our results demonstrate the potential for Southeast Asian megacities to support bio ersity in the urban context, and the potential for a different kind of urban development, which supports bio ersity in its urban fabric.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-05-2015
DOI: 10.1002/JWMG.901
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 27-07-2016
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 12-04-2017
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.3176
Abstract: There is an urgent need to identify and understand the ecosystem services of pollination and seed dispersal provided by threatened mammals such as flying foxes. The first step towards this is to obtain comprehensive data on their diet. However, the volant and nocturnal nature of bats presents a particularly challenging situation, and conventional microhistological approaches to studying their diet can be laborious and time-consuming, and provide incomplete information. We used Illumina Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) as a novel, non-invasive method for analysing the diet of the island flying fox ( Pteropus hypomelanus ) on Tioman Island, Peninsular Malaysia. Through DNA metabarcoding of plants in flying fox droppings, using primers targeting the rbcL gene, we identified at least 29 Operationally Taxonomic Units (OTUs) comprising the diet of this giant pteropodid. OTU sequences matched at least four genera and 14 plant families from online reference databases based on a conservative Least Common Ancestor approach, and eight species from our site-specific plant reference collection. NGS was just as successful as conventional microhistological analysis in detecting plant taxa from droppings, but also uncovered six additional plant taxa. The island flying fox’s diet appeared to be dominated by figs ( Ficus sp.), which was the most abundant plant taxon detected in the droppings every single month. Our study has shown that NGS can add value to the conventional microhistological approach in identifying food plant species from flying fox droppings. At this point in time, more accurate genus- and species-level identification of OTUs not only requires support from databases with more representative sequences of relevant plant DNA, but probably necessitates in situ collection of plant specimens to create a reference collection. Although this method cannot be used to quantify true abundance or proportion of plant species, nor plant parts consumed, it ultimately provides a very important first step towards identifying plant taxa and spatio-temporal patterns in flying fox diets.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2012
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2012
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-10-2022
Abstract: Protected areas (PAs) are a cornerstone of global conservation strategies. PAs, however, are not equally effective for all threatened taxa, and it is important to understand taxa‐specific effectiveness of PAs networks. In this study, we evaluate the role of the PAs network on the protection of Asian elephants Elephas maximus and their habitats in Southeast Asia's Sundaic region. Since Asian elephants tend to prefer secondary forests or forest gaps, we predicted that PAs would not represent the species preferred habitats. We conducted the most comprehensive analysis of Asian elephant space and habitat use to date through home range estimations and step selection function analyses using over 600,000 Global Positioning System locations from 102 different elephants from Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo. Our results revealed important similarities in the habitat use of elephants in both regions, with both females and males in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah preferring secondary forest, forest gaps and areas of regrowth and new plantations. Our results supported our prediction that PAs do not represent Asian elephants' preferred habitats, since for most of the elephants, more than half of their ranges were outside PAs and the probability of selection values for both sexes in both geographical areas were lower inside than outside the PAs. Synthesis and applications. Our analysis suggests that conservation strategies need to acknowledge that the long‐term survival of Asian elephants in the Sundaic region relies on our capacity to promote human–elephant coexistence at the boundaries of PAs. We advocate that Asian elephant conservation strategies should be based on the following three key points: (1) large PAs with core areas where elephants can find safety and potentially survive in the long term (2) promoting connectivity among PAs using a system of wildlife corridors and (3) effective human–elephant conflict management outside PAs.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-08-2017
DOI: 10.1111/BTP.12488
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 18-01-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-10-2018
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12803
Abstract: Large tropical trees form the interface between ground and airborne observations, offering a unique opportunity to capture forest properties remotely and to investigate their variations on broad scales. However, despite rapid development of metrics to characterize the forest canopy from remotely sensed data, a gap remains between aerial and field inventories. To close this gap, we propose a new pan‐tropical model to predict plot‐level forest structure properties and biomass from only the largest trees. Pan‐tropical. Early 21st century. Woody plants. Using a dataset of 867 plots distributed among 118 sites across the tropics, we tested the prediction of the quadratic mean diameter, basal area, Lorey's height, community wood density and aboveground biomass (AGB) from the i th largest trees. Measuring the largest trees in tropical forests enables unbiased predictions of plot‐ and site‐level forest structure. The 20 largest trees per hectare predicted quadratic mean diameter, basal area, Lorey's height, community wood density and AGB with 12, 16, 4, 4 and 17.7% of relative error, respectively. Most of the remaining error in biomass prediction is driven by differences in the proportion of total biomass held in medium‐sized trees (50–70 cm diameter at breast height), which shows some continental dependency, with American tropical forests presenting the highest proportion of total biomass in these intermediate‐diameter classes relative to other continents. Our approach provides new information on tropical forest structure and can be used to generate accurate field estimates of tropical forest carbon stocks to support the calibration and validation of current and forthcoming space missions. It will reduce the cost of field inventories and contribute to scientific understanding of tropical forest ecosystems and response to climate change.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2018
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 08-12-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2022
DOI: 10.1002/INC3.10
Abstract: In May‐June 2021 a herd of wild Asian elephants made global headlines when they trekked hundreds of km into areas where elephants had been absent for centuries, mobilizing a response of unprecedented scale. Here, we analyze the movement attributes and body condition of these elephants to understand this unusual behavior and its implications for megafauna conservation in the Anthropocene. We propose that these movements are a form of partial and irruptive nomadic behavior, although the data is also compatible with a failed attempt of dispersal. In their path to Kunming, the elephants made unusual habitat choices, using landscapes with higher nightlight intensity, and moving close to towns and villages, while avoiding areas with high forest cover, which we interpret as habituation to feeding on crops and lack of fear of people. Fifteen months after starting their journey, the elephants showed high body condition scores and had successfully delivered two babies, both indicators of good health, suggesting that their decision to leave their previous home range had paid off. In China, we recommend an elephant conservation strategy founded on area‐based and area‐specific measures, including protected areas, landscape connectivity, and the mitigation of human‐elephant conflicts, as well as preparedness for expectable population range expansions, potentially on the scale of hundreds of km, in the coming decades. Our study highlights the ecological and behavioral plasticity of elephants and the importance of integrating movement ecology in conservation planning, especially for wide‐ranging species.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-01-2021
DOI: 10.1111/BTP.12889
Abstract: Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus ) have inhabited almost all forests in tropical Asia until recently, yet little is known about their role in ecological processes, particularly in the Sundaic forests of South‐East Asia. These forests are peculiar in their phenology, with supra‐annual and highly irregular episodes of mast fruiting. Here, we present a long‐term (6‐year) monitoring of the seeds dispersed by elephants in dipterocarp forests of northern Peninsular Malaysia. We conducted monthly dung surveys at two mineral licks (11.3 km apart) frequently visited by elephants. Additionally, we recorded haphazard observations of seeds and seedlings in elephant dung at other locations. We recorded a minimum of 48 morphospecies from at least 25 plant families dispersed by elephants. Elephant seed dispersal was very heterogenous in space, with only 30.3% of the morphospecies dispersed at both sites (Jaccard dissimilarity index = 0.48). Temporally, elephants dispersed seeds in sporadic pulses of abundance and ersity, without any apparent seasonality (seeds appeared in 19.1% of 1,284 dung piles and 57.1% of the 63 months in which we found dung) and with long periods without any seed being dispersed. Nearly half (48%) of the plants dispersed by elephants belong to a megafaunal dispersal syndrome. Our long‐term approach allowed us to unravel an important aspect of Asian elephants’ role and effectiveness in the seed dispersal cycle. Sundaland's forests are undergoing a rapid loss of their previously common megaherbivores (rhinos and elephants), with profound and long‐term consequences for ecosystem functioning. Abstract in Malay is available with online material.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 09-11-2020
DOI: 10.3390/LAND9110438
Abstract: Indonesia’s new planned capital in East Kalimantan is being touted as a “smart, green, beautiful and sustainable city” but has stoked fears of massive environmental damage to the island of Borneo, one of the world’s most important bio ersity hotspots and carbon sinks. Precedents of other planned capitals can contribute to an understanding of the potential long-term impacts of Indonesia’s new capital. We used historical nighttime lights to quantitatively assess the spatial growth footprint of 12 previous planned capitals, and conducted land-use analyses to identify the potential environmental impacts on Borneo’s natural environment. Our assessment suggests that it is likely that the direct footprint of the new capital could grow rapidly, expanding over 10 km from its core in less than two decades and over 30 km before mid-century. We identified sensitive ecosystems which may be affected by the new capital’s direct and indirect footprint, such as forest reserves, mangrove and peat. Deforestation emissions from the new capital’s direct (30 km) and indirect (200 km) footprint could be approximately 50 MtCO2e and 2326 MtCO2e respectively, equivalent to 2.7% and 126% of Indonesia’s 2014 greenhouse gas emissions. We discuss how planned capitals can spatially restructure the socio-political geographies of cities and nation-states by interacting with meanings, symbolisms and power relations, which may aggravate environmental impacts but also be seized upon as a catalyst for improving environmental performance in Borneo and Indonesia. Finally, we recommend the use of best practices in impact assessment and sustainability as a necessary first step towards protecting Borneo.
No related grants have been discovered for Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz.