User:Bamato1/Le Sandbox

Allo. This is my box of sand. Notice the abundance of sand.

Note: Most of my work will be done off of Wikipedia for now, until I can actually figure out how this all works a little better.

Ideas for a graphic:

1. Create a graphic showing the range area for different species of megafauna (ex. Sumatran tiger, rhino), and indicate the amount of core habitat needed for survival. Compare this to the amount of rain forest area in countries where palm oil plantations are present as well as to the area of these countries that is taken up by oil palm plantations.

2. Somehow show the economic impact of oil palm plantations for residents of these countries. Potentially show cost-benefit analysis for plantations that use more sustainable practices versus plantations that have a tendency to harm the environment.

3. Show the amount of fragmentation of rain forest habitat in these countries and indicate how much of that fragmentation occurs as a result of clearing for oil palm plantations.

Loss of Biodiversity
The majority of oil palm plantation expansion has taken place in the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Nigeria. This crop has replaced soybeans as the world’s most commonly traded oil seed crop, and demand for the product continues to grow. These regions, however, are also home to tropical rainforest habitat, which contains a large amount of earth’s biodiversity. Biodiversity is a term that describes the variety of life on the planet. It is a relative term that can refer generally to all organisms in a species, or to specific types of organisms. Generally healthier ecosystems are seen as having a greater diversity of plant and animal species, while low diversity can be an indicator of a poorly functioning ecosystem. Tropical forests worldwide contain over half of earth’s total species. Studies consistently show that conversion of rainforest habitat to oil palm plantations results in a decrease in the amount of recorded biodiversity on that land. Changes in the number and types of mammal, bird, reptile, and invertebrate species have been noted on these plantations. Habitat conversion and industrial production of palm oil also holds social implications for people who live in regions where plantations are expanding.

One of the major ways in which conversion of forest habitat to plantation affects biodiversity in these regions is through the creation of a monoculture. Plantations typically only consist of one species of tree, the Elaeis guineensis, and the trees on the site are generally all of the same age. Virtually all other competing vegetation is eliminated to ensure that the desired species can grow to maturity and produce fruit. This also eliminates vegetation that can serve as key wildlife habitat, such as snags or epiphytic vegetation. Forest specialist species that utilize these types of microhabitats are not able to colonize the oil palm plantations because of this lack of diverse forest vegetation. The microclimate that exists in a healthy forest is also changed by conversion to plantation land. A lack of canopy cover in the plantation stand allows more sunlight to reach the ground, heating up the soil and the surrounding air. The resulting microclimate is much less stable than that of a naturally forested area. A decrease in the amount of undergrowth vegetation is also seen on oil palm plantations.

In many assessments of species richness on oil palm plantations, the inhabitant species were mostly noted to be generalists of little to no conservation concern. Bearded pigs, palm civets, leopard cats, and pangolins are some of the mammal species that frequent the plantations while the large critically endangered species are rarely seen. In fact, the amount palm oil production in an area is directly proportional to that area’s relative number of endangered species. Malaysia has the highest level of production per unit area in the world, and therefore has a higher number of endangered flora and fauna than other nations that produce palm oil. Primates, tree shrews, and bats have all shown an aversion to the conversion of forest land, and a reduction in species diversity.

Some of the highly endangered characteristic megafauna that are endemic to these areas where plantation expansion is occurring include the Asian elephant, both species of orangutan, the Sumatran tiger subspecies, and the Sumatran rhinoceros. Of these animals, the Asian elephant is the only species that has a range not specifically restricted to the islands or Borneo or Sumatra. These animals, being very large and, in the case of orangutans and elephants, living in family groups, need large areas of contiguous forest habitat in order to survive and breed. The home range of a family of elephants, for example, can extend for up to 60 square miles. Plantations, however, reduce the amount of available habitat needed for these large home ranges as well as habitat corridors that may extend between these areas. Reduction in biodiversity on plantation lands also reduces the amount of food recourses available for these species. In order for populations to persist, enough breeding sub-populations must remain to ensure that genetic diversity can be maintained. It is likely that with the continued expansion of oil palm plantations, these large mammal species will be placed at an even more serious risk.

Large mammal species are not the only ones affected by the creation of plantations. The bird species that inhabit tropical forest habitat are either absent altogether from plantation land or are outnumbered by generalist species. Invertebrate diversity has been shown to be more variable; some species respond to the oil palm plantations better than others. While diversity in beetle species tends to decrease, diversity in bee species tends to increase. The number of pollinating species, however, decreases on these plantations, which holds negative implications for forest plants that rely on these species to reproduce. One group of animals that does appear to do well on plantations is invasive species. Species such as the yellow crazy ant were shown to dominate on plantations in Malaysia over typical forest species of ground-dwelling ants. Having areas of natural forest areas near plantations would likely help to prevent the spread of such species. Adequate habitat for a diversity of bird and bat species would ensure that checks on pest invertebrates are kept in place.

The oil palm plantations also have social impacts which are tied to the surrounding environment. The plantations themselves are grown in developing countries, where they certainly provide welcome employment opportunities for the people who live in these areas. Without these plantations, most people would likely be restricted to subsistence farming. After acquiring land for a plantation, however, most workers are forced to pay substantial prices to the palm oil parent company in start up costs. They may borrow up to $6000 to pay for needed items such as seedlings and fertilizers. The trees themselves typically take seven years to fruit, and, working for about $2.50 per day, most workers are permanently indebted to the larger company. The fact that the plantation workers continue to live in poverty while working on the plantations makes them less likely to consider the environmental impacts of their actions. If animals wander onto the plantations, either accidentally or intentionally to eat the fruit from the trees, workers will likely exterminate them in order to protect their crop. The roads that are built in order to access the plantations increase the likelihood that animals will come into contact with humans, including poachers. The number of tiger and elephant attacks on humans have increased with the expansion of oil palm cultivation.

There are a number of solutions to the biodiversity problem that is seen with oil palm plantations. One is to ensure that palm oil companies use sustainable environmental practices to produce their product. This could include leaving naturally forested areas as buffers around the plantations and ensuring that poaching on the plantations is strictly prohibited. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has taken steps to create a Biodiversity Technical Committee to observe the use of these sustainable practices on plantations. A second step to take would be to ensure that plantations cannot be defined as forests. One program currently being pushed in Indonesia would allow oil palm plantations to receive carbon credits based on the fact that they could be defined as forested land. This would essentially allow expansion to continue and biodiversity to decline more. A third step is to use alternative oils such as soybean, sunflower, or canola oils in order to reduce demand on palm oil.