Balancing economic and ecological functions in smallholder and industrial oil palm plantations.

The expansion of the oil palm industry in Indonesia has improved livelihoods in rural communities, but comes at the cost of biodiversity and ecosystem degradation. Here, we investigated ways to balance ecological and economic outcomes of oil palm cultivation. We compared a wide range of production systems, including smallholder plantations, industrialized company estates, estates with improved agronomic management, and estates with native tree enrichment. Across all management types, we assessed multiple indicators of biodiversity, ecosystem functions, management, and landscape structure to identify factors that facilitate economic-ecological win-wins, using palm yields as measure of economic performance. Although, we found that yields in industrialized estates were, on average, twice as high as those in smallholder plantations, ecological indicators displayed substantial variability across systems, regardless of yield variations, highlighting potential for economic-ecological win-wins. Reducing management intensity (e.g., mechanical weeding instead of herbicide application) did not lower yields but improved ecological outcomes at moderate costs, making it a potential measure for balancing economic and ecological demands. Additionally, maintaining forest cover in the landscape generally enhanced local biodiversity and ecosystem functioning within plantations. Enriching plantations with native trees is also a promising strategy to increase ecological value without reducing productivity. Overall, we recommend closing yield gaps in smallholder cultivation through careful intensification, whereas conventional plantations could reduce management intensity without sacrificing yield. Our study highlights various pathways to reconcile the economics and ecology of palm oil production and identifies management practices for a more sustainable future of oil palm cultivation.

Measured greenhouse gas budgets challenge emission savings from palm-oil biodiesel.

The potential of palm-oil biofuels to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared with fossil fuels is increasingly questioned. So far, no measurement-based GHG budgets were available, and plantation age was ignored in Life Cycle Analyses (LCA). Here, we conduct LCA based on measured CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes in young and mature Indonesian oil palm plantations. CO2 dominates the on-site GHG budgets. The young plantation is a carbon source (1012 ± 51 gC m-2 yr-1), the mature plantation a sink (-754 ± 38 gC m-2 yr-1). LCA considering the measured fluxes shows higher GHG emissions for palm-oil biodiesel than traditional LCA assuming carbon neutrality. Plantation rotation-cycle extension and earlier-yielding varieties potentially decrease GHG emissions. Due to the high emissions associated with forest conversion to oil palm, our results indicate that only biodiesel from second rotation-cycle plantations or plantations established on degraded land has the potential for pronounced GHG emission savings.

Response of N cycling to nutrient inputs in forest soils across a 1000-3000 m elevation gradient in the Ecuadorian Andes.

Large areas in the tropics receive elevated atmospheric nutrient inputs. Presently, little is known on how nitrogen (N) cycling in tropical montane forest soils will respond to such increased nutrient inputs. We assessed how gross rates of mineral N production (N mineralization and nitrification) and microbial N retention (NH4+ and NO3- immobilization and dissimilatory NO3- reduction to NH4+ [DNRA]) change with elevated N and phosphorus (P) inputs in montane forest soils at 1000-, 2000-, and 3000-m elevations in south Ecuador. At each elevation, four replicate plots (20 x 20 m each) of control, N (added at 50 kg N x ha(-1) x yr(-1)), P (added at 10 kg P x ha(-1) x yr(-1)), and combined N+P additions have been established since 2008. We measured gross N cycling rates in 2010 and 2011, using 15N pool dilution techniques with in situ incubation of intact soil cores taken from the top 5 cm of soil. In control plots, gross soil-N cycling rates decreased.with increase in elevation, and microbial N retention was tightly coupled with mineral N production. At 1000 m and 2000 m, four-year N and combined N + P additions increased gross mineral N production but decreased NH4+ and NO3- immobilization and DNRA compared to the control. At 3000 m, four-year N and combined N + P additions increased gross N mineralization rates and decreased DNRA compared to the control; although NH4+ and NO3- immobilization in the N and N + P plots were not different' from the control, these were lower than their respective mineral N production. At all elevations, decreased microbial N retention was accompanied by decreased microbial biomass C and C:N ratio. P addition did not affect any of the soil-N cycling processes. Our results signified that four years of N addition, at a rate expected to occur at these sites, uncoupled the soil-N cycling processes, as indicated by decreased microbial N retention. This fast response of soil-N cycling processes across elevations implies that greater attention should be paid to the biological implications on montane forests of such uncoupled soil-N cycling.

Nitrogen cycling in canopy soils of tropical montane forests responds rapidly to indirect N and P fertilization.

Although the canopy can play an important role in forest nutrient cycles, canopy-based processes are often overlooked in studies on nutrient deposition. In areas of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) deposition, canopy soils may retain a significant proportion of atmospheric inputs, and also receive indirect enrichment through root uptake followed by throughfall or recycling of plant litter in the canopy. We measured net and gross rates of N cycling in canopy soils of tropical montane forests along an elevation gradient and assessed indirect effects of elevated nutrient inputs to the forest floor. Net N cycling rates were measured using the buried bag method. Gross N cycling rates were measured using (15) N pool dilution techniques. Measurements took place in the field, in the wet and dry season, using intact cores of canopy soil from three elevations (1000, 2000 and 3000 m). The forest floor had been fertilized biannually with moderate amounts of N and P for 4 years; treatments included control, N, P, and N + P. In control plots, gross rates of NH4 (+) transformations decreased with increasing elevation; gross rates of NO3 (-) transformations did not exhibit a clear elevation trend, but were significantly affected by season. Nutrient-addition effects were different at each elevation, but combined N + P generally increased N cycling rates at all elevations. Results showed that canopy soils could be a significant N source for epiphytes as well as contributing up to 23% of total (canopy + forest floor) mineral N production in our forests. In contrast to theories that canopy soils are decoupled from nutrient cycling in forest floor soil, N cycling in our canopy soils was sensitive to slight changes in forest floor nutrient availability. Long-term atmospheric N and P deposition may lead to increased N cycling, but also increased mineral N losses from the canopy soil system.

Tropical Andean forests are highly susceptible to nutrient inputs--rapid effects of experimental N and P addition to an Ecuadorian montane forest.

Tropical regions are facing increasing atmospheric inputs of nutrients, which will have unknown consequences for the structure and functioning of these systems. Here, we show that Neotropical montane rainforests respond rapidly to moderate additions of N (50 kg ha(-1) yr(-1)) and P (10 kg ha(-1) yr(-1)). Monitoring of nutrient fluxes demonstrated that the majority of added nutrients remained in the system, in either soil or vegetation. N and P additions led to not only an increase in foliar N and P concentrations, but also altered soil microbial biomass, standing fine root biomass, stem growth, and litterfall. The different effects suggest that trees are primarily limited by P, whereas some processes-notably aboveground productivity--are limited by both N and P. Highly variable and partly contrasting responses of different tree species suggest marked changes in species composition and diversity of these forests by nutrient inputs in the long term. The unexpectedly fast response of the ecosystem to moderate nutrient additions suggests high vulnerability of tropical montane forests to the expected increase in nutrient inputs.