Macaques can contribute to greener practices in oil palm plantations when used as biological pest control
| Autor: | Filip A. Swat, Anna Holzner, Shahrul Anuar Mohd Sah, Marco Schmidt, Brigitte M. Weiß, Giovanni Villa, Antje Engelhardt, Nadine Ruppert, Hjalmar S. Kühl, Asyraf Mansor, Anja Widdig |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Conservation of Natural Resources Foraging Biological pest control Arecaceae Macaque General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Ecosystem services Crop 03 medical and health sciences QH301 0302 clinical medicine biology.animal Animals Biology Tropical forest Oil palm plantations Sustainability Pest Control Biological Hectare QL GE biology Agroforestry QH fungi Malaysia food and beverages Agriculture Forestry 030104 developmental biology PEST analysis Macaca nemestrina General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Palm 030217 neurology & neurosurgery |
| ISSN: | 1879-0445 |
| Popis: | Conversion of tropical forests into oil palm plantations reduces the habitats of many species, including primates, and frequently leads to human-wildlife conflicts. Contrary to the widespread belief that macaques foraging in the forest-oil palm matrix are detrimental crop pests, we show that the impact of macaques on oil palm yield is minor. More importantly, our data suggest that wild macaques have the potential to act as biological pest control by feeding on plantation rats, the major pest for oil palm crops, with each macaque group estimated to reduce rat populations by about 3,000 individuals per year (mitigating annual losses of 112 USD per hectare). If used for rodent control in place of the conventional method of poison, macaques could provide an important ecosystem service and enhance palm oil sustainability. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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