Capitalising on a mass fruiting event to assess the long-term sustainability of rainforest remnants.

在维持生态系统服务和减少生物多样性损失的同时养活迅速增长的人口的要求，导致迫切需要设计更可持续的农业景观。这在东南亚尤其重要，那里的油棕榈种植园正在取代高度多样化的热带雨林。目前可持续种植油棕榈(食用植物油的重要来源)的政策要求在种植园内保留雨林碎片。然而，这些森林碎片能够继续支持高度的生物多样性、保持它们的生存能力并随着时间的推移而再生的假设以前还没有得到检验。因此，可持续发展的主要标准之一基本上是未经检验的，并构成了这一提议的基础。东南亚热带雨林的独特之处在于，它们以龙脑香科树木为主，繁殖不规律(间隔1至多年)，但在大规模结果事件中同步繁殖。最近在婆罗洲开始了这些不可预测的大规模结实事件之一，这为研究雨林碎片中的龙舌兰繁殖提供了一个难得的机会。龙脑果树是东南亚雨林生态系统的重要组成部分，因此，任何影响龙胆果树的变化都可能对雨林生物多样性产生相当大的连锁反应。我们最近的数据显示，在小的森林片断中，即使存在成熟的双子果，也没有双子果的幼苗，这引起了人们对片断中的双子果繁殖失败的严重关注。最近发起的集体结实活动为我们提供了一个机会，以探索导致森林残留物生殖失败和/或招募失败的潜在机制。该项目的主要目标是：(1)研究森林碎片化如何影响龙脑果的繁殖；(2)将繁殖率与森林碎片化引起的生物和非生物变化(改变的小气候、生境质量、捕食)联系起来；(3)评估龙须草物种是否对森林碎片化的影响同样敏感。拟议的工作将对热带农业景观中森林残留物的长期生存能力进行首次调查。该项目将解决在改变的非生物和生物条件下龙脑果树繁殖的基本问题，并产生对政策制定者具有相当大实用价值的结果。它将成为今后新的研究的基础，重点是了解栖息地退化和碎片化对生物多样性的影响，并为制定有效的保护和可持续战略的辩论提供科学证据。

The requirement to feed a rapidly increasingly human population whilst maintaining ecosystem services and reducing biodiversity losses has led to an urgent need to design more sustainable agricultural landscapes. This is particularly relevant in SE Asia where oil palm plantations are replacing hyper-diverse tropical rainforest. Current policies for the sustainable cultivation of oil palm (an important source of edible vegetable oil) require the retention of rainforest fragments within plantations. However, the assumption that these forest fragments can continue to support high biodiversity, maintain their viability, and regenerate over time has not previously been tested. Thus one of the primary criteria for sustainability is essentially untested, and forms the basis of this proposal.SE Asian rainforests are unique in being dominated by Dipterocarpaceae trees which reproduce irregularly (at intervals from 1 to many years) but synchronously in mass fruiting events. One of these unpredictable mass fruiting events has recently been initiated on Borneo, and provides a rare opportunity to study dipterocarp reproduction in rainforest fragments. Dipterocarp trees are a vital component of rainforest ecosystems in SE Asia, and hence any changes that affect dipterocarps are likely to have considerable knock-on impacts for rainforest biodiversity. Our recent data show an absence of dipterocarp seedlings in small forest fragments even when mature dipterocarps are present, raising a serious concern of reproductive failure of dipterocarps in fragments. The recently-initiated mass fruiting event provides us with an opportunity to explore potential mechanisms leading to reproductive failure and/or recruitment failure in forest remnants. The main objective of this project is to: (1) examine how forest fragmentation affects dipterocarp reproduction, (2) relate reproductive rates to biotic and abiotic changes arising from forest fragmentation (altered microclimates, habitat quality, predation), and (3) assess whether dipterocarp species are equally sensitive to impacts of forest fragmentation. The proposed work will provide the first investigation of the long-term viability of forest remnants in tropical agricultural landscapes. The project will address fundamental questions about reproduction in dipterocarp trees under altered abiotic and biotic conditions, as well as producing results of considerable practical value for policy makers. It will form the basis for new research in future focussed on understanding the impacts of habitat degradation and fragmentation on biodiversity, and contribute to scientific evidence to inform the debate on developing effective conservation and sustainability strategies.