Sustainable Oil Palm farming in Borneo: Uptake and effects of heavy metals and pesticides in the wildlife of the Oil palm plantation affected landscap

学生将努力了解和绘制化学物质对集约化农业区野生动物的重要性。下Kinabatangan泛滥平原（来自马来西亚婆罗洲沙巴州Danau Girang田野中心）提供了一个理想和标志性的案例研究，作为油棕种植园化肥和农药使用影响的森林景观。该项目旨在进一步了解油棕造成的化学污染，对当地野生动物的影响程度以及对周围雨林和河流的地理影响程度。该学生将整理和测量土壤和水中的化学物质水平，以及捕获/释放动物的饮食、粪便、毛发和体液（血液和尿液），以及野生动物尸体（例如道路死亡）的组织。这些值将与环境命运和生物吸收模型相结合，以了解景观中的污染足迹、对野生动物的潜在风险以及这种风险对生物生态、生命阶段、饮食和栖息地的依赖。在此基础上，将多重压力源和混合模型与化学命运和暴露模型相结合，学生将建立各种油棕系统对野生动物保护的可能影响。将与当地油棕小农和野生亚洲等当地利益攸关方讨论并制定建议。该项目的新颖之处在于对油棕产区的化学影响进行了混合和多种应激源的评价。学生将学习评估环境的命运，化学物质的吸收和风险，使用多压力源模型，设计监测方案，进行采样和化学化学，并将有机会将科学发现应用于政策背景。作为英国CEH污染科学领域的正式成员，访问卡迪夫和婆罗洲现场中心，加上在JNCC借调，将提供与不同部门和学科的研究人员和利益相关者合作的独特体验。监督小组的任务是支持学生将现有的野生动物毒理学和监测知识与政策应用（JNCC）和下基纳巴丹干洪泛平原的保护生态知识结合起来。

The student will work to understand and map the importance chemicals have on wildlife in intensified agricultural zones. The Lower Kinabatangan Floodplain (working from Danau Girang Field Centre, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo) provides an ideal and iconic case study as a patchwork forest landscape influenced by oil palm plantations' fertiliser and pesticide use. This project aims to develop further understanding of chemical pollution resulting from oil palm, the level of effect on local wildlife and geographical reach into surrounding rainforest and rivers.The student will collate and measure chemicals levels in soils and waters and the diets, droppings, hair and body fluids (blood and urine) from capture/release animals and tissues from carcasses (e.g. road kills) of wildlife species. These values will be combined with environmental fate and biouptake models to build an understanding of the pollution footprint in the landscape, the potential risks to wildlife and he dependence of such risk on organism ecology, life stage, diet and habitat.Based on this initial integration and combining multiple stressor and mixture modelling with chemical fate and exposure models, the student will establish the likely impacts of various oil palm systems on wildlife conservation. Recommendations will be discussed and worked upon with local oil palm smallholders and local stakeholders like Wild Asia.The novelty of this project is taking a mixture and multiple stressors approach chemicals impact assessment in an oil palm producing area. The student will learn to assess environmental fate, uptake and risk of chemicals, use multi-stressor models, design monitoring schemes, undertake sampling and chemical chemistry and will have opportunities to apply scientific findings in a policy context. Being a full member of the UK CEH Pollution Science Area, visits to Cardiff and the Borneo field centre, plus secondments at JNCC, will provide a unique experience working with researchers and stakeholders in different sectors and disciplines.The supervisory team is designed to support the student in the tasks of combining the knowledge of existing wildlife toxicology and monitoring with policy application (JNCC) and conservation ecology knowledge of the Lower Kinabatangan Floodplain.