Biomass and Trophic Structure of Soil Communities in Oil Palm Biodiversity Enrichment
Island of Sumatra experiences the highest primary rainforest cover loss in all of Indonesia (Laumonier et al., 2010; Margono et al., 2014; Miettinen et al., 2011). Application of fertilizers, pesticides and mechanical disturbance in landscapes with intensive agriculture result in the loss of soil biodiversity and connected ecosystem functions (Matson et al., 1997). The oil palm biodiversity enrichment experiment (B11) in the framework of EFForTS aims at studying the trade‐offs between biodiversity and socio‐economical functions of oil palm plantations with restoration plantings (Teuscher et al., 2016). The research project will study the soil fauna on the plots of oil palm biodiversity enrichment experiment across plots with systematically varied plot size, tree diversity, and tree species composition. The aim is to estimate, how these factors affect biomass and density of different trophic and taxonomic groups of soil communities.
