Is Arthropod Biodiversity on the Rainforest Floor Threatened by Rubber and Palm-Oil Plantations?

Tropical rainforests are a particularly threatened type of ecosystem because humans are converting rainforests into farmland. On Sumatra, the world’s sixth largest island, most of the tropical rainforest that once covered the island has been turned into plantations for rubber trees and oil palms. Rubber and palm oil, the agricultural products produced from such plantations, are an important source of income for the local farmers. Unfortunately, replacing rainforests with plantations reduces the number of arthropods, like insects and spiders that would normally live in the rainforests. This can have negative effects on ecosystem functions that are normally carried out by these arthropods, such as the decomposition of dead organic matter or the control of crop pests. We went to Sumatra to find out what happens to communities of ground-living arthropods, a diverse and ubiquitous group of animals important for the functioning of ecosystems, when rainforest is turned into plantations. YOUNG REVIEWER: