Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantation on tropical peatland in South East Asia: Photosynthetic response to soil drainage level for mitigation of soil carbon emissions.

While existing moratoria in Indonesia and Malaysia should preclude continued large-scale expansion of palm oil production into new areas of South-East Asian tropical peatland, existing plantations in the region remain a globally significant source of atmospheric carbon due to drainage driven decomposition of peatland soils. Previous studies have made clear the direct link between drainage depth and peat carbon decomposition and significant reductions in the emission rate of CO can be made by raising water tables nearer to the soil surface. However, the impact of such changes on palm fruit yield is not well understood and will be a critical consideration for plantation managers.

Short- and long-term carbon emissions from oil palm plantations converted from logged tropical peat swamp forest.

Need for regional economic development and global demand for agro-industrial commodities have resulted in large-scale conversion of forested landscapes to industrial agriculture across South East Asia. However, net emissions of CO from tropical peatland conversions may be significant and remain poorly quantified, resulting in controversy around the magnitude of carbon release following conversion. Here we present long-term, whole ecosystem monitoring of carbon exchange from two oil palm plantations on converted tropical peat swamp forest.

An assessment of oil palm plantation aboveground biomass stocks on tropical peat using destructive and non-destructive methods.

The recent expansion of oil palm (OP, Elaeis guineensis) plantations into tropical forest peatlands has resulted in ecosystem carbon emissions. However, estimates of net carbon flux from biomass changes require accurate estimates of the above ground biomass (AGB) accumulation rate of OP on peat. We quantify the AGB stocks of an OP plantation on drained peat in Malaysia from 3 to 12 years after planting using destructive harvests supported by non-destructive surveys of a further 902 palms.