Peat Swamp

Spatial patterns and drivers of smallholder oil palm expansion within peat swamp forests of Riau, Indonesia

Background

Tropical peat swamps are a major carbon sink, and therefore critical for meeting global climate goals. There is also rapid loss of these ecosystem types due to agriculture practices and drainage. Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is often planted in drained peat swamps for production. Policies in Indonesia drive smallholder oil palm farms into peatlands and prevent their access to industrial fields.

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Fire and tree species diversity in tropical peat swamp forests

Background

Indonesia houses a large quantity of peat swamps, an ecosystem type that contains diverse plant species, and provides a habitat for endangered animals. Peat swamps are degraded due to logging and agriculture expansion, specifically with the use of fire. Peat swamps are highly susceptible to fires due to peat flammability. Peat swamps also house a large quantity of carbon, so restoration is a high priority.

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Restoration Ecology of Lowland Tropical Peatlands in Southeast Asia: Current Knowledge and Future Research Directions

Background

While there has been extensive research on northern peatlands, there has been limited studies that have studied tropical peatlands. Southeast Asia in particular has experienced significant deforestation and degradation of peatlands, thus resulting in a rise of landscape-scale restoration projects. 

Open access copy available

Canal blocking strategies for hydrological restoration of degraded tropical peatlands in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Background

In the 1990s, the Government of Indonesia sponsored the construction of thousands of km of canals in 1 million Ha of peatlands of Central Kalimantan to drain the peatlands for conversion to agriculture. The project over-drained the peatlands, leaving it unusable agriculturally and subject to fires and subsidence. Existing efforts to dam the canals to return the water table to previous levels have failed.

Open access copy available

Disturbance, Recovery and Resilience in Tropical Forests: A Focus on the Coastal Peat Swamp Forests of Malaysian Borneo

Background

This thesis represents four years of work investigating the long-term ecological changes that have occurred in the coastal peat swamp forests of Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo over the Late Holocene.

Research Goals & Methods

Three peat cores were extracted from sites along the coast of northern Borneo and fossil pollen and charcoal analysis performed on them in order to look at how vegetation has changed in the past, and what factors may have caused disturbances to the baseline forest communities

Open access copy available
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