Unlocking the potential of Seasonal Forests to underpin Wallacea's green economy
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal Botanic Gardens
Department Name: Identification and Naming
Abstract
This project will investigate the understudied Seasonal Forests of Wallacea in East and West Nusa Tenggara Provinces of Indonesia, specifically the islands of Sumbawa, Sumba and Flores, to assess how they will be affected by imminent environmental change and to evaluate their present and future economic potential. The forests of Indonesia are some of the most biodiverse but unexplored in the world with huge potential to be effectively managed to support economic development. To allow local communities to develop a stable green economy based on the region's natural capital assets, we must fully understand the forests' diversity and distribution.
To address this need, we will first produce a Natural Capital Asset Register of the region's plant diversity consisting of species checklist, forest atlas derived from satellite imagery, ecoregion definition, and ethnobotany database. A structured programme of exploration across the three islands, generating plot and soil data, will give us an understanding of the standing biomass and soil fertility to understand ecosystem function. We will then compare these data to climatic variables to model the response of the Seasonal Forests of Wallacea to climate change and map anthropogenic risks, such as development for mining and infrastructure. We will carry out conservation red-listing to assess the resilience of the region's biodiversity to these environmental changes. Finally, we will determine which natural capital assets of the Seasonal Forests can be developed, working at both the species level, identifying plant resources that have further potential for economic exploitation and habitat level, exploring the potential for and risks of forest-based eco-tourism.
We will initiate a programme of capacity building to develop regional scientific capacity to deliver these aims. We have assembled a group of experts from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Surya University, Herbarium Bogoriense, and the University of Nusa Cendana in Indonesia to undertake the programme of exploration, mapping, seed-banking, training, and analysis to inform the development of Wallacea's green economy.
The proposed research will have three Work Packages:
1. Documenting the plant diversity of Wallacea's Seasonal Forests and how it is distributed: building an inventory of the region's natural capital.
2. Asessing the resilience of Seasonal Forests in Wallacea to climatic and anthropogenic changes
3. Evaluating the potential of Wallacea's natural capital to underpin its green economy: building in-country capacity around a green economy.
The overall goal of this project is to produce new biodiversity data from the Wallacea region, to determine the distribution of, and threats to, selected species, better characterise regional biodiversity associations though ecoregion definition, and understand the resilience at the species and habitat level to future environmental change in Wallacea. These data will be interpreted and made easily available for use by local communities and other stakeholders, enabling them to exploit and manage the biodiversity more effectively, whilst conserving the habitats and endemic, endangered and economic species.
To address this need, we will first produce a Natural Capital Asset Register of the region's plant diversity consisting of species checklist, forest atlas derived from satellite imagery, ecoregion definition, and ethnobotany database. A structured programme of exploration across the three islands, generating plot and soil data, will give us an understanding of the standing biomass and soil fertility to understand ecosystem function. We will then compare these data to climatic variables to model the response of the Seasonal Forests of Wallacea to climate change and map anthropogenic risks, such as development for mining and infrastructure. We will carry out conservation red-listing to assess the resilience of the region's biodiversity to these environmental changes. Finally, we will determine which natural capital assets of the Seasonal Forests can be developed, working at both the species level, identifying plant resources that have further potential for economic exploitation and habitat level, exploring the potential for and risks of forest-based eco-tourism.
We will initiate a programme of capacity building to develop regional scientific capacity to deliver these aims. We have assembled a group of experts from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Surya University, Herbarium Bogoriense, and the University of Nusa Cendana in Indonesia to undertake the programme of exploration, mapping, seed-banking, training, and analysis to inform the development of Wallacea's green economy.
The proposed research will have three Work Packages:
1. Documenting the plant diversity of Wallacea's Seasonal Forests and how it is distributed: building an inventory of the region's natural capital.
2. Asessing the resilience of Seasonal Forests in Wallacea to climatic and anthropogenic changes
3. Evaluating the potential of Wallacea's natural capital to underpin its green economy: building in-country capacity around a green economy.
The overall goal of this project is to produce new biodiversity data from the Wallacea region, to determine the distribution of, and threats to, selected species, better characterise regional biodiversity associations though ecoregion definition, and understand the resilience at the species and habitat level to future environmental change in Wallacea. These data will be interpreted and made easily available for use by local communities and other stakeholders, enabling them to exploit and manage the biodiversity more effectively, whilst conserving the habitats and endemic, endangered and economic species.
Planned Impact
The outputs from this project will:
1. Document basic plant science and landscape diversity data by delivering a Natural Capital Asset Register;
2. Identify resilient species and landscapes for sustainable development with Indonesia stakeholders;
3: Initiate an ex situ conservation programme and ecotourism zoning system;
4: Run a capacity building programme to grow in-country partners and local communities' skills and knowledge base.
The proposed research will be delivered through three interlinked Work Packages the impacts of which are outlined below:
Work Package 1 Impact: This project will be the first large-scale effort to synthesise information on the identity and geographic distribution of the natural capital assets of the Seasonal Forests of Wallacea and the material, non-material and regulating benefits obtained from them. We will generate new baseline data on the vegetation of Wallacea. This baseline information will provide essential information to inform ecosystem-level actions including prioritization of areas for conservation, green economy development and habitat restoration. Dissemination of the floristic exploration above will be via high-impact biogeography journals, floristic and taxonomic publications, posters and talks at international conferences and academic institutions, as well as more informal routes including blogs and social media (Twitter and Facebook).
Work Package 2 Impact: At the landscape level, the project will provide an understanding of how the Seasonal Forests of Wallacea may be affected by different climate and land use change scenarios. These will help to formulate policies for delineating potential conservation corridors and selecting areas to promote green economy approaches. At the species level, we will be assessing threats to dominant plant species in the Seasonal Forests of Wallacea, which will allow us to prioritize seed banking actions and develop policies to understand how best to conserve dominant species. We will disseminate our findings through research publications and outputs including high-impact conservation journals when defining the threats to the region, publication on the Red List (each entry has a URL), as well as more informal routes including blogs, social media, and collaborate with local Universities to encourage their students to undertake their thesis research projects on biodiversity. Together with the capacity building programme we will enhance the knowledge of local people to further conserve their biodiversity and raise the profile of region and its vegetation at both local and global levels
Work Package 3 Impact: We will identify dominant, useful and endangered species for ex situ conservation in seed banks or living collections and ensure these are made available for use in research, sustainable economic development or reintroduction through dissemination on Kew and partner websites. The project's ecotourism study will identify sites development whilst maintaining biodiversity richness/integrity and ecosystem function.
1. Document basic plant science and landscape diversity data by delivering a Natural Capital Asset Register;
2. Identify resilient species and landscapes for sustainable development with Indonesia stakeholders;
3: Initiate an ex situ conservation programme and ecotourism zoning system;
4: Run a capacity building programme to grow in-country partners and local communities' skills and knowledge base.
The proposed research will be delivered through three interlinked Work Packages the impacts of which are outlined below:
Work Package 1 Impact: This project will be the first large-scale effort to synthesise information on the identity and geographic distribution of the natural capital assets of the Seasonal Forests of Wallacea and the material, non-material and regulating benefits obtained from them. We will generate new baseline data on the vegetation of Wallacea. This baseline information will provide essential information to inform ecosystem-level actions including prioritization of areas for conservation, green economy development and habitat restoration. Dissemination of the floristic exploration above will be via high-impact biogeography journals, floristic and taxonomic publications, posters and talks at international conferences and academic institutions, as well as more informal routes including blogs and social media (Twitter and Facebook).
Work Package 2 Impact: At the landscape level, the project will provide an understanding of how the Seasonal Forests of Wallacea may be affected by different climate and land use change scenarios. These will help to formulate policies for delineating potential conservation corridors and selecting areas to promote green economy approaches. At the species level, we will be assessing threats to dominant plant species in the Seasonal Forests of Wallacea, which will allow us to prioritize seed banking actions and develop policies to understand how best to conserve dominant species. We will disseminate our findings through research publications and outputs including high-impact conservation journals when defining the threats to the region, publication on the Red List (each entry has a URL), as well as more informal routes including blogs, social media, and collaborate with local Universities to encourage their students to undertake their thesis research projects on biodiversity. Together with the capacity building programme we will enhance the knowledge of local people to further conserve their biodiversity and raise the profile of region and its vegetation at both local and global levels
Work Package 3 Impact: We will identify dominant, useful and endangered species for ex situ conservation in seed banks or living collections and ensure these are made available for use in research, sustainable economic development or reintroduction through dissemination on Kew and partner websites. The project's ecotourism study will identify sites development whilst maintaining biodiversity richness/integrity and ecosystem function.
Organisations
- Royal Botanic Gardens (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) (Collaboration)
- Surya University (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- UNIVERSITY OF KENT (Collaboration)
- Nusa Cendana University (Project Partner)
- Indonesian Institute of Sciences (Project Partner)
Publications
Trethowan L
(2021)
Could the environment limit dispersal between Sunda and Sahul?
in Journal of Vegetation Science
Utteridge T
(2022)
Out of New Guinea? Two new species of Zygogynum (Winteraceae) extend the genus west of Lydekker's and Wallace's Lines
in Kew Bulletin
Trethowan L
(2022)
Plant species biogeographic origin shapes their current and future distribution on the world's highest island mountain
in Journal of Ecology
Streubig MJ
(2022)
Safeguarding Imperiled Biodiversity and Evolutionary Processes in the Wallacea Center of Endemism
in BioScience
Rogers P.
(2020)
Sumbawa, Flores & Sumba: A tourism footprint report
Title | Reforest! card game |
Description | A card game espousing the virtues of forest reforestation and the steps needed to support it. |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Impact | This card game was presented as part of the RBG Kew offering at COP 26. |
Description | Forests in Indonesia are complex. In the seasonal parts of Wallacea, they have a different species composition and structure to wetter areas. |
Exploitation Route | The methods and networks built up can be used by other groups to describe forest types in other regions of SE Asia. A standard method would be useful for researchers and workers undertaking biodiversity surveys, including private companies for environmental impact/high conservation value forest assessments. |
Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink |
Description | COVID 19 Grant Extension Allocation Royal Botanic Gardens Kew |
Amount | £369,274 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V520925/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2020 |
End | 09/2021 |
Description | Tropical Important Plant Areas: West Papua |
Amount | £250,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2022 |
End | 03/2025 |
Title | West Sumbawa Si dried leaf material |
Description | 212 leaf samples dried in Silica gel suitable for DNA extraction. |
Type Of Material | Biological samples |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Samples of Syzygium and Aglaia are being used by two PhD students. |
Title | West Sumbawa herbarium specimens |
Description | 284 herbarium specimens including leaf, flower and fruit collected. |
Type Of Material | Biological samples |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This underpins species identification crucial for understanding the tree communities we are studying. These are also new data points for geo referencing database of endemic species. They also add to material available for taxonomic revision. |
Title | West Sumbawa soil samples |
Description | 16 soil samples. 1 per forest plot. |
Type Of Material | Biological samples |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | These soils are being analysed for element concentrations in Bogor, Indonesia. |
Title | Diameter and height measurements for 2075 trees |
Description | Diameter and height measurement for trees (>10 cm dbh) across 16 0.25 ha plots in West Sumbawa. Tied to herbarium specimens for future species identification. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | This is used as baseline data for analyses and also for carbon stock estimation. In the long term this will be added to large open access databases. |
Title | Forest plot soil data |
Description | Bioavailable soil element data for 12 elements across 16 forest plots in West Sumbawa. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | To be used for analysis of tree communities in the Lesser Sundas and further afield. |
Title | Georeferenced herbarium specimens of all LSI endemics |
Description | Coordinates gathered from herbarium specimens of c.300 endemic species in the Lesser Sunda Islands |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | This is being used for redlist threat assessments. All will be used for species distribution modelling for current and future climates to give us an understanding of the future of endemism in the LSI. |
Title | Indonesian forest plot diversity data |
Description | Diversity measures (interpolated Hill numbers) for c. 200 Indonesian forest plots. The largest collation of data to date. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | To be used for analyses of the drivers of Indonesian tree diversity. This is the first analysis resulting from the Indonesian forest plot network. This will lead to future analyses of species abundance/carbon stocks etc. It will also help plug a large gap in global forest plot datasets. |
Title | Malesian mint traits |
Description | Trait data for all Lamiaceae (mint) species in Malesia including Lesser Sunda Islands/Wallacea |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | Analysis of how the stressful environment of Wallacea/Philippines shapes plant geography across Southeast Asia. |
Title | Preliminary identification of tree species in plots |
Description | Preliminary identification of tree species in plots (and other general collections) carried out at herbarium Bogoriense by Megawati and Wahyu. c. 300 specimens identified. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | These preliminary identifications provide the backbone for data added to two collaborative projects (1) on identifying Savannas in SE Asia and (2) exploring the environment-diversity relationship for tropical tree communities in Indonesia. |
Title | Redlist assessment for 100 Lesser Sunda endemic species |
Description | 100 IUCN redlist assessments complete or awaiting review for plant species in the Lesser Sundas. Carried out by Helen Chadburn. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | Most endemics with enough data to assess are threatened - highlighting the importance of conservation of these little known forests. |
Title | Traits for LSI endemics and congeners |
Description | Traits for plant species endemic to the Lesser Sunda islands and their congeners in Malesia for comparison. 6000 + species surveyed so far by Laura Jennings, myself and members of the Kew Asia team. This represents c. 20 % of the entire Malesian flora. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | To be used in analyses of trait drivers of endemism in the Lesser Sunda Islands and for examination of endemism across the islands of SE Asia more broadly. |
Description | Kew/Surya University Wallacea |
Organisation | Surya University |
Country | Indonesia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Expertise and intellectual input. |
Collaborator Contribution | Expertise and intellectual input. |
Impact | MoU and MTA. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | NERC Wallacea programme partnership |
Organisation | University of Kent |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This was the over-arching collaborative programme which was given some additional funding (awarded to DICE, University of Kent) to run cross-programme workshops. |
Collaborator Contribution | DICE, University of Kent, will organise a workshop for the programme in March 2022 and will fund a series of animations for lay audiences. |
Impact | A review paper will be submitted (still in final preparation) and a series of animations (still in preparation). A workshop will be held in March 2022. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | RBG Kew/LIPI Wallacea |
Organisation | Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) |
Country | Indonesia |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Expertise and intellectual input. |
Collaborator Contribution | Expertise and intellectual input. |
Impact | MoU and MTA. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | University of Oxford and RBG, Kew joint PhD |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Dr Utteridge is co-supervising an Indonesian student on the ethnobotany of the Lesser Sunda Islands with overlaps with the NERC funded project. |
Collaborator Contribution | They will facilitate fieldwork. |
Impact | The PhD project is only in it's first year and the student has completed a literature review, fieldwork and papers are yet to be published. The disciplines will include ethnobotany. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Blog about West Sumbawa fieldwork |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A blog hosted at my own website and on Kew website - shared over twitter. Readers have been in contact to offer data on the same islands that we are studying. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
URL | https://liamtrethowan.com/2019/11/29/west-sumbawa/ |
Description | Blog about red listing and the Lesser Sunda Project so far |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Blog by me, Laura Jennings and Helen Chadburn outlining some of the data we have gathered and preliminary results. Hosted on Kew Science website and some further figures here https://liamtrethowan.com/2020/12/21/the-lesser-sunda-project-so-far/ |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/lesser-sunda-islands-indonesia |
Description | Flora Malesiana conference presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A presentation on Kew's work in Indonesia including this NERC project was given at the Flora Malesiana symposium in Brunei. This is an international conference attended by botanists from across the globe who are interested in the Malesian (ie SE Asia) region. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Flora Malesiana talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Outlining and invitation to collaborate on work to be done in the Lesser Sunda Islands. Previous work on the Wallacean island of Sulawesi presented. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Kew Orchid festival information plaque |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Plaque with information about the Lesser Sunda islands and the project including a Komodo dragon model. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | KewScience KABAM talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk on the Wallacean islands of Sulawesi and Lesser Sunda Archipelago. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Lesser Sunda talk to undergraduates/graduate students and academics at MMU |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Many undergraduate students attended to hear from a number of early career researchers and to also seek advice on how to go about starting a career in research. Questions specific to this project centred around how to identify tree species in the tropics and how to become with the research done at Kew. Other academics where also interested in some of the data we were gathering and a collaborative project earmarked. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Plant Identification and Vegetation Survey : 2-week intensive workshop held online |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The workshop covered the below topics: • Fabales • Poales • Magnoliids • Palms • Malpighiales • Myrtales • Gentianales • Rosales • Fagales • Apiales • Sapindales • Ericales • Climbers • Malvales • Lamiales • Asparagales • Zingerbales • Biogeographgy in Malesia • Forest plots (what we can do with them and how to establish them) • How to collect botanical specimens of scientific value • Spatial analysis (vegetation surveys, remote sensing, Google Earth Pro, GIS, species distribution modelling) Session took the form of lectures, practicals, videos with translated annotations, and live Q&A sessions. Written materials were all provided in both English and Bahasa Indonesia, and the sessions sparked lively discussions. Participants were able to keep materials to independently review after the live course. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Project webpage on Kew website |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Project webpage hosted on Kew site. Outlining project goals. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.kew.org/science/our-science/projects/seasonal-forests-wallacea |
Description | Red Listing - 7 day intensive workshop held online |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 19 participants from Kew and from Herbarium Bogoriense participated in this 7-day workshop about Red Listing. The workshop was delivered by 4 members of Kew staff (3 training by IUCN to deliver materials and 1 facilitator) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | RedList training workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Redlist training for botanists from across the globe carried out by Kew's Plant Assessment Unit. Five participants from Indonesia were directly linked to this project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Seed Banking: 2-week intensive workshop held online |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The course covered the following topics: • Understanding of legal framework for collecting • Species prioritisation / targeting • Collection planning • Population assessment • Sampling strategy • Seed collecting • Field data collection • Herbarium voucher collection • Care of collections after harvesting • How to dry seeds and determine their moisture status • Seed cleaning • How to store seeds • Seed storage behaviour • Effect of moisture on seed longevity • Seed development and the effect of maturity on longevity • Seed germination and dormancy • Seed viability testing by germination test • Database management Teaching session comprised of practical activities, lectures (both live and pre-recorded), Q&A sessions and videos. All material was translated and/or subtitled. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |