Diversity of Arthropods in an Oil Palm Plantation in Sabah

Abstract

Malaysia is one of the largest palm oil-producing countries in the world. Located in the Southeast Asia region, this country is also known as one of the mega biodiversity-rich countries which contains numerous species. In this study, arthropods were sampled using sticky traps at three sites within an oil palm dominated landscape. We examined how vegetation structure affects arthropod community distribution within an oil palm plantation. The number of arthropod species was significantly greater at higher vegetation complexity structures. The findings also showed that the number of arthropod species that had been recorded for the three sites had nearly reached asymptote. This study suggests that maintaining vegetation complexity through sustainable agriculture practice as recommended by the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) may be useful in supporting arthropod species within oil palm plantations.