Mohammad Naim - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Mohammad Naim

We investigated the effects of oil palm understory vegetation management on termite mound activit... more We investigated the effects of oil palm understory vegetation management on termite mound activity and non-termite inhabitants. We found a diversity of taxa, most of which were unaffected by understory management. Mound volume and termite activity had taxa-specific effects on abundance. Preserving mounds in oil palm plantations will benefit biodiversity.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021

Microbiology Resource Announcements, 2021

A double-stranded DNA virus, Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus (OrNV), was detected in the total DNA o... more A double-stranded DNA virus, Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus (OrNV), was detected in the total DNA of diseased larvae of O. rhinoceros in Riau Province, Indonesia. The complete genome sequence was 124,926 bp long and encodes 123 open reading frames (ORFs). This strain belongs to the family Nudiviridae and was designated LiboV.

Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology Research Institute (donation) and Isaac Newton Trust, Cam... more Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology Research Institute (donation) and Isaac Newton Trust, Cambridge

Information on cleptoparasite spider density in host Nephila spider webs in oil palm plantation s... more Information on cleptoparasite spider density in host Nephila spider webs in oil palm plantation sites in Riau, Indonesia. Column headings include Plot (oil palm area plot number), Treatment (understory management treatment - E is enhanced, N is normal, and R is reduced), Date (date of survey), Time (time of survey), Weather (weather at time of survey), Spider Height (height of spider in web), Spider size (length of Nephila spider), Web L (total length of web), Web W (total width of web), # cleptos (number of Argyrodes spiders in web), # males (number of male Nephila spiders in web).

Basic and Applied Ecology, 2020

Abstract Ants are known to provide valuable ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, includ... more Abstract Ants are known to provide valuable ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, including oil palm plantations. Their communities are less diverse and more uneven in oil palm compared with forest, and this may increase their vulnerability to disturbance. This study quantifies ant communities in oil palm agroforestry and experimentally tests their robustness to a common-practice high-disturbance management intervention: removing understory vegetation. Fieldwork was based at the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Understory Vegetation Project in Sumatra, Indonesia, where three treatments varying in their degree of understory vegetation management were established in 2014: (1) widespread herbicide was applied removing all understory vegetation (Reduced); (2) herbicide was applied to the harvesting paths and circles, and other vegetation was allowed to grow (Normal – control); (3) no herbicide was applied (Enhanced). We measured ground-foraging ant communities before and after the treatments were implemented, using pitfall traps over 324 trap-nights (a trap-night is one trap set for one night). We investigated how ant abundance, species richness, species evenness, beta diversity, and community composition differed between the treatments. We found 3507 ants across 68 species or morphospecies. Seven of these were highly abundant and accounted for 78% of individuals. Post-treatment ant abundance was lower in the reduced treatment (mean per plot: 84) than in the normal (159) and enhanced (131) treatments, which did not differ from each other. Species richness, species evenness, beta diversity and community composition were not affected by the vegetation treatments. We recommend that oil palm growers maintain understory vegetation in oil palm plantations to support ground-foraging ants. Though not tested here, this may also improve ant-mediated ecosystem services, such as pest control, seed dispersal, nutrient redistribution, and the maintenance of soil health. This study demonstrates that enhancing habitat complexity through management practices can support biodiversity in monocrop landscapes.

Journal of Applied Ecology, 2020

1. Palm oil is the most traded vegetable oil worldwide. Production is concentrated in Southeast A... more 1. Palm oil is the most traded vegetable oil worldwide. Production is concentrated in Southeast Asia, where established oil palm plantations dominate the landscape in many regions. Although levels of biodiversity are much lower than in forest, mature oil palm plantations can support a wide range of generalist species. However, these species may be threatened, as large areas of plantation have already been, or will soon be, replanted as they near the end of their productive life (20 – 30 years). Replanting changes vegetation complexity and microclimate, but short- and long-term effects on biodiversity are largely unstudied. 2. We surveyed an oil palm chronosequence (first-generation mature palms, and replanted second-generation palms aged one, three, and eight years) in an industrial plantation in Riau, Indonesia to assess the impacts of replanting over an 8-year period on arthropods in the ground, understory, and canopy microhabitats. Replanting was carried out using current recommended strategies, which included staggering replanting events to promote landscape-level heterogeneity, retaining mature oil palm riparian buffers, planting a cover crop immediately after replanting, and using chopped mature palms as mulch after clearance. We assessed changes in total arthropod abundance and order-level community composition, as well as specific changes in spider communities. 3. We observed no significant declines in total arthropod abundance after replanting, but arthropod order-level community composition varied across the chronosequence in all microhabitats. These findings were replicated, or more pronounced, in spider-specific analyses. Spider abundance and species richness decreased in the understory in the first year after replanting (although these returned to pre-replanting levels after 3 years), and spider species-level community composition in all microhabitats differed significantly across the chronosequence. 4. Synthesis and applications. Our findings indicate that total arthropod abundance is resilient to r [...]

Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 2019

Ecology and Evolution, 2019

Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 2018

... Page 2. M. Naim, Umar J. and Hafidzi MN 210 Pertanika J. Trop. Agric. Sci. Vol. 35 (2) 2012 .... more ... Page 2. M. Naim, Umar J. and Hafidzi MN 210 Pertanika J. Trop. Agric. Sci. Vol. 35 (2) 2012 ... It is a parasitic unicellular organism of the phylum Apicomplexa. The main hosts of the parasite include boid snake (Phyton reticulatus) and rodents of the genera Rattus and Bandicota. ...

Frontiers in Forests and Global Change

The growth of nestling barn owls, Tyto Alba javanica in immature oil palm in Malaysia was investi... more The growth of nestling barn owls, Tyto Alba javanica in immature oil palm in Malaysia was investigated under rat baiting with three different rodenticides. Four treatment plots were established with three plots baited each with warfarin, brodifacoum and a protozoan based biorodenticide, Sarcocystis singaporensis plus a fourth non-baited control plot. Three rat baiting campaign were carried out during the study, the first rat baiting campaign was conducted in October 2008, the second was in March 2009 (except for biorodenticide baiting was conducted a month earlier), and the last third baiting campaign in October 2009. The baiting campaigns coincided with the breeding season of barn owl. Nestlings body measurements namely: body mass, culmen length, tarsus length, wing length and tail length were taken after the third baiting campaign, from September 2009 to January 2010. Measurements were recorded every three days from hatching up until 49 days old, i.e., several days before fledging. Nestlings in control plot showed superior for all parameter taken compared to rodenticides treated plots. Body mass of nestlings in control plot were heavier by 8.17%, 13.04%, and 6.88% compared to warfarin, brodifacoum and biorodenticide treated plots respectively. The culmen and tarsus length of nestling barn owls reached the adult size during the growth period; while culmen length in control plot was longer by 3.07%, 5.28%, and 1.41% compared to warfarin, brodifacoum and biorodenticide treated plots respectively. The tarsus length of nestlings in control plot was also longer by 2.40%, 3.08% and 3.36% compared to warfarin, brodifacoum and biorodenticide treated plots respectively. In contrast with culmen and tarsus length, wing and tail length still grew until day 49 i.e., several days before fledging. The wing and tail length in control plot was shorter by 15.77% and 13.73% compared to adult size. Teratogenic sign was shown by one nestling in brodifacoum treated plot, where its primary feathers were malformed rendering it flightless besides tail length that were very short if compared to nestlings in control plot. Wing and tail length in brodifacoum treated plot was shorter by 15.26% and 18.24%, respectively compared to control plot.

The breeding performance of barn owl, Tyto alba javanica, in areas treated with rodenticides in i... more The breeding performance of barn owl, Tyto alba javanica, in areas treated with rodenticides in immature oil palms in Malaysia was investigated. Four plots were established, each at least 100 ha in size and treated with warfarin, brodifacoum, a biorodenticide (Sarcocystis singaporensis) and a non-baited control plot. Three rat baiting campaigns, which coincided with the barn owl breeding season, were carried out in October 2008, February and March 2009, and in October 2009. The nest boxes were distributed at a mean density of one unit per 25 ± 3.83 ha. The clutch size, hatching and fledging rates of barn owls in each plot was monitored monthly from September 2008 to January 2010. There was no significant difference in mean clutch size for all four treatments. The lowest percentage of hatching success was recorded in the brodifacoum-treated plot in all three breeding seasons. Fledging success was highest in the control plot, followed by the S. singaporensis-, warfarin-and brodifacoum-treated plots. The mean clutch size and mean hatching success was not significantly correlated with mean rat damage (clutch size, r = 0.754, p > 0.05; mean hatching success, r = 0.832; p > 0.05). The mean fledging success was significantly correlated with mean rat damage (r = 0.969; p < 0.05). Brodifacoum achieved the lowest level of rat damage but not significantly lower than warfarin and S. singaporensis. This indicates that S. singaporensis is a better rodenticide than warfarin and brodifacoum in controlling rats and yet achieved the highest reproductive rates in the baited areas as reflected by the rate of fledging success.