Climate Change in Tropical Rainforests

Based in the logged forest of the Malua Reserve, fringing the famous Danum Valley, project leader Dzaeman Dzulkifli and a team of research assistants head into the forest for a spot of extreme gardening in one of the world's most diverse habitats - the island of Borneo. Dzaeman explains what has led to his involvement with this new Earthwatch project, Climate Change in Tropical Rainforests.

I was trained as a zoologist at Queen Mary, University of London. Before living in London I spent a couple of years in Jakarta and Singapore and prior to that, mostly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where I was born. Before joining the Royal Society's South East Asian Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP), I was involved with some volunteer work with my university where I helped to monitor fish populations of the Rift Valley lakes and helped investigate how they were affected by water irrigation for agriculture.

My love and passion for the natural world began at an early age - five if I am not mistaken. One of my earliest memories of interacting with nature would probably be when my family was based on the east coast of the peninsular of Malaysia, Terengganu. My family was very much involved with nature, with the coastline being a mere 12 steps away. My father and a group of friends started a sea turtle reintroduction project on our beach, buying eggs harvested from neighbouring beaches and incubating them on our very own beach. It was the highlight of my life on the east coast, getting up early to check if it was time for the hatchlings to emerge. With some mangrove forest being an additional 12 steps away, one can imagine how, for most of my childhood, I was surrounded by nature and wildlife.

I like everything about my work. It's really exactly what I have wanted to do ever since I started thinking of a future as a biologist/scientist. I find such pleasure working with a range of young scientists at the Danum Valley Field Centre, and with many different characters from all around the world who come and help us with our fieldwork. The location itself and the jungle life is one I truly love. Having wild gibbons as my alarm clock is priceless. The work can be physically demanding; as we are only in the early stages of establishing the research it involves a fair amount of trekking, usually with a backpack filled with seedlings. But at the end of the day, you know your work will contribute to the understanding of tropical rainforests, and their global importance.

The research

We are currently involved in the start-up stages of the Sabah Biodiversity Experiment. It involves 500 hectares of forest in the Malua Forest Reserve, just north of Danum Valley. These hectares have already been mapped out and divided into four hectare experimental plots, in which our planting will take place. Each plot consists of 20 planting lines along which trees are planted three metres apart, if conditions allow them to be planted. Our task is then to dig holes, map where plants can be planted, and plant with dipterocarp seedlings (the most important family of trees in the rainforests of Borneo).

So much of Borneo's rainforests have been logged - often pretty badly, leaving behind very damaged forest that needs to be rehabilitated by planting back the trees which were felled (technically known as ‘enrichment planting'). However, we really don't know how to do this well while maintaining or improving biodiversity and other environmental services provided by forests (carbon storage for example). One of the main aims of this project is to establish how different levels of tree diversity affect the levels of diversity overall - hence the name biodiversity experiment. What we are hoping to see is whether the plots planted with a higher diversity of tree species will be able to sustain a higher diversity of other animals - insects, birds or reptiles, for example. We can also look at how a higher or lower diversity of planted trees affects some of the key ecosystem processes such as decomposition, nutrient cycling and carbon storage. This is very much a long-term experiment, which becomes more valuable as it matures, and will, we hope, act as a platform for visiting scientists to carry out their own experiments.

Earthwatch volunteers can really help us out with the start-up of this research in terms of planting and the collection of baseline data. We have a fulltime team of local research assistants who are working on this at this very moment, and a team of Earthwatch volunteers will double the work done and reduce our field time by half.
This research is extremely important at giving us a guideline as to how we should go about forest rehabilitation. Most of the lowland rainforest of South East Asia has been logged, and so much of it is in urgent need of rehabilitation - not just to help conserve biodiversity, but also to contribute to the fight against climate change by improving the capacity of forests to absorb carbon. But the rehabilitation of forests must be underpinned by science - which is why this experiment is so important.

On the expedition

Typically, we start our day around eight with breakfast. We travel by four wheel drive vehicle down a main logging road for a few hundred metres, and then trek for another 200 or 400 metres, depending which plots we are working on. We alternate digging days and planting days as we can only start to plant when we have fully completed a plot. Once we have estimated the number of planting holes, we can then finish up with the planting and labelling. But this all depends on the weather conditions; if it is too dry we won't plant, to maximise the chances of seedlings surviving. Also, there are times when planting can be hazardous. We sometimes get herds of pygmy elephants visiting our site.

We usually aim to complete around two planting lines per team - three if possible - and return back to camp around one o'clock. Our afternoons are spent resting to regain strength as it can be physically demanding working in such humid conditions. The heat of the afternoon also makes it unsuitable to be in the field for even some of the most seasoned research assistants.

Our evenings are spent with some recreational activities such as badminton, table tennis and volleyball. The Malua campsite lies next to a gentle river and we use its banks for river walks, campfires and barbecues. Occasionally we head out for night drives where we try our luck at spotting some of Borneo's amazing nocturnal life. Some of the creatures we have successfully spotted include the charismatic pygmy elephant, leopard cat, slow loris, and a range of civets.

Report by Dzaeman Dzulkifli, one of the lead scientists on the new Earthwatch expedition, Climate Change in Tropical Rainforests.