Kelvin S.-H. Peh

University of Southampton · Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences

1. The existence of many types of monodominant forests is readily explainable by ecological theory (e.g. early successional forests). Nevertheless, monodominant stands sometimes occur in areas where a much higher diversity typically occurs. Such ‘classical monodominance’ is not currently readily explained by ecological theory. 2. We briefly review...

An analysis of the elevational distributions of Southeast Asian birds over a 28-year period provides evidence for a potential upward shift for 94 common resident species. These species might have shifted their lower, upper, or both lower and upper boundaries toward a higher elevation in response to climate warming. These upward shifts occurred rega...

This review deals with alien species invasion in Southeast Asia, an important conservation and management concern in the region. I report on the current and potential future impacts of biological invasions on biodiversity in Southeast Asia. Current knowledge of the invasive species in Southeast Asia is mostly based on anecdotal observations. Nevert...

Pollination is an ecosystem process that is crucial to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem function. Bats are important pollinators in the tropics and are an integral part of complex plant–pollinator interaction networks. However, network analysis–based approaches are still scarce at the plant species and bat community levels. We used metabarcoding...

Human activities exert pronounced influence on forest ecosystems, impacting biodiversity and functions across multiple scales. However, the consequences of low-intensity human activities on tropical forest ecosystems are difficult to assess and remain poorly explored. The influence of human activities and other site-specific variables on forest tre...

Ecosystems are rapidly degraded by anthropogenic pressures, affecting the provision of ecosystem services. Therefore, it is increasingly important that we can quantify and manage ecosystem services to maintain human well‐being. Many ecosystem services are underpinned by ecosystem functions and processes that are driven by interspecific ecological i...

Tropical agroforestry systems support the wellbeing of many smallholder farmers. These systems provide smallholders with crops for consumption and income through their ecological interactions between their tree, soil, and crop components. These interactions, however, could be vulnerable to changes in climate conditions; yet a reliable understanding...

In spite of their small global area and restricted distributions, tropical montane forests (TMFs) are biodiversity hotspots and important ecosystem services providers, but are also highly vulnerable to climate change. To protect and preserve these ecosystems better, it is crucial to inform the design and implementation of conservation policies with...

Background. Coastal communities are highly dependent on ecosystem services, but the benefits and livelihoods people derive from natural ecosystems are directly and indirectly affected by climate change. The need for a mechanistic understanding of how components of climate change translate into measurable impacts on ecosystems and society is fundame...

Climate change is expected to adversely affect the crop yields and food security for many smallholder farmers in the tropics unless adaptive measures are implemented. Agroforestry ecosystem services, such as micro-climate buffering, have received growing attention from the academic and policy communities for alleviating the negative impacts of clim...

Globally important chalk streams in England are in poor ecological health, in part due to inadequate water quality. Addressing this issue requires an understanding of the governance systems that surround water quality. The complexity and uncertainty inherent in hydrological systems has led to the emergence of integrated and adaptive forms of govern...

Functional traits offer generalizability to the prediction of ecosystem processes such as production, and community-weighted mean trait values are increasingly used for such predictions. However, the underlying causal direction between traits and ecosystem processes are often indirect and sometimes even tenuous. In this study, we aimed to uncover u...

Pollinator declines have prompted efforts to assess how land‐use change affects insect pollinators and pollination services in agricultural landscapes. Yet many tools to measure insect pollination services require substantial landscape‐scale data and technical expertise. In expert workshops, 3 straightforward methods (desk‐based method, field surve...

Tropical forests store 40-50% of terrestrial vegetation carbon. Spatial variations in aboveground live tree biomass carbon (AGC) stocks remain poorly understood, in particular in tropical montane forests. Because of climatic and soil changes with increasing elevation, AGC stocks are lower in tropical montane compared to lowland forests. Here we ass...

Many of the world’s wetlands have been degraded or destroyed, with Asia being one of the most impacted regions globally. Given the likelihood that Myanmar will increase rice production in the coming years, we assessed the impact of this on the Moeyungyi Wetland Wildlife Sanctuary in Myanmar, and the ecosystem services it provides. Using a framework...

Nature provides many benefits for people, yet there are few data on how changes at individual sites impact the net value of ecosystem service provision. A 2002 review found only five analyses comparing the net economic benefits of conserving nature versus pursuing an alternative, more intensive human use. Here we revisit this crucial comparison, sy...

Tropical forests are the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth. While better understanding of these forests is critical for our collective future, until quite recently efforts to measure and monitor them have been largely disconnected. Networking is essential to discover the answers to questions that transcend borders and the horizons of...

Despite providing important ecosystem services in both natural and agricultural systems in the tropics, bats are often disregarded or considered pests; and research quantifying their importance as pollinators is scarce. We quantified the value and benefit distribution of bat pollination in the production of a major fruit crop in Mexico (pitayas, St...

Tropical montane ecosystems are vulnerable to multiple threats, and severe ecological impact on such systems has been documented. However, trends for local montane biodiversity are often varied. Such discrepancy underscores the need to parse the spatial and temporal dynamic of each habitat type within a montane landscape in terms of their species r...

Archipelagoes serve as important 'natural laboratories' which facilitate the study of island radiations and contribute to the understanding of evolutionary processes. The white-eye genus Zosterops is a classical example of a 'great speciator', comprising c. 100 species from across the Old World, most of them insular. We achieved an extensive geogra...

Decomposition is a key ecosystem function, and the rate of decomposition in forests affects their carbon storage potentials. Processes and factors determining leaf litter decomposition rates in dry‐land and temperate forests are well understood, but these are generally poorly studied in tropical wetland forests, especially freshwater swamp forests...

Predation plays a critical role in animal and plant survivorship, and can be highly sensitive to habitat loss and disturbance. Tropical montane forests in Southeast Asia are being modified rapidly by land-use change, and the consequences of this on predation likelihood are poorly understood. In Peninsular Malaysia, we conducted predation experiment...

Structurally intact tropical forests sequestered about half of the global terrestrial carbon uptake over the 1990s and early 2000s, removing about 15 per cent of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Climate-driven vegetation models typically predict that this tropical forest ‘carbon sink’ will continue for decades. Here we assess trends in the c...

The Asian elephant is at risk of extinction due to anthropogenic pressures, and remaining populations are often small and fragmented remnants, occupying a fraction of the species’ former range. Once widely distributed across China, only a maximum of 245 elephants are estimated to survive across seven small populations. We assessed the Asian elephan...

Bats pollinate many plants of high socio‐economic value, including the majority of columnar cacti (Cactaceae) in Mexico, which have been used by humans for food and materials for thousands of years. However, the importance of bats as pollinators has been overlooked, with a consequent lack of knowledge of the reliance of crops on bats for harvest yi...

Protected areas offer diverse ecosystem services, including cultural services related to recreation, which contribute manifold to human wellbeing and the economy. However, multiple pressures from other human activities often compromise ecosystem service delivery from protected areas. It is thus fundamental for effective management to understand the...

Tropical montane forests (TMFs) are major centers of evolutionary change and harbor many endemic species with small geographic ranges. In this systematic map, we focus on the impacts of anthropogenic habitat degradation on TMFs globally. We first determine how TMF research is distributed across geographic regions, degradation type (i.e., deforestat...

Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) encompass a range of social, cultural and health benefits to local communities, for example recreation, spirituality, a sense of place and local identity. However, these complex and place-specific CES are often overlooked in rapid land management decisions and assessed using broad, top–down approaches. 2. We use th...

Southeast (SE) Asia holds high regional biodiversity and endemism levels but is also one of the world's most threatened regions. Local, regional and global threats could have severe consequences for the future survival of many species and the provision of ecosystem services. In the face of myriad pressing environmental problems, we carried out a r...

• Conversion of forest to oil palm plantations results in a significant loss of biodiversity. Despite this, first‐cycle oil palm plantations can sustain relatively high biodiversity compared to other crops. However, the long‐term effects of oil palm agriculture on flora and fauna are unknown. Oil palm has a 25‐year commercial lifespan before it mus...

Current approaches for assessing the effects of invasive alien species (IAS) are biased toward the negative effects of these species, resulting in an incomplete picture of their real effects. This can result in an inefficient IAS management. We address this issue by describing the INvasive Species Effects Assessment Tool (INSEAT) that enables exper...

Oil palm is the most productive oil crop per unit area and is crucial to the economy of developing countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. However, it is also highly controversial due to the impact it has on biodiversity. Inputs of herbicides to control understory vegetation in plantations are high, which is likely to harm native biodiversity, bu...

Increasing interest in measuring, modelling and valuing ecosystem services (ES), the benefits that ecosystems provide to people, has resulted in the development of an array of ES assessment tools in recent years. Selecting an appropriate tool for measuring and modelling ES can be challenging. This document provides guidance for practitioners on exi...

As green spaces are a common feature of liveable cities, a detailed understanding of the benefits provided by these areas is essential. Although green spaces are regarded as a major contribution to the human well-being in urbanized areas, current research has largely focused on the cities in developed countries and their global importance in terms...

There is an understandable, but ultimately misguided temptation of some environmentalists to cling to any explanation which appears to strengthen their case. One such recent example is the attempt to claim that the proceeds of illegal trade in ivory may support and fund international terrorism. But enduring policy decisions are dependent on mutuall...

Invasive alien species (IAS) constitute a major threat to global biological diversity. In order to control their spread, a detailed understanding of the factors influencing their distribution is essential. Although international trade is regarded as a major force structuring spatial patterns of IAS, the role of other social factors remains unclear....

Vertebrate pollinators are increasingly threatened worldwide, but little is known about the potential consequences of declining pollinator populations on plants and ecosystems. Here, we present the first global assessment of the importance of vertebrate pollinators in the reproductive success of selected flowering plants. Our meta-analysis of 126 e...

The Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA) has been developed through a collaboration of six institutions with input generously provided by scientists and practitioners from multiple disciplines. The toolkit provides accessible guidance on low-cost methods for how to evaluate the benefits people receive from nature at particula...

Across all societies, humans depend on goods received from nature, termed ecosystem services. However, cultural ecosystem services (CES), the non-material benefits people obtain from ecosystems, are often overlooked in land-use decision making due to their intangible nature. This study aimed to evaluate three possible survey methods for site-based...

The first International Peat Congress (IPC) held in the tropics - in Kuching (Malaysia) - brought together over 1000 international peatland scientists and industrial partners from across the world (“International Peat Congress with over 1000 participants!,” 2016). The congress covered all aspects of peatland ecosystems and their management, with a...

We are increasingly confronted with severe social and economic impacts of environmental degradation all over the world. From a valuation perspective, environmental problems and conflicts originate from trade-offs between values. The urgency and importance to integrate nature's diverse values in decisions and actions stand out more than ever. Valuat...

We are increasingly confronted with severe social and economic impacts of environmental degradation all over the world. From a valuation perspective, environmental problems and conflicts originate from trade-offs between values. The urgency and importance to integrate nature's diverse values in decisions and actions stand out more than ever. Valua...

Understanding the role of globalisation in promoting introduction and establishment of alien species is an important step towards successful management of biological invasions. We aimed to quantify the taxon-dependent association of globalisation with the introduction and establishment of alien species in Europe. The availability of the KOF Index o...

There is an increasing emphasis on the restoration of ecosystem services as well as of biodiversity, especially where restoration projects are planned at a landscape scale. This increase in the diversity of restoration aims has a number of conceptual and practical implications for the way that restoration projects are monitored and evaluated. Lands...

There is an increasing emphasis on the restoration of ecosystem services as well as of biodiversity, especially where restoration projects are planned at a landscape-scale. This increase in the diversity of restoration aims has a number of conceptual and practical implications for the way that restoration projects are monitored and evaluated. Lands...

Management decisions and the development of appropriate conservation policy require scientifically rigorous and accessible information. Biodiversity conservation has been and continues to be a complex issue; more recently the field of ecosystem services has become more prominent. This provides both risks and opportunities for nature conservation. R...

Southeast Asia possesses the highest rates of tropical deforestation globally and exceptional levels of species richness and endemism. Many countries in the region are also recognized for their food insecurity and poverty, making the reconciliation of agricultural production and forest conservation a particular priority. This reconciliation require...

Transboundary haze pollution as a result of indiscriminate land clearance by fire has significant health and economic impacts on member states of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN). Meanwhile the impact of the associated carbon emissions, ecological disturbance and biodiversity loss extends well beyond South-east Asia. This is desp...

Jakarta’s failure to tackle illegal burning is threatening its relations with its neighboursThe 2015 UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris concluded, as expected, with mixed results: the reaffirmation of old pledges to tackle global warming, plus new pledges, of which some will be realised and others will be quietly forgotten. Still, there is a...

This comprehensive handbook provides a unique resource covering all aspects of forest ecology from a global perspective. It covers both natural and managed forests, from boreal, temperate, sub-tropical and tropical regions of the world. The book is divided into seven parts, addressing the following themes: forest types, forest dynamics, forest flor...

To provide an inter-continental overview of the floristics and biogeography of drought-adapted tropical vegetation formations, we compiled a dataset of inventory plots in South America (n=93), Africa (n=84), and Asia (n=92) from savannas (subject to fire), seasonally dry tropical forests (not generally subject to fire), and moist forests (no fire)....

Despite growing recognition that mineral sites restored for nature conservation can enhance local biodiversity, the wider societal benefits provided by this type of restoration relative to alternative options are not well understood. This study addresses this research gap by quantifying differences in ecosystem services provision under two common m...

Local stakeholders at the important but vulnerable Centre Hills on Montserrat consider that the continued presence of feral livestock (particularly goats and pigs) may lead to widespread replacement of the reserve’s native vegetation by invasive alien trees (Java plum and guava), and consequent negative impacts on native animal species. Since 2009,...