This thesis examines how oil palm plantation characteristics affect the presence and biomass of earthworms in Malaysia. The research was carried out across 228 plots in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. Results show that industrial plantations host more earthworms, while smallholder plantations support heavier …

Tropical western Atlantic reefs have gradually shifted from being dominated by corals to being mainly covered by macroalgae. The mass-mortality of the sea urchin Diadema antillarum in the 80s and the slow to non-existent recovery exacerbated this shift. Chemical cues associated with these reefs are expected …

The white rhino is a keystone species and an ecosystem engineer. Though there have been conservation efforts to protect this species, the current red list status of the white rhino is 'Nearly threatened'. The biggest threat that rhinos are facing nowadays is poaching for theirhorns. The rhino population …

A long-standing hypothesis in ecology and evolution is that trichromatic colour vision (the ability to distinguish red from green) in frugivorous primates has evolved as an adaptation to detect conspicuous (reddish) fruits. This could provide a competitive advantage over dichromatic frugivores which …

Coral reefs in the Caribbean have suffered massive losses of corals since the early 1980s due to a wide range of human impacts, such as explosive human populations growth, coastal pollution, global warming, overfishing, invasive species and diseases. The publication in the journal science in 2003 stated …

Coral reefs are one of the most important ecosystems in the world, in terms of both biological diversity and economy. These ecosystems are under a great amount of threats (e.g. climate change, pollution, coastal development and overfishing), which can lead to reef degradation and decrease of three-dimensional …

Nowadays almost half of the world’s population of freshwater turtles and tortoises are threatened with extinction in the wild. Particularly in Asia the population decline is severe and referred to as the “Asian Turtle Crisis”. Turtles are thought to be keystone species and therefore their disappearance …