Faculty of Agricultural Sciences Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics (Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute) University of Hohenheim Agroecology in the Tropics and Subtropics Supervisor Prof. Dr. J. Sauerborn Impact of rubber tree dominated land-use on biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Greater Mekong Subregion Dissertation Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree “Doktor der Agrarwissenschaften” (Dr. sc. agr.) to the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences Presented by Inga Häuser, MSc. Stuttgart 2016 Impact of rubber tree dominated land-use on biodiversity and ESS in the GMS This thesis was accepted as a doctoral dissertation in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree “Doktor der Agrarwissenschaften, Dr.sc.agr.” by the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Hohenheim. Date of oral examination: 29.05.2017 Examination committee Head of committee: Prof. Dr. Thilo Streck Supervisor and reviewer: Prof. Dr. Joachim Sauerborn 2nd reviewer: Prof. Dr. Oliver Frör Additional examiner: Prof. Dr. Petra Högy i Impact of rubber tree dominated land-use on biodiversity and ESS in the GMS Table of contents Author’s Declaration ........................................................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................................................................. v Overview of publications ...............................................................................................................................................vi 1 General introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The importance of rubber and its way to China ................................................................................ 1 1.2 The concept of ecosystem services and its link to biodiversity .................................................. 7 1.3 The SURUMER project .................................................................................................................................. 9 1.4 Objectives ........................................................................................................................................................ 12 1.5 Outline of thesis ............................................................................................................................................ 12 1.6 References ...................................................................................................................................................... 13 2 Ecosystem services and biodiversity of rubber plantations – a systematic review .................. 17 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 19 2.2 Methods ........................................................................................................................................................... 20 2.3 Results .............................................................................................................................................................. 21 2.4 Discussion ....................................................................................................................................................... 24 2.5 Conclusion/Summary ................................................................................................................................ 25 2.6 References ...................................................................................................................................................... 27 3 Environmental and socio-economic impacts of rubber cultivation in the Mekong region: challenges for sustainable land-use ............................................................................................................... 30 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 32 3.2 Consequences of the rubber boom ....................................................................................................... 33 3.2.1 Impacts on carbon balance ............................................................................................................ 34 3.2.2 Impacts on the hydrological cycle ............................................................................................... 37 3.2.3 Effects on socio-economic conditions and livelihood ......................................................... 38 3.2.4 Towards Sustainable Rubber Cultivation ................................................................................ 40 3.3 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................... 42 3.4 References ...................................................................................................................................................... 43 4 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services - A case study for the Assessment of Multiple Species and Functional Diversity Levels in a Cultural Landscape ..................................................................... 51 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 53 4.1.1 Study sites ............................................................................................................................................. 54 4.2 Material and Methods ................................................................................................................................ 54 4.2.1 General Approach .............................................................................................................................. 54 4.2.2 Own studies on site ........................................................................................................................... 54 ii Impact of rubber tree dominated land-use on biodiversity and ESS in the GMS 4.2.3 Literature research ............................................................................................................................ 55 4.2.4 Data integration .................................................................................................................................. 55 4.2.5 Case study scenarios ......................................................................................................................... 56 4.3 Results .............................................................................................................................................................. 56 4.4 Discussion and conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 57 4.4.1 Rubber as habitat ............................................................................................................................... 60 4.4.2 Upscaling and transferability ........................................................................................................ 60 4.5 References ...................................................................................................................................................... 61 5 Investigating potential transferability of place-based research in land system science ......... 64 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 66 5.2 Materials and Methods .............................................................................................................................. 68 5.2.1 Case studies .......................................................................................................................................... 68 5.2.2 Data .......................................................................................................................................................... 71 5.2.3 Analysis of transferability potentials ......................................................................................... 72 5.3 Results .............................................................................................................................................................. 74 5.4 Discussion ....................................................................................................................................................... 80 5.5 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................... 83 5.6 References ...................................................................................................................................................... 84 6 General Discussion ................................................................................................................................................ 89 6.1 References ...................................................................................................................................................... 97 7 Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................................