Our 3 main collaborative programs that support the environmental research are illustrated below:

  1. Balancing Development of Oil Palm Plantations with Conservation of Tropical Forest Ecosystems

LOCATION

    • Lambir 2 Estate, Miri

COLLABORATORS

      • SOPB
      • Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)
      • Nagoya University of Japan (NU)

PURPOSE

      1. To quantify and monitor Carbon (C) and Nitrogen (N) flux of oil palm plantation using Eddy Covariance Tower in Lambir 2 Estate.
      2. To monitor and capture temporal environmental changes that affect Carbon (C) and Nitrogen (N) dynamics in Oil Palm Plantation.

2. Ecosystem Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics of Tropical Peatland

LOCATION

      • Sebungan/ Sabaju Estate, Sebauh, Bintulu

COLLABORATORS

        • SOPB
        • Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)
        • Param Agriculture Survey Sdn. Bhd.
        • University of Aberdeen
        • University of St. Andrews
        • University of Leicester
        • National Taiwan University
        • University of Hyogo
        • University of Exeter

PURPOSE

        1. To determine the overall GHG balance of oil palm plantations on peat by quantifying land-atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2) methane (CH4) nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitric Oxide (NOx; a precursor to tropospheric ozone, a strong GHG and environmental pollutant.
        2. To investigate how primary productivity, carbon (C) dynamics and C Sequestration rates respond to changing environmental drivers (e.g. photosynthetically active radiation, rainfall, temperature, moisture, water table depth, nutrient availability).
        3. To quantify N gas (N2O1 NOx) from fertilizer and ecosystem N retention in oil palm plantations on peat, in order to evaluate the proportion of fertilizer N lost to the atmosphere and the efficacy of current fertilizer management practices.

3. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Derived Structure-from-Motion Photogrammetry Point Clouds for Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis) Canopy Segmentation and Height Estimation

LOCATION

        • Sebungan/ Sabaju Estate, Sebauh, Bintulu

COLLABORATORS

          • SOPB
          • Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)
          • University of Exeter
          • Tropical Peat Research Institute

PURPOSE

          1. To demonstrate a workflow for the retrieval of single palm canopies from SfM point clouds.
          2. To quantify the uncertainties introduced by the acquisition scheme and steps in SfM-based workflow as well as in the retrieved metrics.
          3. To derive and assess top-frond height (TFH) and stem height metrics from single palm SfM point clouds.

CORRECT AS OF 06 SEPTEMBER 202