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Department of Zoology

 

Biography

I am a conservation scientist, who researches strategies that can be employed to conserve species diversity and healthy ecosystem functioning both in the UK and abroad. I am a University Teaching Officer in the Department of Zoology, Curator of Insects in the University Museum of Zoology and   a Fellow at Clare College, Cambridge.

In Sumatra, Indonesia I work on the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme investigating management strategies to increase biodiversity in oil palm plantations without impacting yield. In Sabah, Malaysia I work with the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) Project that experimentally investigates the impact of rainforest fragmentation and conversion to agriculture on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.  In the UK, I collaborate with the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust, investigating insect diversity and management on chalk grassland reserves.

Research

I am interested in understanding how landscapes can be managed to maintain biodiversity and healthy functioning ecosystems, while still allowing agricultural development to take place. Much of this work is based in Indonesia and Malaysia, where I study the impacts of tropical rainforest fragmentation and conversion to oil palm plantation: among the biggest threats to global biodiversity today.

My previous research has investigated the role of large epiphytic ferns in housing biodiversity in oil palm. More recently, with the SAFE Project, I helped to establish an experimental landscape, encompassing forest fragments of differing sizes in a newly established oil palm. In Sumatra, Indonesia our research team is working on a collaborative initiative with the oil palm industry, the BEFTA Programme, to experimentally investigate the potential of management methods, such as the maintenance of understory plants and the rehabilitation of river margins, to benefit biodiversity and important ecosystem functions, such as pest control.

In the UK, I work with the BCN Wildlife Trust to investigate the role of habitat management in supporting insect diversity on chalk grassland reserves. We are particularly interested in understanding how conservation management can be tailored to benefit threatened butterfly species, such as the Duke of Burgundy, in the face of future climate change.

Publications

Key publications: 

Titley MA, Snaddon JL & Turner EC (2017) Scientific research on animal biodiversity is systematically biased towards vertebrates and temperate regions. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0189577

Luke SH, Dow RA, Butler S, Chey VK, Aldridge DC, Foster WA, Turner EC (2017) The impacts of habitat disturbance on adult and larval dragonflies (Odonata) in rainforest streams in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Freshwater Biology 62, 491–506.

Ewers RM, Boyle MJW. Gleave R, Plowman NS, Benedick S, Bernard H, Bishop TR, Bakhhtiar EY, Chey VK, Chung AYC, Davies RG, Edwards, DP, Eggleton P, Fayle TM, Hardwick SR, Homathevi, R, Khoo MS, Luke SL, March JJ, Nilus R, Pfeifer M, Rao SV, Struebig, MJ, Wearn OR, Yusah KM & Turner EC (2015) Logging cuts the functional dominance of invertebrates in tropical rainforest. Nat. Commun. 6, 6836

Fayle TM, Edwards DP, Foster WA, Mohd Yusah K, Turner EC (2015) An ant-plant by-product mutualism is robust to selective logging of rain forest and conversion to oil palm plantation. Oecologia. doi:10.1007/s00442-014-3208-z

 

Other publications: 

Journal articles

Titley MA, Snaddon JL & Turner EC (2017) Scientific research on animal biodiversity is systematically biased towards vertebrates and temperate regions. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0189577

Nunes MH, Ewers RM, Turner EC, Coomes DA (2017). Mapping aboveground carbon in oil palm plantations using LiDAR: a comparison of tree-centric versus area-based approaches. Remote Sensing, 9, 816. 

Luke SH, Nainar A, Walsh RPD, Bidin K, Barclay H, Chey VK, Ewers RM, Foster WA, Pfeifer M7, Reynolds G, Turner EC, Aldridge DC (2017) The effects of catchment and riparian forest quality on stream environmental conditions across a tropical rainforest and oil palm landscape in Malaysian Borneo. Ecohydrology, 10: e1827.

Luke SH, Dow RA, Butler S, Chey VK, Aldridge DC, Foster WA, Turner EC (2017) The impacts of habitat disturbance on adult and larval dragonflies (Odonata) in rainforest streams in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Freshwater Biology 62, 491–506.

Hudson L et al. (multi-author paper) (2017) The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project. Ecol. Evol. 7: 145–188.

Ghazali A, Asmah S, Asmah, S,  Syafiq M, Yahya MS, Aziz N, Peng TL, Norhisham AR, Puan CL, Turner EC & Azhar B (2016) Effects of monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on terrestrial arthropod diversity. Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology. 19, 415-421.

Pfeifer M, Nilus R, Turner EC, Chey VK, Cusack J, Lysenko I, Chung A, Kor L & Ewers RM (2016) Mapping the structure of Borneo's tropical forests across a degradation gradient. Remote Sens. Environ.176, 84-97.

Kurz DJ, Turner EC, Anak Agung Ketut Aryawan, Barkley HC, Caliman J-P, Konopik O, Sudharto Ps & Foster WA (2016). Replanting reduces frog diversity in oil palm. Biotropica. 48, 483-490.

Sasidhran S, Adila N, Mohd. Hamdan S, Samantha LD, Aziz N, Kamarudin N, Puan CL, Turner EC & Azhar B (2016) Habitat occupancy patterns and activity rate of native mammals in tropical fragmented peat swamp reserves in Peninsular Malaysia. Forest. Ecol. and Manag. 363, 140-148.

Pfeifer M, Veronique Lefebvre V, Turner EC, Cusack J, Khoo MS, Chey VK, Ewers RM (2015) Deadwood biomass: an underestimated carbon stock in degraded tropical forests? Environ. Res. Lett. 10, 044019.

Fayle TM, Turner EC, Basset Y, Ewers RM, Reynolds G, Novotny V (2015) Whole-ecosystem experimental manipulations of tropical rainforests. Trends Ecol. Evol. 30, 334–346.

Ewers RM, Boyle MJW. Gleave R, Plowman NS, Benedick S, Bernard H, Bishop TR, Bakhhtiar EY, Chey VK, Chung AYC, Davies RG, Edwards, DP, Eggleton P, Fayle TM, Hardwick SR, Homathevi, R, Khoo MS, Luke SL, March JJ, Nilus R, Pfeifer M, Rao SV, Struebig, MJ, Wearn OR, Yusah KM & Turner EC (2015) Logging cuts the functional dominance of invertebrates in tropical rainforest. Nat. Commun. 6, 6836.

Fayle TM, Edwards DP, Foster WA, Mohd Yusah K, Turner EC (2015) An ant-plant by-product mutualism is robust to selective logging of rain forest and conversion to oil palm plantation. Oecologia 178, 441–450.

Hudson L et al. (multi-author paper) (2015) The PREDICTS database: a global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts. Ecol. Evol. 4, 4701–4735.

Hardwick SR, Toumi R, Pfeifer M, Turner EC, Nilus R & Ewers RM (2015) The relationship between leaf area index and microclimate in tropical forest and oil palm plantation: forest disturbance drives changes in microclimate. Agric. For. Meteorol. 201, 187–195.

Luke SH, Eggleton P, Fayle TM, Turner EC & Davies RG (2014) Functional structure of ant and termite assemblages in old growth forest, logged forest and oil palm plantation in Malaysian Borneo. Biodivers. Conserv. 23, 2817-2832.

M. Yusah K, Turner EC, Yahya BE & Fayle TM (2013).  An elevational gradient in litter-dwelling ant communities in Imbak Canyon, Sabah, Malaysia. J. Trop. Biol. Conserv. 9, 192-199.

Fayle TM, Turner EC & Foster WA (2013) Ant mosaics occur in SE Asian oil palm plantation but not rain forest and are influenced by the presence of nest-sites and non-native species. Ecography 36, 1051–1057.

Snaddon JL, Turner EC, Fayle TM, Chey VK, Eggleton P & Foster WA (2012) Biodiversity hanging by a thread: the importance of fungal litter-trapping systems in tropical rainforests. Biol. Lett. 8, 397-400.

Fayle TM, Edwards DP, Turner EC, Dumbrell AJ, Eggleton P, & Foster WA (2012) Public goods, public services, and by-product mutualism in an ant-fern symbiosis. Oikos 121, 1279-1286.

Ewers RM, Didham RK, Fahrig L, Ferraz G, Hector A, Holt RD, Kapos V, Reynolds G, Sinun W, Snaddon JL & Turner EC (2011) A large-scale forest fragmentation experiment: the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems Project. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B 366, 3292-3302.

Foster WA, Snaddon JL, Turner EC, Fayle TM, Cockerill TD, Ellwood MDF, Broad GR, Chung AYC, Eggleton P, Chey VK & M. Yusah K (2011) Establishing the evidence base for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem function in the oil palm landscapes of South East Asia. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B 366, 3277-3291.

Fayle TM, Dumbrell AJ, Turner EC & Foster WA (2011) Distributional Patterns of Epiphytic Ferns are Explained by the Presence of Cryptic Species. Biotropica 43(1), 6-7.

Fayle TM, Turner, EC, Snaddon JL, Vun Khen, C Chung AYC, Eggleton, P & Foster WA. (2010) Oil palm expansion into rainforest greatly reduces ant biodiversity in canopy epiphytes and leaf-litter. Basic Appl. Ecol. 11, 337-345.

Turner EC & Foster WA (2009) The impact of conversion of primary rainforest to oil palm plantation on the arthropod fauna of a common epiphyte in Sabah, Malaysia. J. Trop. Ecol. 25, 23-30.

Turner EC, Granroth H, Johnson HR, Lucas C, Thompson AM, Froy H, German RN & Holdgate R (2009) Habitat preference and dispersal of the Duke of Burgundy butterfly (Hamearis lucina) on an abandoned chalk quarry in Bedfordshire, UK. J. Insect Conserv. 13, 475–486.

Snaddon JL, Turner EC & Foster WA (2008) Children’s perceptions of rainforest biodiversity: which animals have the lion’s share of environmental awareness? PLoS One 3, e1572.

Turner EC, Snaddon JL, Fayle TM & Foster WA (2008) Oil palm in context: identifying the need for biodiversity assessment. PLoS One 3, e2579.

Turner EC, Snaddon JL, Johnson HR & Foster WA (2007) The impact of bird’s nest ferns on stemflow nutrient concentration in a primary rain forest, Sabah, Malaysia. J. Trop. Ecol. 23, 721-724.

Snaddon JL & Turner EC (2007) A child’s eye view of the insect world: modern culture versus nature on perceptions of insect diversity. Environ. Conserv. 34, 33-35.

Field J, Turner EC, Fayle T & Foster WA (2007) Costs of egg production and offspring provisioning: multifaceted parental investment in a digger wasp. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 274, 445-451.

Turner EC & Foster WA (2006) Assessing the influence of Bird’s Nest Ferns (Asplenium spp.) on their local microclimate across a range of habitat disturbances in Sabah, Malaysia. Selbyana 27, 195-200.

Dial R, Ellwood MDF, Turner EC & Foster WA (2006) Arthropod abundance, canopy structure, and microclimate in a Bornean lowland tropical rain forest. Biotropica 38, 643-652.

 

Book chapters

Turner EC & Hinsch JA (in press) Integrated Pest Management in sustainable palm oil production. In Achieving sustainable cultivation of oil palm. Ed Alain Rival. Burleigh Dodds.

Fayle TM, Wanji C, Turner EC, &  Mohd Yusah K (2017) A review of land-use change impacts on mutualistic ant-plant symbioses in tropical forests. Book chapter for Ant-Plant Interactions: Impacts of Humans on Terrestrial Ecosystems. Editors: Paulo S. Oliveira & Suzanne Koptur. Cambridge University Press (UK). ISBN: 978-1-107-15975-4

Turner EC & Snaddon JL. (2015). Deforestation in Southeast Asia. Biological and Environmental Hazards, Risks and Disasters (8th volume of Disasters and Hazards). Ed Shroder J. Chapter 12.1. Elsevier (UK). ISBN: 9780123948472

Turner EC & Snaddon JL. (2015) Forest Fragments and Fragmentation. Handbook of Forest Ecology, Eds Peh K, Corlett R, & Bergeron Y. Chapter 36, pp411-422. Routledge. ISBN-10: 0415735459

Peh KS-H, Lin Y, Luke SH, Foster WA & Turner EC (2014) Forest fragmentation and ecosystem function. Global Forest Fragmentation, Eds Kettle CJ & Koh LP. Chapter 8, pp 143-174. CABI. ISBN 978-1-78064-203-1.

Turner EC, Snaddon JL, Ewers RM, Fayle TM & Foster WA (2011) The impact of oil palm expansion on environmental change: putting conservation research in context. Environmental Impact of Biofuels. Ed dos Santos Bernardes MA. InTech open access publisher. ISBN 978-953-307-479-5.

 

Industry journals, reports and proceedings

Barclay H, Gray CL, Luke SH, Nainar A, Snaddon JL & Turner EC (2017) RSPO Manual on Best Management Practices (BMPs) for Management and Rehabilitation of Riparian Reserves. White paper report for the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil.

Hinsch J, Andreas Dwi Advento, Burgess N, Caliman J-P, Foster WA, Mohd Naim, Dedi Purnomo, Sudharto Ps & Turner EC (in press). The role of beneficial plants for biological control in oil palm plantations. Proceedings of International Congress on Oil Palm and the Environment (ICOPE), Bali, Indonesia 2014.

Mohd Naim, A. A. Ketut Aryawan, Sudharto Ps, Jennings AP, Veron G, Verwilghen A, Turner EC, Putri Aulia W & Caliman J-P (in press) Understanding the relationship between rat populations and small carnivores in oil palm plantations: outputs for sustainable control of rats. Proceedings of International Congress on Oil Palm and the Environment (ICOPE), Bali, Indonesia 2014.

Expert Advisor on ‘Evidence based priorities for conservation in Telupid, Sabah’ Report for Forever Sabah initiative, developed by LEAP (2015). Report written by Lucey J.

Slade EM, Mohd Naim, Muhammad I. Burhanuddin, Sudharto Ps, Caliman JP, Foster WA, Snaddon JL, Turner EC & Mann DJ (2014) Can cattle grazing in mature oil palm increase biodiversity and ecosystem service provision? The Planter, Kuala Lumpur, 90, 655-665.

Foster WA, Snaddon JL, Dwi Advento A, Anak Agung Ketut Aryawan, Barclay H, Caliman J-P, Kurniawan C,  Kurz DJ, Mann D, Mohd Naim, Purnomo D, Pujianto, T. Dzulfikar S. Rambe, Slade EM,  Soeprapto, Suhardi, Sudharto Ps, Ribka Sionita Tarigan,  Resti Wahyuningsih, Rudi Harto Widodo and Turner EC (2014) The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Project. The Planter, Kuala Lumpur, 90, 581-591.

Turner EC,  Abidin YZ, Barlow H, Fayle TM, Jaafar MHH, Chey VK, Larenus J, Nainar A, Reynolds G, Yusof YB, Khoo MS & Ewers RM (2012) The Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems Project: Investigating The Design Of Human-Modified Landscapes For Productivity And Conservation. The Planter, Kuala Lumpur, 88, 453-468.

Turner EC (2008) Investigating the habitat preferences of the Duke of Burgundy at Totternhoe Quarry. Action for the Duke of Burgundy: Sharing Good Practice. Seminar Report no. S08-33. Eds Noake B, Bulman C & Bourn N. Butterfly Conservation.

Fayle TM, Ellwood MDF, Turner EC, Snaddon JL, Mohd Yusah K & Foster WA (2008) Bird’s Nest Ferns: islands of biodiversity in the rainforest canopy. Antenna 32, 34-37.

Associate Professor
Curator of Insects in Museum of Zoology
Deputy Head of Department (Teaching)

Contact Details

Accepting applications for PhD students.

Affiliations