Prof Dr Edgar Turner

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.

Key Publications

Pashkevich MD, Marshall CAM, Freeman B, Reiss-Woolever VJ, Abedi-Lartey M, Caliman J-P, van Dessel P, Drewer J, Heath B, Hendren MT, Saputra A, Stone J, Timperley J, Draper W, Gbarway A, Geninyan B, Ginting D, Goll B, Guahn M, Gweh AN, Hadfield P, Handojo F, Jah M, Jayswen S, Jeremiah, Jones Y, Kandie S, Koffa D, Manewah B, Palmeirim F, Pett B,Rocha R, Swope-Nyantee E, Tue J, Tueleh J, Vincent A, Weah R, Widodo R, Yennigo AJ, Yonmah J & Turner, EC (2024). The socioecological benefits and consequences of oil palm cultivation in its native range: The Sustainable Oil Palm in West Africa (SOPWA) Project. Science of the Total Environment 926 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171850

Hayes MP, Ashe-Jepson E, Hitchcock GE, Clark R, Hellon J, Knock RI, Bladon AJ & Turner EC (2024). Heatwave predicts shady future for insects. Journal of Insect Conservation 28 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-024-00556-5

Howlett K, Lee H-Y, Jaffé A, Lewis M & Turner EC (2023). Wildlife documentaries present a diverse, but biased, portrayal of the natural world’. People and Nature https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10431

Luke SH, Foster WA, Advento AD, Aryawan AAK, Adhy DN, Ashton-Butt A, Barclay H, Drewer J, Dumbrell A, Eycott AE, Harianja MF, Hinsch JA, Hood A SC, Kurniawan C, Kurz DJ, Mann DJ, Matthews Nicholass KJ, Naim M, Pashkevich MD, Prescott GW, Sudharto Ps, Pujianto, Purnomo D, Purwoko RR, Putra S, Rambe TDS, Slade EM, Soeprapto, Spear DM, Suhardi, Tan D, Tao1 H-H, Tarigan RS, Wahyuningsih R, Waters HS, Widodo RH, Woodham CR, Caliman J-P, Snaddon JL, Turner EC (2020). The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme: using large-scale experiments to test and develop more-sustainable oil palm management. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. 2:75. doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2019.00075

Bladon A, Lewis M, Bladon E, Buckton S, Corbett S, Ewing S, Hayes M, Hitchcock G, Knock R, Lucas C, McVeigh A, Menendez R, Walker J, Fayle T, Turner EC (2020). How butterflies keep their cool: physical and ecological traits influence thermoregulatory ability and population trends. Journal of Animal Ecology 89, 2440-2450

Full list of publications