I am a biologist, traveler and adventurer with a deep fascination for the cultural and biological diversity in the tropics. I am interested in understanding how human activities, such as agriculture, shape our ecosystems and their ecological interactions.
Currently postdoc at the Sustainability, Agriculture & Technology (SAT) Lab, in Westlake University, China.
Follow me on the Global Agroforestry Network
Currently postdoc at the Sustainability, Agriculture & Technology (SAT) Lab, in Westlake University, China.
Follow me on the Global Agroforestry Network
News
July 2021 - Second time participating in a ATBC conference, and it was great. This time I co-organized with Tom Wanger and moderated the symposium “The Role of Agroforestry Systems in the Decade of UN Ecosystem Restoration”. We had excellent speakers Carolina Ocampo-Ariza, Eleanor Warren-Thomas, and Alejandra Jaramillo who covered interdisciplinary cocoa, coffee, and rubber agroforest research across the globe. I also presented advances of the Global Cocoa Pollination Project. My talk is available here.
June 2021 - I am delighted to announce that the Global Pollination Project now is expanding to Chiapas, Mexico. Here, in collaboration with Lislie Solis-Montero, Alma Tovar-Hernández, and Miriam Ramirez we will investigate the pollinator ecology of native cocoa varieties in El Soconusco. This area is fascinating as smallholders have been cultivating cocoa since pre-Columbian times. Find updates about this and the Global Pollination Project here. May 2021 - It was a pleasure to talk about agroforests and cocoa pollinators in the three day conference “Sweet Sustainability: Cocoa Agroforestry Advantages" hosted by Smithsonian Conservation Commons, Mighty Earth. and, more. In my intervention, I highlighted the central role that agroforestry systems and their associated pollination services play to meet sustainability goals in cocoa. The full video-recorded session is available here. April 2021 - Our newest paper published in Biological Conservation is available online. We investigated the effect of landscape configuration and farm management on the main cocoa pollinators in farms of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Our major findings underline the necessity for conservation of forest and agroforestry systems in the surrounding of cocoa farms, and maintaining canopy cover and leaf-litter in the farms to increase cocoa pollinator abundance. We trust that our work will bringing to the light the importance of preserving forests and agroforests for pollinator conservation and pollination services in cocoa systems. March 2021 - I participated in the second Global Agroforestry Network (GAN) meeting hosted by the SAT Lab. The GAN members from 11 universities discussed about innovative research ideas to around cocoa, coffee and rubber agroforestry systems. Many exciting projects are ahead. Also, my papers on hand pollination of cocoa for sustainably increasing yields was featured in Mongabay. Thanks a lot to Sarah Derouin and Mongabay for covering or cocoa pollination research in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. February 2021 - The Global Cocoa Pollination project is up and running. This project emerged from the Global Agroforestry Network (GAN) in collaborating with international universities and cocoa stakeholders in Brazil, Ghana, Cameroon, and Indonesia. Our main aim is to disentangle the global contribution of pollinators and pollination services to meet cocoa sustainability, and for this we are using sophisticated field-base and laboratory methods. Find out more in our official website. November 2020 - I had the pleasure to participate in the webinar "Towards sustainable cocoa: opportunities and challenges of a complex value chain" organized by the Institute of International Development and International Relations (IDDRI). In this conference I presented our work on cocoa agroforestry systems in Indonesia and Brazil and stressed the importance of agricultural diversification for securing ecosystem services, such as pollination. Thank you very much to the organizers Yann Lauran and Frédéric Amiel for the invitation! October 2020 - Our research work on hand pollination in cocoa farms of Central Sulawesi attracted media coverage. Now, you can find the news in English, German, and Indonesian. This is great because we show that increasing cocoa productivity and farmer income can be achieved without deforestation and agrochemical intensification. September 2020 - My paper on the effect of hand pollination and agrochemicals on cocoa yields is finally available online. In this work published in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, I describe the results of my experimental trials in Central Sulawesi, where I found that hand pollination of 13% of flowers increase yields by 51%, and can improve farmer income by up to 69%. Many thanks to co-authors Teja Tscharntke, Thomas C. Wanger, Basir Cyio, Alam Anshary and Aiyen Tjoa for their contribution to make this work possible. Also, thanks to students from Tadulako University, field assistants and cocoa farmers of Napu Valley for the incredible effort in helping pollination 206 trees for 60 consecutive days. July 2020 - We just had the Global Agroforestry Network (GAN) kick-off! We define ourselves as an initiative of scientists working on cocoa, coffee, and rubber agroforestry systems to understand the ecological, social, and economic consequences of production decisions. I am very happy to participate as coordinator of this initiative conformed acknowledged agroforestry experts from more than 10 universities. May 2020 - I officially started a postdoc position at the Sustainability, Agriculture & Technology (SAT) Lab, in Westlake University, China. In the coming years I will be working on developing a Global Agroforestry Network of scientists and stakeholders focusing on cocoa, coffee and rubber production systems. Thank you to Prof. Thomas C. Wanger, head of the SAT Lab, for giving me this exciting opportunity. February 2020 - What a special month, I successfully defended my PhD thesis and received the magna cum laude distinction (still figuring out what that means). Four years filled with unforgettable moments, and lot of personal and academic growth. I thank my supervisors and examination committee Prof. Teja Tscharntke, Prof. Michael Rostás and Prof. Thomas C. Wanger, Indonesian counterparts Prof. Basir Cyio, Prof. Alam Anshary and Dr. Aiyen Tjoa, Tadulako-University students, field work assistants and cocoa farmers in Central Sulawesi, as well as the Agroecology group for all the support throughout this process. I dedicate this milestone to my friends and family for their love and encouragement to pursue my goals. December 2019 - I am so glad to visit again the cabruca systems of Bahia, Brazil. This time, I had the pleasure to share my field knowledge on hand pollination of cocoa with small scale farmers in the region of Ilheus. I also established experimental trials to understand the effect of hand pollination in cocoa trees under highly shaded cabruca systems. I am looking forward to see the results of our experiments. Thanks again to AMAP for funding this trip and the research trial. November 2019 - I finally submitted my PhD thesis entitled "Cocoa pollination as a potential yield driver under changing management and climate" to the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Göttingen. I am so excited to present my research done in cocoa agroforests of Central Sulawesi during the dissertation the coming 13th February 2020. Thanks to Prof. Teja Tscharntke, Prof. Michael Rostás, and Prof. Thomas C. Wanger for taking part into the Examination Committee of my dissertation. March 2019 - Another amazing trip with Thomas C. Wanger to the fascinating cabruca systems of Bahia, Brazil. This time we had the opportunity to talk with different cocoa stakeholders in the region of Ilheus to plan a long-term project on sustainable cocoa production and biodiversity conservation. We thank AMAP and Prof. Mirco Solé (UESC) for hosting us during our stay, and Biofábrica de Cacao, Fazenda Provisão, and Mendoá Chocolates for joining the discussion about potential collaborations. News on our project are coming soon. November 2018 - What an exciting research trip with Thomas C. Wanger to Bahia, one of the largest cocoa producing regions in Brazil. In Bahia, cocoa trees grow under a dense layer of native shade trees. Because of their high biodiversity, complex ecological interactions and ecosystem services provision, these agroforests - also known as cabrucas - are unique agroecosystems. Many thanks to AMAP for funding this trip, and to The Applied Ecology and Conservation Lab (Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz) for the receiving us. June 2018 - Southeast Asia, here I go again! My abstract got accepted in the ATBC2018 Conference, which will be hosted in Kuching, Malaysia. There, I will present a poster of my preliminary results on the two main cocoa pollination experiments I conducted in Central Sulawesi last year. The main topic of the conference will be "Linking Natural History and the Conservation of Tomorrow’s Tropical Ecosystems". I am very excited to be part of such an important annual meeting on tropical conservation. April 2018 - Spring has arrived in Germany! What a wonderful time for participating with a talk in the XI International Symposium on Pollination held in Berlin. This time, I presented the results on my cocoa pollination review paper and part of my results on my two main research experiments carried out in Central Sulawesi. It was great to connect with many pollination researchers who shared their super interesting projects and ideas, as well as getting a positive feedback from my own work. November 2017 - Woho! I am back in Jambi, Sumatra after four years. I am very thankful with the Collaborative Research Centre 990: EFForTS and B09 group for allowing me using their facilities to identify my insect pollinator samples I collected in Central Sulawesi. A very special thanks goes to a super talented lab assistant and good friend Rico Fardiansah who helped me sorting out and identifying all insects. October 2017 - It is already one year since I arrived in Palu, Central Sulawesi, for my PhD field work, and this month I finalized the data collection of my two main research experiments. In the first one, I hand pollinated at different rates close to two hundred cocoa stands to understand the potential yields if pollination is increased. In the second experiment, I manipulated certain management practices (e.g. litter management, shade canopy cover, etc.) to determine the effect on cocoa pollinators. It was an fruitful and intense time with incredible personal and academic goals achieved. I am very happy to be able of showing my appreciation and have the opportunity to say goodbye to Tadulako University counterparts, lecturers, and students by holding two seminar talks in which I shared my experience as a foreign studying and doing research abroad (in Germany and Indonesia), as well as explained in detail the methodological concept behind this one year field work. I thank Tadulako University, field assistants, and friends for supporting me throughout this year in Indonesia. June 2017 - My review paper on the role of pollinators and pollination ecology on securing cocoa yields is finally available online. November 2016 - I would like to welcome students Muammar Qadafi and Fandi Anrata from University of Tadulako who will conduct their BSc thesis on cocoa pollination in Sulawesi under my supervision. October 2016 - I am very happy to officially start my research stay and field work in pollination ecology of cocoa in Sulawesi, Indonesia. I thank my counterparts Prof. Muhammad Basir, Prof. Alam Anshary, and Dr. Aiyen Tjoa from the University of Tadulako for all the support. September 2016 - Arriving from an exciting visit to Ghana, the second largest cocoa producer worldwide. There I had the opportunity to visit ECOLIMITS project in Kakum National Park. This project aims to understand the challenges of cocoa agroforestry systems in providing ecosystem services under current intensification and agricultural expansion pressures. August 2016 - It was a fantastic experience to take part in the First Workshop on Cocoa Sustainable Production in Lima and Tarapoto, Peru. I talked as an invited speaker about the ecological intensification potential of cocoa agroforestry systems and the role of pollination for reducing yield gaps. May 2016 - It was great to participate as an invited speaker at the Annual Scholarshop Holders Meeting of the German Exchange Service (DAAD) in Leipzig, Germany. I talked about the importance of Agroforestry systems for biodiversity conservation. April 2016 - Paper accepted in Journal of Insect Conservation: Toledo-Hernandez M, Denmead L, Clough Y, Raffiudin R, Tscharntke T. Cultural homegarden management practices mediate arthropod communities in Indonesia. March 2016 - Paper accepted in PLoS one: Prabowo WE, Darras K, Clough Y, Toledo-Hernandez M, Arlettaz R, Tscharntke T. Bird responses to lowland rainforest conservation in Sumatran smalholder landscapes, Indonesia. |
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