An excellent new animated video on riparian buffers and their ability to support biodiversity in tropical agriculture has been produced and is now available on YouTube. Together, Dr Eleanor Slade (NTU, Singapore), Dr Matthew Struebig & Dr Jake Bicknell (University of Kent, UK), and Melissa Payne (SEARRP, Malaysia) collaborated with local partners in Sabah from the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) and Environment Protection Department (EPD) to create content for Science Animated that would provide information on the importance of riparian buffers to wildlife for a wide audience – not to worry, there will be a version in Bahasa Melayu soon!
The video shows how riparian buffers – areas of natural habitat alongside rivers – are important for maintaining water quality and biodiversity, but little evidence comes from tropical countries. A comprehensive new dataset from Malaysia shows the width of the buffer can strongly influence the wildlife present, with larger widths supporting more species. For more information you can find the full publication here.