The impacts of food production on biodiversity

This market in Kuala Pilah, Peninsular Malaysia, shows an assortment of locally grown fruits and vegetables.  Matthew Luskin and other Potts’ lab students are working on quantifying the biodiversity impacts of producing that food through the Conservation of Biodiversity (CBioD) project.
Matthew is currently studying the conversion of tropical rain forests to palm oil plantations (the world’s largest vegetable oil). Oil palm expansion is considered the single most immediate and pervasive threat to terrestrial biodiversity with staggering growth across the tropics.