ATBC 2023

During the summer of 2023, TEE Lab members, Dr. Eleanor Slade, Dr Chiew Li Yuen, and Ong Xin Rui, had an exciting opportunity to present our research at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC 2023), which was held in Coimbatore, India.

Us at the opening ceremony together with Dr Anuskha Rege. Photos 2023 Ong Xin Rui.

First up was Li Yuen, who gave a solid 3-min speed talk on her research conducted in riparian buffers near oil palm plantations. She shared on how riparian buffers of varying widths could influence the movement of a common pest species, the Rhinocerous beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros), within and between both oil palm plantations and riparian buffers. Li Yuen also presented on the presence of other pest species, such as the Ganoderma fungus and nettle caterpillars, in oil palm plantations and how they are affected by the presence and widths of riparian buffers.

In a mix bag session, Eleanor presented on the GBIF project, "Mobilising data on dung beetles of Malaysia and Singapore". She stressed on the importance and need for taxonomic and natural history research, especially for understudied groups like insects and other invertebrates, and presented a multipronged strategy to fill existing data and knowledge gaps towards tropical insect conservation. As a key case study, Eleanor showcased the checklists and occurrence datasets of lowland Sabah and Singapore dung beetles, as well as our on-going efforts (i.e. guidebooks and keys) in making these information readily available to all who are interested.

In the same session, Xin Rui shared the results of her quantitative review of Southeast Asian insect studies and occurrence records, and on the Twitter data analysis that was performed by our student, Belle Tan. Xin Rui presented that insect studies were largely focused on economically and medically important research topics and insect groups, while #conservation tweets are biased towards "charismatic" groups like mammals and birds. She highlighted the need for political will and funding, and to enable public engagement initiatives, integrative taxonomic approaches and regional collaborations to help overcome these impediments towards insect conservation efforts in Southeast Asia.

Eleanor, Li Yuen & Xin Rui at ATBC 2023 and their awesome talks! Photo 2023 Ong Xin Rui.

During the conference, we also learnt about many interesting and new research, such as the use of AI for biodiversity monitoring and passive acoustic monitoring techniques. We also met and had amazing discussions with a few likeminded insect researchers, which may lead to more exciting opportunities for insect research in the region!

Outside the conference, we also explored and soaked in the beautiful landscapes and unique biodiversity of the surrounding Western Ghats. A special shout out to these wonderful individuals - Anushka Rege, Pravin Shanmughanandam, Pravin Desai and Shitai Desai for bringing us around!

Here's a photo bomb of some fauna, flora and fungi that we came across.

Photos 2023 Ong Xin Rui & Eleanor Slade

BONUS: A male Catharsius dung beetle that we chanced upon at a homestay!