Conferences Galore!

2023 has so far been an eventful year, and the TEE Lab has been showcasing our research in multiple conferences! In a short span from late August 2023 to mid September 2023, we have participated in three international conferences: Heart of Borneo International Conference 2023 (HoB 2023), Ento23, and the 5th International Symposium on Insects 2023 (ISol2023).

(Top left) Li Yuen at the speakers' Q&A session at HoB 2023. Photo 2023 Arthur Chung.

(Top right) Eleanor's presentation at Ento23. Photo 2023 Ong Xin Rui.

(Bottom left) Li Yuen's presentation at ISol2023. Photo 2023 Ms Dayang Fazrinah Awg Damit.

(Bottom right) Xin Rui's poster at Ento23. Photo 2023 Eleanor Slade.

Heart of Borneo International Conference 2023 (HoB 2023)

Kicking off this conference season is Dr Chiew Li Yuen at the HoB 2023 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. This conference was held on 23 to 24 August 2023, and brought together a global community of researchers, conservationists, experts from policy and decision makers, relevant government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), oil palm companies, and higher learning institutions from Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia. It provided a common platform for delegates to share their insights on the various aspects of the HoB Initiative and biodiversity conservation concerning the 22 million hectares of contiguous tropical forests across the Bornean island.

Li Yuen's presentation at HoB 2023. Photo 2023 Dr Arthur Chung.

Under the theme "An Ecosystem that Provides”, the conference garnered an impressive attendance of more than 700 participants. The heart of the conference laid in its five concurrent presentation sessions, each providing a stage for 28 presenters to share their findings and insights. Li Yuen shared in detail about how habitat change affects invertebrate-mediated functions within Borneo's tropical forests. Using six easily measurable processes tied to ecosystem functionality, Li Yuen's research offered a significant perspective on enabling rapid assessment of disturbance levels and long-term monitoring of forest health.

(Left) Li Yuen receiving a conference souvenir as a gesture of recognition. Photo 2023 Sabah Forestry Department Official Website.

(Right) Li Yuen and Dr Arthur Chung, our local collaborator in Sabah who provides invaluable support for our research. Photo 2023 Dr Arthur Chung.

Ento23

Next up, Dr Eleanor Slade and Ong Xin Rui participated in the Royal Entomological Society's Ento23, which was held in the University of Exeter, Falmouth, Cornwall, UK from 5 to 7 September 2023. The conference brought together more than 200 participants from various universities, NGOs and industry partners. The programme centered around eight major themes, which comprised of 72 excellent presentations and 41 impressive posters.

(Top Left) Eleanor addressing the taxonomic and capacity impediments in tropical entomology. Photo 2023 Royal Entomological Society.

(Bottom Left) Graphical abstract from "The Future of Tropical Insect Diversity: Strategies to Fill Data and Knowledge Gap".

(Right) Xin Rui's poster on "Impediments and Proposed Solutions to Southeast Asian Insect Conservation in the 21st Century).

In the "Conservation and Declines" session, Eleanor shared on the taxonomic and capacity impediments in tropical entomology, where she highlighted existing knowledge and capacity gaps in tropical insect conservation. Eleanor presented the GBIF project, "Mobilising data on dung beetles of Malaysia and Singapore", as a key case study that involved integrative taxonomy approaches for better species identifications, and creating user-friendly guidebooks and open-access databases to enable local capacity building.

In the poster sessions, Xin Rui presented her quantitative review of Southeast Asian insect studies and occurrence records, and social media analysis of Twitter data (performed by Belle Tan). There were engaging conversations and engagements with interested delegates, where many echoed our concerns on the biasness towards "charismatic" insect groups like bees and butterflies and acknowledged the need for better focus and coverage across all insect groups.

5th International Symposium on Insects 2023 (ISol2023)

From 11 to 13 September 2023, Li Yuen participated in ISol2023 that was held in Kuching, Sarawak. The programme consisted of 12 entomology-related topics and had an amazing attendance of 148 delegates mainly from local universities of Malaysia.

Li Yuen's presentation at ISol2023. Photo 2023 Ms Dayang Fazrinah Awg Damit.

In the "Biodiversity and Conservation" session, Li Yuen presented her PhD research on the dung beetle-mammal interaction networks across a multi-use tropical forest landscape in Sabah, Malaysia. Here, she showcased that dung beetle-mammal networks can remain resilient in the midst of land use change due to the combined effects of high mammal diversity and generalist dung beetle feeding patterns even in disturbed habitats. To maintain such interaction networks, she highlights the importance of protecting pristine ecosystems as well as logged and fragmented forests, which could potentially prevent extinction cascades in such human-modified systems.

Stay tuned for more exciting conferences and presentations to come!

Written by Li Yuen and Xin Rui.