Greenhouse Gas Fluxes from Oil Palm Understory Treatments in Sumatra

Terrestrial fluxes of nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and ecosystem respiration (CO2) were measured monthly from October 2018 to September 2019 in mature oil palm plantations on mineral soil in Riau, Indonesia. A total of 54 static chambers across nine plots tested three understory vegetation management treatments: normal, reduced, and enhanced complexity. The dataset also includes soil moisture measurements taken around each chamber.

Use Cases

• Comparing greenhouse gas emissions between different understory vegetation management treatments.
• Analyzing the relationship between soil moisture and nitrous oxide or methane flux rates.
• Modeling the carbon footprint of oil palm cultivation under varying management intensities.
• Assessing the effectiveness of reduced herbicide use for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

Strengths

• Experimental design includes 18 replicates per treatment (54 chambers total), providing statistical power.
• Contains a full year of monthly measurements from October 2018 to September 2019.
• Dataset is associated with specific Indonesian research permits (RISTEK 323/SIP/FRP/E5/Dit.KI/X/2018 and 8B/TKPIPA/E5/Dit.KI/VIII/2019).

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, specific column names, and license information are missing from all platform entries.
• The dataset was embargoed until December 1, 2021, which may affect perceived current relevance.
• Spatial coverage is limited to a single estate (Ujung Tanjung Estate) in one region of Sumatra.

Provenance

Source

Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology Research Institute (SMARTRI)

Collection Method

Fluxes calculated from static chamber measurements.

Time Range

October 2018 to September 2019

Freshness

Last updated metadata recorded on 2026-03-11, though the underlying data collection ended in 2019.

Geography

Ujung Tanjung Estate, Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia