A study by Dr Lian Pin Koh at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University (New Jersey, USA) indicates that “rising demand for palm oil will decimate biodiversity unless producers and politicians can work together to preserve as much remaining natural forest as possible”. Dr. Lian investigated butterfly and bird species in 15 palm oil plantations in East Sabah, Malaysia, and he found that “palm oil plantations supported between 1 and 3 butterfly species, and between 7 and 14 species of bird”. In previous ecological studies, neighbouring undisturbed rain forest supported “at least 85 butterfly and 103 bird species”. The creation of forest buffer zones as a management technique had a better impact on improving “species richness”, compared to increasing epiphytes, beneficial plants or weed cover in palm oil plantations. The findings (published in the Journal of Applied Ecology (URL above) are seen to have “major implications for the booming market in biofuels and its impact on biodiversity”..