The Mound-building mouse Mus spicilegus possesses a unique behaviour amongst mice. It constructs large earthen mounds and associated nesting chambers which serve to store food for immature individuals during the winter nesting period. We have used genetic analysis of four autosomal and four X-linked microsatellite loci to determine relationships between individuals inhabiting 40 mounds in Bulgaria. We show that, in almost all cases, individuals in a mound are the product of multiple parentage. We estimate the minimum number of males and female parents contributing offspring to each mound and demonstrate that at least two male and two female parents contribute offspring to a minimum of seven mounds. Analyses of relatedness coefficients and allele sharing values demonstrate that parents of different sibships within mounds are more related than if they had been chosen at random from the population and suggest that it is the female parents that contribute this excess relatedness. These results suggest that the mechanism by which individuals congregate to build mounds is kin-based and that the evolution of mound building and communal nesting in M. spicilegus is due in part to kin selection. This study represents a novel approach to the study of mammalian behavioural ecology. We have used a genetic dataset to construct an outline of social structure in the absence of behavioural data. These inferences can now be used to direct further work on this species.

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Kapuas Hulu, as conservation districts, established regional wildlife corridor that connected Betung Kerihun and Danau Sentarum National Park as a Strategic Area District which highlight aspects of the environment. This wildlife corridor holds a prominent role in the movement of animals, especially orangutans of both national parks. This research was conducted to identify the impact of land use policies on the distribution of orangutans in the corridor. Although it has been designated as a wildlife corridor, many land conversion disconnecting wildlife corridors such as road construction, large-scale plantations development, land clearing for settlement, cultivation, and deforestation. However, the two national parks still offers a secure place for orangutans. A remote sensing technology was used to map the distribution and habitat suitability for the orangutan in the wildlife corridor. Seven parameters were observed to study the habitat of orangutans. The results revealed that the habitat suitability level of wildlife corridor was 49.94%, 46.61% and 3.46% for high, moderate and low level of suitability respectively. The results were supported by validation of 32.29% and 67.71% for moderate and high suitability respectively. ABSTRAKKabupaten Kapuas Hulu sebagai kabupaten konservasi telah menetapkan daerah koridor satwa yang menghubungkan Taman Nasional Betung Kerihun dan Taman Nasional Danau Sentarum sebagai Kawasan Strategis Kabupaten yang menonjolkan aspek lingkungan. Koridor satwa ini memiliki peranan yang penting bagi pergerakan satwa terutama orangutan dari kedua taman nasional ini. Studi ini dilakukan untuk memahami dampak tata guna lahan terhadap sebaran orangutan, di koridor satwa. Pembukaan jalan, perkebunan skala besar, pembukaan lahan untuk pemukiman, perladangan serta penebangan hutan telah menjadi penyebab terputusnya habitat orangutan. Wilayah yang masih aman sebagai habitat orangutan adalah di dalam kawasan taman nasional. Penelitian ini dilakukan menggunakan teknologi penginderaan jarak jauh untuk memetakan sebaran dan kesesuaian habitat orangutan di kawasan koridor satwa. Tujuh parameter habitat orangutan digunakan dalam analisis spasial kesesuaian habitat. Dari hasil penelitian ini didapatkan bahwa kawasan koridor memiliki tingkat kesesuaian habitat yang tinggi sebesar 49.94%, tingkat kesesuaian sedang sebesar 46.61% dan kesesuaian yang rendah sebesar 3.46%. dan hasil ini ditunjang dengan besaran nilai validasi untuk kelas kesesuaian sedang sebesar 32.29% dan kelas kesesuaian tinggi sebesar 67.71%.

Indonesia was known to have high diversity of mangosteens (Garcinia mangostana) and the related species. In order to elucidate the genetics variability of the diversity, thirty three accessions were examined by using isozyme analysis. The genetic diversity and relationships among several mangosteens and other Garcinia sp were established by using four isozymes. The level of polymorphism as revealed by isoenzyme was 88%. Although mangosteen is believed to reproduce exclusively through apomixis, our result show that considerable genetic diversity exists within G. mangostana and between other Garcinia species. Based on 27 bands there were 5-42% dissimilarity level among mangosteen accessions, while the other species has 75% dissimilarity. The dendrogram is built based on isozyme marker analysis to separate clusters of mangosteen and other Garcinia sp. The data showed that G. mangostana is a close relative of G. malaccensis, G. porrecta, G. celebica, and G. hombroniana. The concurrence analysis on isozyme analysis result showed the very good fit of Rolf correlation value (0.914). This result indicated that isozymes could group G.mangostana and the related species.