Protected Areas in Borneo retain some of the best examples of biodiversity and are the last refuge for wildlife conservation in tropical rainforests. Therefore, understanding the species richness and composition in increasingly fragmented Protected Areas are crucial in wildlife monitoring and management. The recent road construction splitting the oldest wildlife sanctuary in Sarawak has warranted further investigation on the species distribution. Camera trap survey in Samunsam Wildlife Sanctuary (SWS), western Borneo resulted in 20 medium-to largebodied mammals from 775 independent photos with 2001 camera trap nights from surveys done in 2013-2014 and 2019. SWS records the Endangered Nasalis larvatus and Cynogale bennettii in the current survey. Under the Sarawak Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998, Nasalis larvatus was the only recorded species considered to be Totally Protected while 12 other species are listed as Protected and the remaining species were not listed. The most frequently recorded species were Tragulus spp.
Protected areas are critical to biodiversity conservation. Yet many protected areas around the world are very small, and population persistence can be compromised in small habitat patches, particularly for large species. But we do not know how small is too small for long-term population viability, or the degree to which habitat area effects vary with mammal body size, for most tropical species. Here, diversity and species occurrence were assessed in a small national park that has long been isolated from other forest patches. The two largest Bornean carnivores, the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi) and sun bear (Helarctos malayanus), may be locally extinct, but 12 smaller carnivores appear to be persisting. The banded civet (Hemigalus derbyanus), the Malay civet (Viverra tangalunga) and the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) had relatively high occurrence rates and were found in all habitat types, though were more common in hill (banded civet) or lowland (common palm civet) forest (LF). Occurrence probabilities for all of these species and the common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) were lower in areas more accessible to humans. Detection rates and estimated diversity suggest that this park has a small carnivore assemblage equivalent to those of much larger areas. These are the first results demonstrating size-specific vulnerability to area effects in Southeast Asian carnivores.
Flying foxes are threatened throughout their geographic range, and there are large gaps in the understanding of their landscape-scale habitat use. This study identified potential habitats in Limbang, Sarawak and informed potential distribution based on dispersal and interview surveys. Here, biological surveys were combined with interviews of local communities in Limbang Mangrove National Park (LMNP), Sarawak to illustrate distribution and the communities' perception on the protected flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus). Mangrove forest areas were surveyed for for the presence of flying foxes and villagers were interviewed regarding the use by flying foxes of agricultural areas and instances of conflict. Boat and questionnaire surveys were conducted for nine days from 18 to 27 February 2021. The surveys did not record any flying fox roosting sites within the national park and was instead observed to fly from Menunggul Island, Brunei into the national park in the evenings and back to Brunei in the mornings. A total of 27 flying foxes were recorded during the boat survey. Flying foxes were detected from 8/154 survey points and their spatial distribution appeared to be concentrated along Sungai Limpaku Pinang. Most respondents were aware of the species while some have directly observed them in fruit orchards, mangroves, rivers and mixed dipterocarp forests. Eleven perception-based questions were presented, and results showed that locality and income were the most influential parameters exhibiting conservation awareness through Boosted Regression Trees (BRT) analysis. Most respondents believe that flying foxes can uplift the local economy through ecotourism opportunities. However, these findings need to be carefully interpreted as the species has a large home range. Hence, long-term monitoring should be established to generate a larger dataset for stronger analysis to better represent the distribution and occurrence of this species in LMNP.
Much of the Bornean rainforest has been converted to oil palm plantation. This has resulted in forest fragmentation, which in turn has led to changes in avian assemblages in these fragments. This study: (1) examines the diversity of understorey birds at the edge, in forest fragments, and in neighbouring oil palm plantation; (2) compares the bird assemblages along distance gradients from the forest edge; 3) identifies the species common to both forest and oil palm plantation; and 4) examines seasonal variation (dry and wet season) in bird diversity. Understorey birds were mist-netted from November 2013 to April 2015 (22 680 net-hours). A total of 342 individuals comprising 58 species from 25 families were captured. Sampling effort did not yield an asymptotic species accumulation curve and an estimated 77% of all species were captured. Species diversity was greatest at the edge compared to the forest interior and oil palm interior. Species composition differed along the forest-oil palm gradient, with some species confined to the edge, oil palm and forest habitat. Those edge species that also occurred in the oil palm plantation were relatively abundant. Regular surveys of avian assemblage will aid monitoring of habitat quality and change, as well as ecosystem functionality and the maintenance of vital ecosystem services that benefit both native vegetation and oil palm.
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