Camera Trapping to Assess Status and Composition of Mammal Communities in a Biodiversity Hotspot in Myanmar

Abstract

Tropical forests comprise a critically impacted habitat, and it is known that altered forests host a lower diversity of mammal communities. In this study, we investigated the mammal communities of two areas in Myanmar with similar environmental conditions but with great differences in habitat degradation and human disturbance. The main goal was to understand the status and composition of these communities in an understudied area like Myanmar at a broad scale. Using camera trap data from a three-year-long campaign and hierarchical occupancy models with a Bayesian formulation, we evaluated the biodiversity level (species richness) and different ecosystem functions (diet and body mass), as well as the occupancy values of single species as a proxy for population density. We found a lower mammal diversity in the disturbed area, with a significantly lower number of carnivores and herbivores species. Interestingly, the area did not show alteration in its functional composition. Almost all the specific roles in the community were present except for apex predators, thus suggesting that the effects of human disturbance are mainly effecting the communities highest levels. Furthermore, two species showed significantly lower occupancies in the disturbed area during all the monitoring campaigns: one with a strong pressure for bushmeat consumption and a vulnerable carnivore threatened by illegal wildlife trade.

A Camera-Trap Survey of Mammals in Thung Yai Naresuan (East) Wildlife Sanctuary in Western Thailand

“…Finally, we note that within TYNE, our camera grid was limited to the eastern part of the sanctuary, but adjacent to the western part, where local people still practice farming and where other human activities regularly occur. The presence of some larger mammal species, especially, may be more influenced by human proximity and activities in this and other similar areas [ 2 , 4 , 6 , 12 ].…”

“…The demand for land and other resources (wild meat, non-traditional forest products, etc.) could lead to a change the abundance of species in the future [ 12 ]. Therefore, landscape scale management based on ecosystem management practices should be taken into account, along with improving protection, strengthening coordination among protected areas, and strengthening conservation awareness in local communities.…”

“…A camera trap survey was conducted in a portion of Thung Yai Naresuan (East) Wildlife Sanctuary, a protected area located on the western national border of Thailand and Myanmar, to estimate the presence and relative abundance of terrestrial mammals. Such surveys are often a cost-effective, less invasive, and less time-consuming method to take inventory of elusive and secretive mammal species, and they have commonly been used to quantify the presence, abundance, and/or density of many terrestrial mammal species, as in [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. Specifically, we used the data from this survey to inventory mammal species composition, to estimate the relative abundance of mammals, and to compare our results with an adjacent sanctuary in order to provide baseline information to formulate conservation and management strategies for endangered species and wildlife habitats in the region.…”

Why we went to the woods?: effects of human disturbance on species presence in a disturbed Myanmar forest ecosystem

“…Over‐harvesting occurred mainly due to the absence of an appropriate selective logging cycle as found in other parts of Myanmar (Saung et al ., 2021). The mammal communities exhibit species composition and ecosystem functions (e.g., trophic niches and body mass groups) comparable with other tropical region studies (Rovero et al ., 2019; Oberosler et al ., 2020 a ), but with a lower diversity compared with other regions of Myanmar (Cremonesi et al ., 2021 b ).…”

Camera trapping in ecology: A new section for wildlife research

“…With the engineering of relatively inexpensive camera models that do not require costly support systems (such as those needed for satellite telemetry), camera traps also serve to democratize research. Camera trapping has consequently spread across the global south and developing countries (Agha et al, 2018; Cremonesi et al, 2021; Galindo‐Aguilar et al, 2022). Many private citizens run their own camera traps; networking observations from these citizen scientists have yielded great insights and will continue to do so (McShea et al, 2016).…”