Non-volant small mammal community responses to fragmentation of kerangas forests in Brunei Darussalam

Charles, Joseph K.; Ang, Bee Biaw

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-0168-7_18

Cited by 4 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…We were less successful in predicting the presence of S. muelleri than R. rattus based on fine-scale environmental variables, due to a smaller number of individuals captured and a lower proportion of sites with S. muelleri present. However, we did find evidence to suggest that green sites adjacent to rivers and with an absence of domestic agriculture were more likely to support S. muelleri, which is consistent with previous suggestions that S. muelleri is a riverine species (Charles & Ang 2009). Surprisingly, the presence of roads was also associated with S. muelleri in our analysis.…”

Section: Rodents and The Urban-rural Gradientsupporting

confidence: 91%

Rats in the city: implications for zoonotic disease risk in an urbanizing world

Blassdell

Morand

Laurance

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Urbanization is rapidly transforming much of Southeast Asia, altering the structure and function of the landscape, as well as the frequency and intensity of the interactions between people, animals, and the environment. In this study, we began to explore the impact of urbanization on zoonotic disease risk by simultaneously characterizing changes in the abundance and diversity of reservoir hosts (rodents), ectoparasite vectors (ticks), and microbial pathogens across a gradient of urbanization in Malaysian Borneo. We found that although rodent species diversity decreased with increasing urbanization, two species appeared to thrive in anthropogenic environments: the invasive urban exploiter, Rattus rattus and the native urban adapter, Sundamys muelleri. R. rattus was strongly associated with the presence of built infrastructure across the gradient and dominated the urban rodent community where it was associated with high microbial diversity and multi-host zoonoses capable of environmental transmission, including Leptospira spp., and Toxoplasma gondii. In contrast, S. muelleri was restricted to sites with a significant vegetative component where it was found at high densities in the urban location. This species was strongly associated with the presence of ticks, including the medically important genera Ambylomma, Haemaphysalis, and Ixodes. Overall, our results demonstrate that the response to urbanization varies by species at all levels: host, ectoparasite, and microbe. This may lead to increased zoonotic disease risk in a subset of environments across urban and urbanizing landscapes that can be reduced through improved pest management and public health messaging.

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Section: Rodents and The Urban-rural Gradientsupporting

confidence: 91%

Rats in the city: implications for zoonotic disease risk in an urbanizing world

Blassdell

Morand

Laurance

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…Habitat fragmentation has also been shown to influence the abundance, movements and persistence of many species, and forest carnivores are particularly vulnerable to local extinction in fragmented landscapes (Crooks 2002, Michalski and Peres 2005, Charles and Ang 2010. Unfortunately, we have no data for assessing the impacts and extinction risks of forest fragmentation on the banded civet and Hose ' s civet.…”

Section: Anthropogenic Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicted distributions and conservation status of two threatened Southeast Asian small carnivores: the banded civet and Hose’s civet

et al. 2013

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Knowledge of the distribution and habitat preferences of a species is of paramount importance when assessing its conservation status. We used accurately recorded occurrence records and ecological niche modelling to predict the distribution of two threatened and poorly known small carnivore species that occur in Southeast Asia, the banded civet ( Hemigalus derbyanus ) and Hose ' s civet ( Diplogale hosei ), and analysed their spatial niche differentiation for habitat and elevation. We then identified possible anthropogenic threats, and used our modelling predictions to recommend surveying priorities. The predicted distribution of the banded civet was principally in lowland evergreen forest in southern Myanmar/Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo and three Mentawai Islands (Siberut, Sipora and South Pagai), and for Hose ' s civet in evergreen forest across the higher elevation regions of Borneo. Our niche analyses suggested that there is a tendency for these two species to separate spatially along an elevation gradient: the banded civet is mainly found in lowland areas, whereas Hose ' s civet primarily occurs at higher elevations. Our study strongly indicated that these two viverrids are forest-dependent species that may be threatened by forest loss, degradation and fragmentation. Field surveys should be prioritised in areas where each species is predicted to occur and no records currently exist.

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“…However, R. rattus has been recently observed in a small number of primary and secondary tropical forests of northern Borneo , 2014b, Cusack et al 2014) and detected in the oil palm plantation matrix surrounding the forests examined in this study (Cusack 2011). Although this species has not been systematically surveyed across Borneo, the limited data available suggest it is not yet ubiquitous in natural forest areas (Nakagawa et al 2007, Wells et al 2007, Bernard et al 2009, Charles & Ang 2010. This provides a unique opportunity to examine the niche overlap of R. rattus with native species at a relatively early stage in the invasion process.…”

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confidence: 99%

Movement Behavior of Native and Invasive Small Mammals Shows Logging May Facilitate Invasion in a Tropical Rain Forest

et al. 2016

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Invasive species pose one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. This study investigates the extent to which human disturbance to natural ecosystems facilitates the spread of non‐native species, focusing on a small mammal community in selectively logged rain forest, Sabah, Borneo. The microhabitat preferences of the invasive Rattus rattus and three native species of small mammal were examined in three‐dimensional space by combining the spool‐and‐line technique with a novel method for quantifying fine‐scale habitat selection. These methods allowed the detection of significant differences for each species between the microhabitats used compared with alternative, available microhabitats that were avoided. Rattus rattus showed the greatest preference for heavily disturbed habitats, and in contrast to two native small mammals of the genus Maxomys, R. rattus showed high levels of arboreal behavior, frequently leaving the forest floor and traveling through the understory and midstory forest strata. This behavior may enable R. rattus to effectively utilize the complex three‐dimensional space of the lower strata in degraded forests, which is characterized by dense vegetation. The behavioral flexibility of R. rattus to operate in both terrestrial and arboreal space may facilitate its invasion into degraded forests. Human activities that generate heavily disturbed habitats preferred by R. rattus may promote the establishment of this invasive species in tropical forests in Borneo, and possibly elsewhere. We present this as an example of a synergistic effect, whereby forest disturbance directly threatens biodiversity and indirectly increases the threat posed by invasive species, creating habitat conditions that facilitate the establishment of non‐native fauna.

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Non-volant small mammal community responses to fragmentation of kerangas forests in Brunei Darussalam

Cited by 4 publications

References 58 publications

Rats in the city: implications for zoonotic disease risk in an urbanizing world

Rats in the city: implications for zoonotic disease risk in an urbanizing world

Predicted distributions and conservation status of two threatened Southeast Asian small carnivores: the banded civet and Hose’s civet

Movement Behavior of Native and Invasive Small Mammals Shows Logging May Facilitate Invasion in a Tropical Rain Forest

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