Occupancy patterns of ungulates and pig-tailed macaques across regenerating and anthropogenic forests on Borneo

Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy

article

Elena Bersacola¹  Wiwit Juwita Sastramidjaja²  Yaya Rayadin³  David W Macdonald⁴  Susan M Cheyne¹ 

[1] Department of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Headington Campus;Borneo Nature Foundation;Mulawarman University;Wildlife Conservation Research Unit ,(WildCRU), Department of Zoology, University of Oxford

关键词: conservation;    habitat use;    Indonesia;    Kalimantan;    predator-prey interactions;   

DOI  :  10.4404/hystrix-00177-2019

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Associazione Teriologica Italiana

【 摘 要 】

Large seed dispersers play a key role in maintaining and restoring tree species diversity in tropicalforests. These taxa may also represent important food sources for sympatric carnivores. Therefore,their occurrence and population status have implications for the health of the forest and conservation of predators. Here we examined patterns of occurrence of pig-tailed macaques (Macacanemestrina), bearded pigs (Sus barbatus), muntjac deer (Muntiacus spp.), mouse deer (Tragulusspp.) and sambar deer (Rusa unicolor) across study areas on Indonesian Borneo characterised bydifferent land use histories and forest changes. We expected that human activities, including logging and hunting, would have a negative effect on mean occupancy of these taxa. We also predictedthat the relative abundance of Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi) would affect prey activity patterns. We conducted systematic camera trap surveys across six study areas on IndonesianBorneo and analysed data using occupancy modelling. Overall, mean occupancy probabilities forthe clouded leopard’s prey species within regenerating forests were comparable to those in pristinehabitats, but severely decreased at a site with ongoing human disturbance (logging and hunting).Mouse deer and muntjac deer diurnal activity positively correlated with detection rates of cloudedleopards across sites, whereas other prey taxa showed no significant relationship. Therefore, sometaxa are able to recolonise regenerating forests relatively quickly, but their distribution is reducedwhen simultaneous logging and hunting occur. In addition, mouse deer and muntjac deer appearable to adjust their activity patterns in response to the risk of predation. Our results provide support for investing conservation efforts of regenerating forests on Indonesian Borneo, which benefitsthe conservation of important large seed dispersers including primates and ungulates. Maintainingpopulations of large prey taxa will be crucial for the long-term persistence of clouded leopards.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC