Orangutan movement and population dynamics across human-modified landscapes: implications of policy and management     

Seaman  Dave J. I.  Voigt  Maria  Bocedi  Greta  Travis  Justin M. J.  Palmer  Stephen C. F.  Ancrenaz  Marc  Wich  Serge  Meijaard  Erik  Bernard  Henry  Deere  Nicolas J.  Humle  Tatyana  Struebig  Matthew J. 《Landscape Ecology》2021,36(10):2957-2975

Landscape Ecology - Agricultural expansion is a leading cause of deforestation and habitat fragmentation globally. Policies that support biodiversity and facilitate species movement across farmland...  相似文献   

Hunting of flying foxes and perception of disease risk in Indonesian Borneo     

Mark E. Harrison  Susan M. Cheyne  Fiteria Darma  Dwi Angan Ribowo  Suwido H. Limin  Matthew J. Struebig 《Biological conservation》2011,(10):2441-2449

Widespread hunting of flying foxes has generated concern regarding population declines and the spread of emerging infectious diseases. To investigate the potential impacts of this trade, we conducted questionnaires in 45 settlements across 12 population centres within Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, a region previously identified as a hunting hotspot. By combining results from 63 hunter and 88 vendor interviews, we highlight two population centres (Palangka Raya and Buntok/Tamiang Layang) with higher hunting rates than other areas, which act as flying fox trading hubs. Flying fox populations were perceived to be declining province-wide: declines in captures and sales were reported by 81% of hunters and 60% of market vendors, who also reported availability as the key factor underlying temporal variations in trade. There was substantial risk of zoonotic disease transmission between bats, hunters and traders: the vast majority of respondents were unaware that flying foxes carry potentially fatal viruses, and so few people protected themselves from physical contact. Moreover, both hunters and vendors were frequently bitten and the majority of bites drew blood. Most hunters (58%) also reported unintentional by-catches that included keystone bird species and slow lorises. The scale of hunting over Central Kalimantan represents a serious threat to the long-term viability of flying fox populations (and potentially those of other species), and could have serious public health implications. Reducing or eliminating hunting and trade would mitigate the risk of disease transmission, while maintaining the economic and ecosystem benefits that flying foxes provide, in terms of pollination and seed dispersal.  相似文献   

Conservation importance of limestone karst outcrops for Palaeotropical bats in a fragmented landscape     

Matthew J. Struebig  Tigga Kingston  Akbar Zubaid  Steven C. Le Comber  Adura Mohd-Adnan  Anthony Turner  Joanne Kelly  Monika Boek  Stephen J. Rossiter 《Biological conservation》2009,142(10):2089-2096

Limestone karst landscapes are important for biodiversity yet are increasingly threatened by development activities such as mining. Furthermore, karsts are often scattered and isolated by agriculture, and are rarely considered in landscape planning because of a paucity of biodiversity data. We determined the conservation significance of an isolated limestone karst outcrop for insectivorous bats by quantifying the influence of this roosting resource on local assemblage structure across a fragmented landscape in peninsular Malaysia. Using a combination of rank abundance, gradient and randomisation analyses, we demonstrate that bat assemblages at nine forest sites are structured following a spatial gradient of increasing distance from a karst roosting resource. The assemblage at our karst site was dominated by a superabundance of three cave-roosting species, two of which were also found to dominate assemblages up to 11 km away. Cave-roosting bats exhibited a significant decay in abundance related to the distance from karst, with sites closest to karst also characterised by a rarity of tree cavity/foliage-roosting species that were otherwise common. Gradient analysis revealed that differences in assemblage composition were largely associated with the distance from the karst and, to a lesser extent, forest isolation and area. Our findings suggest that isolated karst outcrops can serve as important population reservoirs for cave-roosting bats, which subsidise diversity levels in forest fragments that might otherwise be expected to decline over time. While conservation efforts need to focus on maintaining large areas of connected forest, landscape management needs to ensure protection of karsts as point resources for cave-roosting bats.  相似文献   

Conservation value of forest fragments to Palaeotropical bats     

Matthew J. Struebig 《Biological conservation》2008,141(8):2112-2126

Forested landscapes in Southeast Asia are becoming increasingly fragmented, making this region a conservation and research priority. Despite its importance, few empirical studies of effects of fragmentation on biodiversity have been undertaken in the region, limiting our ability to inform land-use regimes at a time of increased pressure on forests. We estimated the biodiversity value of forest fragments in peninsular Malaysia by studying fragmentation impacts on insectivorous bat species that vary in dependence of forest. We sampled bats at seven continuous forest sites and 27 forest fragments, and tested the influence of fragment isolation and area on the abundance, species richness, diversity, composition and nestedness of assemblages, and the abundance of the ten most common species. Overall, isolation was a poor predictor of these variables. Conversely, forest area was positively related with abundance and species richness of cavity/foliage-roosting bats, but not for that of cave-roosting or edge/open space foraging species. The smallest of fragments (<150 ha) were more variable in species composition than larger fragments or continuous forest, and larger fragments retained substantial bat diversity, comparable to continuous forest. Some fragments exhibited higher bat abundance and species richness than continuous forest, though declines might occur in the future because of time lags in the manifestation of fragmentation effects. Our findings suggest that fragments >300 ha contribute substantially to landscape-level bat diversity, and that small fragments also have some value. However, large tracts are needed to support rare, forest specialist species and should be the conservation priority in landscape-level planning. Species that roost in tree cavities or foliage may be more vulnerable to habitat fragmentation than those that roost in caves.  相似文献