Holzner Anna, Rayan D Mark, Moore Jonathan, Tan Cedric Kai Wei, Clart Laura, Kulik Lars, Kühl Hjalmar, Ruppert Nadine, Widdig Anja
Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
PeerJ. 2021 Dec 14;9:e12462. doi: 10.7717/peerj.12462. eCollection 2021.
Deforestation is a major threat to terrestrial tropical ecosystems, particularly in Southeast Asia where human activities have dramatic consequences for the survival of many species. However, responses of species to anthropogenic impact are highly variable. In order to establish effective conservation strategies, it is critical to determine a species' ability to persist in degraded habitats. Here, we used camera trapping data to provide the first insights into the temporal and spatial distribution of southern pig-tailed macaques (, listed as 'Vulnerable' by the IUCN) across intact and degraded forest habitats in Peninsular Malaysia, with a particular focus on the effects of clear-cutting and selective logging on macaque occupancy. Specifically, we found a 10% decline in macaque site occupancy in the highly degraded Pasoh Forest Reserve from 2013 to 2017. This may be strongly linked to the macaques' sensitivity to intensive disturbance through clear-cutting, which significantly increased the probability that became locally extinct at a previously occupied site. However, we found no clear relationship between moderate disturbance, ., selective logging, and the macaques' local extinction probability or site occupancy in the Pasoh Forest Reserve and Belum-Temengor Forest Complex. Further, an identical age and sex structure of macaques in selectively logged and completely undisturbed habitat types within the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex indicated that the macaques did not show increased mortality or declining birth rates when exposed to selective logging. Overall, this suggests that low to moderately disturbed forests may still constitute valuable habitats that support viable populations of , and thus need to be protected against further degradation. Our results emphasize the significance of population monitoring through camera trapping for understanding the ability of threatened species to cope with anthropogenic disturbance. This can inform species management plans and facilitate the development of effective conservation measures to protect biodiversity.
森林砍伐是对陆地热带生态系统的重大威胁，特别是在东南亚，人类活动对许多物种的生存产生了巨大影响。然而，物种对人为影响的反应差异很大。为了制定有效的保护策略，确定物种在退化栖息地中生存的能力至关重要。在这里，我们利用相机陷阱数据，首次深入了解了马来半岛完整和退化森林栖息地中南方豚尾猕猴（被国际自然保护联盟列为“易危”物种）的时空分布，特别关注皆伐和选择性采伐对猕猴栖息地占用的影响。具体而言，我们发现，2013年至2017年期间，高度退化的帕索森林保护区内猕猴的栖息地占用率下降了10%。这可能与猕猴对皆伐造成的强烈干扰的敏感性密切相关，皆伐显著增加了猕猴在先前占据的地点局部灭绝的可能性。然而，我们发现中度干扰（即选择性采伐）与帕索森林保护区和贝伦-特孟戈尔森林综合体中猕猴的局部灭绝概率或栖息地占用率之间没有明显关系。此外，贝伦-特孟戈尔森林综合体内选择性采伐和完全未受干扰的栖息地类型中猕猴相同的年龄和性别结构表明，猕猴在受到选择性采伐时没有表现出死亡率增加或出生率下降。总体而言，这表明低度至中度干扰的森林可能仍然是支持猕猴可行种群的宝贵栖息地，因此需要加以保护，防止进一步退化。我们的研究结果强调了通过相机陷阱进行种群监测对于了解受威胁物种应对人为干扰能力的重要性。这可以为物种管理计划提供信息，并促进制定有效的保护措施以保护生物多样性。
