ORCID Profile
0000-0002-5236-7096
Current Organisations
University of Queensland
,
Australian Research Council
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Wildlife and Habitat Management | Environmental Science and Management | Community Ecology | Conservation and Biodiversity |
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Remnant Vegetation and Protected Conservation Areas in Forest and Woodlands Environments | Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences | Forest and Woodlands Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity
Related Links
Publications
Megafauna extinctions produce idiosyncratic Anthropocene assemblages
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 21-10-2022
Abstract: The “trophic downgrading of planet Earth” refers to the systematic decline of the world’s largest vertebrates. However, our understanding of why megafauna extinction risk varies through time and the importance of site- or species-specific factors remain unclear. Here, we unravel the unexpected variability in remaining terrestrial megafauna assemblages across 10 Southeast Asian tropical forests. Consistent with global trends, every landscape experienced Holocene and/or Anthropocene megafauna extirpations, and the four most disturbed landscapes experienced 2.5 times more extirpations than the six least disturbed landscapes. However, there were no consistent size- or guild-related trends, no two tropical forests had identical assemblages, and the abundance of four species showed positive relationships with forest degradation and humans. Our results suggest that the region’s megafauna assemblages are the product of a convoluted geoclimatic legacy interacting with modern disturbances and that some megafauna may persist in degraded tropical forests near settlements with sufficient poaching controls.
Study context shapes recommendations of land-sparing and sharing; a quantitative review
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2018
Top 100 research questions for biodiversity conservation in Southeast Asia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2019
Binturong ecology and conservation in pristine, fragmented and degraded tropical forests
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 04-07-2023
DOI: 10.1017/S0030605322001491
Abstract: The persistence of seed-dispersing animals in degraded habitats could be critical for ensuring the long-term conservation value and restoration of forests. This is particularly important in Southeast Asia, where 70% of the remaining forest areas are within 1 km of a forest edge, and many are degraded (e.g. logged). We synthesized information on the habitat associations of the binturong Arctictis binturong , a large, semi-arboreal, frugivorous civet and one of the most important seed dispersers in the region, especially for figs ( Ficus spp). We adopted a multiscale approach by employing ensemble species distribution modelling from presence-only records, assessing landscape-scale variation in detection rates in published camera-trap studies and using hierarchical occupancy modelling to assess local (i.e. within-landscape) patterns observed from 20 new camera-trap surveys. Contrary to prior reports that binturongs are strongly associated with intact forests, the species was equally present in degraded forests and near forest edges where sufficient forest cover was maintained ( 40% forest cover within a 20-km radius). The species also tolerates moderate incursions of oil palm plantations ( 20% of the area within a 20-km radius covered by oil palm plantations). The relative resilience of binturongs to habitat degradation could be in part because of behavioural adaptations towards increased nocturnal activity. These results support the notion that key seed dispersers can persist and maintain their ecological function in degraded forests.
Modern Hunting Practices and Wild Meat Trade in the Oil Palm Plantation-Dominated Landscapes of Sumatra, Indonesia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-08-2014
Sunda pangolins show inconsistent responses to disturbances across multiple scales
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2023
DOI: 10.1002/WLL2.12010
Abstract: Pangolins are the most trafficked animals worldwide and are presumed to be restricted to pristine habitats due to poaching intensity in more accessible degraded areas or intrinsic habitat preferences. We tested the hypothesis that pangolins' could persist in degraded areas and near humans if poaching is controlled. We used occurrence records from new and published camera trapping studies from across Southeast Asia to conduct a multiscale analysis of habitat associations for the Critically Endangered Sunda pangolin, encompassing poached and non‐poached areas. Our results were highly influenced by Singapore, where pangolins are common in urban settings and there is minimal poaching. Excluding Singapore, there were no significant landscape‐level habitat associations, reflecting pangolins are habitat generalists. At local scales (including and excluding Singapore), occupancy was negatively correlated with active deforestation but not previously degraded forests. We conclude that with strong antipoaching enforcement, pangolins are unexpectedly adaptable, with Singapore exemplifying the potential for species recovery.
Impacts of hunting on tropical forests in Southeast Asia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-08-2016
DOI: 10.1111/COBI.12785
Abstract: Although deforestation and forest degradation have long been considered the most significant threats to tropical bio ersity, across Southeast Asia (Northeast India, Indochina, Sundaland, Philippines) substantial areas of natural habitat have few wild animals (>1 kg), bar a few hunting-tolerant species. To document hunting impacts on vertebrate populations regionally, we conducted an extensive literature review, including papers in local journals and reports of governmental and nongovernmental agencies. Evidence from multiple sites indicated animal populations declined precipitously across the region since approximately 1980, and many species are now extirpated from substantial portions of their former ranges. Hunting is by far the greatest immediate threat to the survival of most of the region's endangered vertebrates. Causes of recent overhunting include improved access to forests and markets, improved hunting technology, and escalating demand for wild meat, wildlife-derived medicinal products, and wild animals as pets. Although hunters often take common species, such as pigs or rats, for their own consumption, they take rarer species opportunistically and sell surplus meat and commercially valuable products. There is also widespread targeted hunting of high-value species. Consequently, as currently practiced, hunting cannot be considered sustainable anywhere in the region, and in most places enforcement of protected-area and protected-species legislation is weak. The international community's focus on cross-border trade fails to address overexploitation of wildlife because hunting and the sale of wild meat is largely a local issue and most of the harvest is consumed in villages, rural towns, and nearby cities. In addition to improved enforcement, efforts to engage hunters and manage wildlife populations through sustainable hunting practices are urgently needed. Unless there is a step change in efforts to reduce wildlife exploitation to sustainable levels, the region will likely lose most of its iconic species, and many others besides, within the next few years.
Transformation and endurance of Indigenous hunting: Kadazandusun-Murut bearded pig hunting practices amidst oil palm expansion and urbanization in Sabah, Malaysia
Publisher: California Digital Library (CDL)
Date: 10-2020
Flying foxes prefer to forage in farmland in a tropical dry forest landscape mosaic in Fiji
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2010
Landscape-scale benefits of protected areas for tropical biodiversity
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-08-2023
The mass mortality of Asia's native pigs induced by African swine fever
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2023
DOI: 10.1002/WLL2.12009
Abstract: Asia's wild pigs are ecosystem engineers and a key food for predators and people. The arrival of African swine fever (ASF) in 2018 induced near‐100% fatality in domestic pigs and decimated the Chinese pork industry in 2020 but outcomes for wild pigs have been delayed and unclear. Here we report on the mass mortality of native wild boar ( Sus scrofa ) in Peninsular Malaysia. ASF was confirmed at our long‐term study site in February 2022 and wild boar carcasses increased ‐fold in June 2022 compared to prior years. Camera trapping revealed an 87% decline in wild boar activity in 2022 compared to five prior surveys. Wild boars retired in old birthing nests and pairs of animals died next to each other in the open. Similar results are being anecdotally reported across the region with immense repercussions suspected on ecology and conservation. We urge a rapid research response to take advantage of this unique natural experiment.
The rise of hyperabundant native generalists threatens both humans and nature
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-06-2023
DOI: 10.1111/BRV.12985
Abstract: In many disturbed terrestrial landscapes, a subset of native generalist vertebrates thrives. The population trends of these disturbance‐tolerant species may be driven by multiple factors, including habitat preferences, foraging opportunities (including crop raiding or human refuse), lower mortality when their predators are persecuted (the ‘human shield’ effect) and reduced competition due to declines of disturbance‐sensitive species. A pronounced elevation in the abundance of disturbance‐tolerant wildlife can drive numerous cascading impacts on food webs, bio ersity, vegetation structure and people in coupled human–natural systems. There is also concern for increased risk of zoonotic disease transfer to humans and domestic animals from wildlife species with high pathogen loads as their abundance and proximity to humans increases. Here we use field data from 58 landscapes to document a supra‐regional phenomenon of the hyperabundance and community dominance of Southeast Asian wild pigs and macaques. These two groups were chosen as prime candidates capable of reaching hyperabundance as they are edge adapted, with gregarious social structure, omnivorous diets, rapid reproduction and high tolerance to human proximity. Compared to intact interior forests, population densities in degraded forests were 148% and 87% higher for wild boar and macaques, respectively. In landscapes with % oil palm coverage, wild boar and pig‐tailed macaque estimated abundances were 337% and 447% higher than landscapes with % oil palm coverage, respectively, suggesting marked demographic benefits accrued by crop raiding on calorie‐rich food subsidies. There was extreme community dominance in forest landscapes with % oil palm cover where two pig and two macaque species accounted for % of independent camera trap detections, leaving % for the other 85 mammal species kg considered. Establishing the population trends of pigs and macaques is imperative since they are linked to cascading impacts on the fauna and flora of local forest ecosystems, disease and human health, and economics (i.e., crop losses). The severity of potential negative cascading effects may motivate control efforts to achieve ecosystem integrity, human health and conservation objectives. Our review concludes that the rise of native generalists can be mediated by specific types of degradation, which influences the ecology and conservation of natural areas, creating both positive and detrimental impacts on intact ecosystems and human society.
Bearded pig Sus barbatus (Müller, 1838)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Date: 2017
African Swine Fever threatens Southeast Asia's 11 endemic wild pig species
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-12-2020
DOI: 10.1111/CONL.12784
Abstract: The spread of the most recent African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak in Asia since late 2018 poses a significant threat to endemic pig species and socioeconomic security. Within domestic pigs and free‐living Eurasian wild boars (both Sus scrofa ) in Asia, ASF causes almost 100% case fatality. The ongoing ASF epidemic has so far caused the death of over one hundred million domestic pigs, causing unprecedented economic impacts on the global pork industry. Transmission among free‐living wild boars has been reported, and transmission to threatened Asian pig species is probable but lacks research. Our assessment reveals a near‐term risk for Southeast Asia's 11 endemic pig species, which have small population sizes and small ranges that may be insufficient to withstand the initial, lethal onslaught of the disease. The decline of pigs also triggers cascading impacts for endangered carnivores, plant communities, and livelihoods of millions of people. Our management recommendations include time‐critical research themes, improved emerging infectious disease detection through site‐based monitoring and surveillance paired with online reporting and proper carcass disposal.
Integrating disparate occurrence reports to map data-poor species ranges and occupancy: A case study of the Vulnerable bearded pig Sus barbatus
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 06-2019
DOI: 10.1017/S0030605317000382
Abstract: Monitoring species ranges and suitable and occupied habitat are core components of biogeography, ecology and conservation biology, but it is difficult to do for rare, cryptic, wide-ranging, migratory or nomadic species. We present a transparent and objective process to combine multiple types of locality data (peer-reviewed and grey literature, museum collections, camera-trap inventories, and citizen science reports). We illustrate the advantages of this pooled approach by assessing change in range and patch occupancy for a data-poor and threatened nomadic keystone species, the bearded pig Sus barbatus , in Borneo, Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia. We used a collated set of all occurrence observations (n = 240) to create minimum convex polygons for forested habitats for two time periods. We evaluated confidence that a patch was truly occupied by the overlap among data types. We found that 62% of the forest habitat of the Sumatran bearded pig S. barbatus oi was lost during 1990–2010 and that its range contracted by 76% the Bornean bearded pig S . barbatus barbatus lost 23 and 24% of its forest habitat and range, respectively, and in Peninsular Malaysia the 93% range collapse of this subspecies during 1985–2010 is more severe than the 33% habitat loss alone would suggest. We conclude that integrating data types can improve mapping of the ranges of many data-poor species.
Erratum: Publisher Correction: Sumatran tiger survival threatened by deforestation despite increasing densities in parks (Nature communications (2017) 8 1 (1783))
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-02-2018
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-018-03055-9
Abstract: In the original version of the Article, reference 18 was incorrectly numbered as reference 30, and references 19 to 30 were incorrectly numbered as 18 to 29. These errors have now been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of the manuscript.
Combining Camera Trap Data and Environmental Data to Estimate the Effects of Environmental Gradients on Abundance of the Asian Elephant Elephas maximus in Cambodia
Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
Date: 11-09-2023
Wildlife disturbances as a source of conspecific negative density-dependent mortality in tropical trees
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 03-03-2021
Abstract: Large vertebrates are rarely considered important drivers of conspecific negative density-dependent mortality (CNDD) in plants because they are generalist consumers. However, disturbances like tr ling and nesting also cause plant mortality, and their impact on plant ersity depends on the spatial overlap between wildlife habitat preferences and plant species composition. We studied the impact of native wildlife on a hyper erse tree community in Malaysia. Pigs ( Sus scrofa ) are abnormally abundant at the site due to food subsidies in nearby farmland and they construct birthing nests using hundreds of tree saplings. We tagged 34 950 tree saplings in a 25 ha plot during an initial census and assessed the source mortality by recovering tree tags from pig nests ( n = 1672 pig-induced deaths). At the stand scale, pigs nested in flat dry habitats, and at the local neighbourhood scale, they nested within clumps of saplings, both of which are intuitive for safe and efficient nest building. At the stand scale, flat dry habitats contained higher sapling densities and higher proportions of common species, so pig nesting increased the weighted average species evenness across habitats. At the neighbourhood scale, pig-induced sapling mortality was associated with higher heterospecific and especially conspecific sapling densities. Tree species have clumped distributions due to dispersal limitation and habitat filtering, so pig disturbances in sapling clumps indirectly caused CNDD. As a result, Pielou species evenness in 400 m 2 quadrats increased 105% more in areas with pig-induced deaths than areas without disturbances. Wildlife induced CNDD and this supported tree species evenness, but they also drove a 62% decline in sapling densities from 1996 to 2010, which is unsustainable. We suspect pig nesting is an important feature shaping tree composition throughout the region.
Fungi and insects compensate for lost vertebrate seed predation in an experimentally defaunated tropical forest
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-03-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-021-21978-8
Abstract: Overhunting reduces important plant-animal interactions such as vertebrate seed dispersal and seed predation, thereby altering plant regeneration and even above-ground biomass. It remains unclear, however, if non-hunted species can compensate for lost vertebrates in defaunated ecosystems. We use a nested exclusion experiment to isolate the effects of different seed enemies in a Bornean rainforest. In four of five tree species, vertebrates kill many seeds (13–66%). Nonetheless, when large mammals are excluded, seed mortality from insects and fungi fully compensates for the lost vertebrate predation, such that defaunation has no effect on seedling establishment. The switch from seed predation by generalist vertebrates to specialist insects and fungi in defaunated systems may alter Janzen–Connell effects and density-dependence in plants. Previous work using simulation models to explore how lost seed dispersal will affect tree species composition and carbon storage may require reevaluation in the context of functional redundancy within complex species interactions networks.
Cross-boundary subsidy cascades from oil palm degrade distant tropical forests
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-12-2017
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-017-01920-7
Abstract: Native species that forage in farmland may increase their local abundances thereby affecting adjacent ecosystems within their landscape. We used two decades of ecological data from a protected primary rainforest in Malaysia to illutrate how subsidies from neighboring oil palm plantations triggered powerful secondary ‘cascading’ effects on natural habitats located .3 km away. We found (i) oil palm fruit drove 100-fold increases in crop-raiding native wild boar ( Sus scrofa ), (ii) wild boar used thousands of understory plants to construct birthing nests in the pristine forest interior, and (iii) nest building caused a 62% decline in forest tree sapling density over the 24-year study period. The long-term, landscape-scale indirect effects from agriculture suggest its full ecological footprint may be larger in extent than is currently recognized. Cross-boundary subsidy cascades may be widespread in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems and present significant conservation challenges.
Global signal of top-down control of terrestrial plant communities by herbivores
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 30-05-2018
Abstract: A focus in ecology is understanding the processes that govern ecosystem productivity and bio ersity. A multitude of co-occurring biological mechanisms shape these properties in plant communities, but the relative importance of specific processes remains ambiguous, such as competition among in iduals and species for resources (bottom-up regulation) and the role of herbivory in controlling plant populations (top-down regulation). In this global synthesis of herbivore impacts on terrestrial plants, we find strong evidence that herbivores regulate most plant communities, but their positive effects on ersity may be contingent on a subset of animals and specific habitats. We conclude that the strength of top-down regulation in terrestrial ecosystems appears more variable and context-dependent than in aquatic systems.
Microclimate and habitat heterogeneity through the oil palm lifecycle
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2011
Marbled cats in Southeast Asia: Are diurnal and semi‐arboreal felids at greater risk from human disturbances?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1002/ECS2.4338
Abstract: Southeast Asia supports the greatest ersity of felids globally, but this ersity is threatened by the severe forest loss and degradation occurring in the region. The response of felids to disturbances appears to differ depending on their ecology. For ex le, the largely terrestrial and nocturnal leopard cat ( Prionailurus bengalensis ) thrives near forest edges and in oil palm plantations where it hunts rodents (Muridae) at night, thereby avoiding human activity peaks. Conversely, we hypothesized that the sympatric and similar‐sized marbled cat ( Pardofelis marmorata ) would respond negatively to edges and relatively open oil palm plantations as they are more arboreal than leopard cats, rely on tree connectivity for hunting, and are diurnal so have less potential to temporally avoid humans. We used camera trapping from Southeast Asia to test habitat associations at multiple spatial scales using zero‐inflated Poisson generalized linear mixed models and hierarchical occupancy modeling. We found that marbled cats were positively associated with large intact forests and, in contrast to leopard cats, negatively associated with oil palm plantations. Furthermore, we found preliminary evidence suggesting marbled cats may adapt their diel activity to become more crepuscular in degraded forests, likely shifting their activity to avoid humans. These findings suggest that the marbled cat's International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List conservation status should potentially be upgraded from Near Threatened to Vulnerable, matching other forest‐dependent felids in the region. We posit our findings may be generalizable such that semi‐arboreal and diurnal felids could face greater threats from habitat degradation than their terrestrial and nocturnal relatives.
Wildlife differentially affect tree and liana regeneration in a tropical forest: An 18-year study of experimental terrestrial defaunation versus artificially abundant herbivores
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-04-2019
Transformation and endurance of Indigenous hunting: Kadazandusun‐Murut bearded pig hunting practices amidst oil palm expansion and urbanization in Sabah, Malaysia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-08-2021
DOI: 10.1002/PAN3.10250
Abstract: Land‐use change and political–economic shifts have shaped hunting patterns globally, even as traditional hunting practices endure across many local socio‐cultural contexts. The widespread expansion of oil palm cultivation, and associated urbanization, alters land‐use patterns, ecological processes, economic relationships, access to land and social practices. In particular, we focus on the socio‐ecological dynamics between Kadazandusun‐Murut (KDM) hunters in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, and bearded pigs ( Sus barbatus Malay: ‘babi hutan’), the favoured game animal for non‐Muslim communities throughout much of Borneo. We conducted 38 semi‐structured interviews spanning over 50 hr with bearded pig hunters, asking them about contemporary hunting practices and motivations, changes in hunting practices, changes in pig behaviour, and patterns of animal protein consumption in village and urban contexts. Amidst widespread land‐use change, primarily driven by oil palm expansion, respondents reported substantially different characteristics of hunting in oil palm plantations as compared to hunting in forests. Additionally, 17 of 38 hunters—including 71% (10/14) of hunters who started hunting before 1985, compared to 26% (6/23) of hunters who started hunting in 1985 or later—mentioned that bearded pigs are behaving in a more skittish or fearful way as compared to the past. Our respondents also reported reductions in hunting frequency and wild meat consumption in urban contexts as compared to rural contexts. However, despite these substantial changes in hunting and dietary practices, numerous KDM hunting motivations, hunting techniques and socio‐cultural traditions have endured over the last several decades. For some, bearded pig meat remains deeply tied to food provision, gifting and sharing customs, and cultural components of celebrations and feasts. Oil palm has cultivated new hunting practices that differ from those in forests, and has potentially contributed to altered bearded pig behaviour due to increased hunting accessibility. Together, oil palm and urbanization are helping reshape the KDM‐bearded pig socio‐ecological system. In light of these reshaped connections, we recommend location‐specific management approaches that ensure fair access to the dietary and social benefits of bearded pig hunting while preserving the critical conservation needs of bearded pig populations and habitat. These twin goals are particularly urgent given the confirmed outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF), and mass deaths of domestic pigs and wild bearded pigs, in Sabah and Kalimantan in 2021. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Common palm civets Paradoxurus hermaphroditus are positively associated with humans and forest degradation with implications for seed dispersal and zoonotic diseases
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-02-2022
Abstract: Habitat loss and degradation can undermine wildlife communities and ecosystem functioning. However, certain generalist wildlife species like mesopredators and omnivores can exploit these disturbed habitats, sometimes leading to population increases (e.g. ‘mesopredator release’ in degraded areas). Although mesopredator release may cause negative effects on food webs and zoonotic disease management, some disturbance‐tolerant species may help perpetuate important ecological interactions, such as seed dispersal. We evaluated the habitat associations of common palm civets Paradoxurus hermaphroditus , which are widespread generalist mesopredators in Southeast Asia. Common palm civets are also high‐quality seed dispersers, and potential zoonotic disease hosts. We used published and new camera trapping data to map their probability of presence across Southeast Asia and evaluate regional‐scale associations between capture rates and habitat variables such as elevation, ecoregion intactness and Human Footprint Index, among others. We also assessed the influence of habitat variables on their relative abundance at the local scale. At the regional scale, we found that common palm civets showed significant positive associations with landscapes characterized by lower ecoregion intactness, higher Human Footprint Index and lower elevations. At the local scale, their relative abundance showed a significant positive association with higher Human Footprint Index, but only to a certain point, after which it started decreasing. They also favoured lower elevations at the local scale. These multi‐scale results indicate that common palm civets' abundance can increase under certain levels of human disturbances, consistent with the ‘mesopredator release’ hypothesis. This suggests they may be crucial seed dispersers in degraded forest landscapes, especially where more sensitive seed dispersers have disappeared. Our results are also consistent with previous studies reporting that habitat degradation increases populations of potential zoonotic disease hosts, and thus risks of transmission to humans.
Sumatran tiger survival threatened by deforestation despite increasing densities in parks
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-12-2017
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-017-01656-4
Abstract: The continuing development of improved capture–recapture (CR) modeling techniques used to study apex predators has also limited robust temporal and cross-site analyses due to different methods employed. We develop an approach to standardize older non-spatial CR and newer spatial CR density estimates and examine trends for critically endangered Sumatran tigers ( Panthera tigris sumatrae ) using a meta-regression of 17 existing densities and new estimates from our own fieldwork. We find that tiger densities were 47% higher in primary versus degraded forests and, unexpectedly, increased 4.9% per yr from 1996 to 2014, likely indicating a recovery from earlier poaching. However, while tiger numbers may have temporarily risen, the total potential island-wide population declined by 16.6% from 2000 to 2012 due to forest loss and degradation and subpopulations are significantly more fragmented. Thus, despite increasing densities in smaller parks, we conclude that there are only two robust populations left with breeding females, indicating Sumatran tigers still face a high risk of extinction unless deforestation can be controlled.
When do Janzen–Connell effects matter? A phylogenetic meta‐analysis of conspecific negative distance and density dependence experiments
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-12-2020
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.13665
The ecology of the banded civet (Hemigalus derbyanus) in Southeast Asia with implications for mesopredator release, zoonotic diseases, and conservation
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-04-2022
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.8852
Abstract: Habitat loss and degradation threaten forest specialist wildlife species, but some generalist mesopredators exploit disturbed areas and human‐derived food, which brings them into closer contact with humans. Mesopredator release is also important for human health for known zoonotic disease reservoirs, such as Asian civets (Viverridae family), since this group includes the intermediator species for the SARS‐CoV‐1 outbreak. Here we use camera trapping to evaluate the habitat associations of the widespread banded civet ( Hemigalus derbyanus ) across its range in Southeast Asia. At the regional scale, banded civet detections among published studies were positively associated with forest cover and negatively associated with human population. At the local scale (within a landscape), hierarchical modeling of new camera trapping showed that abundance was negatively associated with forest loss and positively associated with distance to rivers. These results do not support mesopredator release and suggest a low likelihood overlap with humans in degraded habitats and, therefore, a low risk of zoonotic disease transmission from this species in the wild. We also estimate that banded civet distribution has contracted to under 21% of its currently recognized IUCN Red List range, only 12% of which falls within protected areas, and a precipitous recent decline in population size. Accordingly, we suggest the banded civet's Red List status should be re‐evaluated in light of our findings.
Related Organisations
University Of California, Berkeley
Location: United States of America
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Location: United States of America
Related Funding Activities
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101440
Start Date: 12-2021
End Date: 12-2024
Amount: $431,015.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity