Affiliations 

  • 1 Research Organization for Life Sciences and Environment, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Gedung B.J. Habibie, Jl. M.H. Thamrin No. 8, Central Jakarta 10340, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia
  • 2 School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Creswick, Victoria 3363, Australia
  • 3 Batang Gadis National Park Institute, Directorate General of Nature Resources and Ecosystem, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Indonesia
Trop Life Sci Res, 2023 Jun;34(2):57-80.
PMID: 38144375 DOI: 10.21315/tlsr2023.34.2.4

Abstract

The Asian tapir is a primitive mammal whose habitat is heavily fragmented due to human activities. Studies on the Asian tapirs in Sumatra are very few, thereby basic information for developing tapir conservation programmes is limited. This study aimed to develop the species distribution model to map the potential distribution of tapirs in Batang Gadis National Park (BGNP), investigate the characteristic of tapir habitat, and identify tapir feed plants around BGNP. The model was developed using the Maximum Entropy (Maxent) approach, based on the existing information on tapir occurrence in BGNP and environmental variables. Vegetation characteristics in different land cover (primary forests, secondary forests, and open fields) were investigated using the strip transect method. This study found that zonal classification, temperature and precipitation have the greatest percentage contribution to the model. The model estimated that around 24.45% of BGNP areas are suitable for tapir habitat, and tapirs distribute near community gardens. Our results also showed that plant diversity at study sites was categorised as moderate-high. About 23 plant species dominated by the Moraceae family were identified as feed plants for tapirs. In developing tapir conservation programmes, BGNP management needs to consider tapir distribution that is closed to community gardens. We propose BGNP to enrich feed plants in open fields of the wilderness and traditional zones; reduce the canopy cover in the wilderness and utilisation zones to stimulate the growth of feed plants; facilitate local people to live harmoniously with tapirs; involve local communities in tapir conservation programmes; encourage local communities to plant non-palatable crops for tapirs; and provide a compensation scheme.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.