Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 55 in total

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  1. Abram NK, MacMillan DC, Xofis P, Ancrenaz M, Tzanopoulos J, Ong R, et al.
    PLoS One, 2016;11(6):e0156481.
    PMID: 27276218 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0156481
    Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) aims to avoid forest conversion to alternative land-uses through financial incentives. Oil-palm has high opportunity costs, which according to current literature questions the financial competitiveness of REDD+ in tropical lowlands. To understand this more, we undertook regional fine-scale and coarse-scale analyses (through carbon mapping and economic modelling) to assess the financial viability of REDD+ in safeguarding unprotected forest (30,173 ha) in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain in Malaysian Borneo. Results estimate 4.7 million metric tons of carbon (MgC) in unprotected forest, with 64% allocated for oil-palm cultivations. Through fine-scale mapping and carbon accounting, we demonstrated that REDD+ can outcompete oil-palm in regions with low suitability, with low carbon prices and low carbon stock. In areas with medium oil-palm suitability, REDD+ could outcompete oil palm in areas with: very high carbon and lower carbon price; medium carbon price and average carbon stock; or, low carbon stock and high carbon price. Areas with high oil palm suitability, REDD+ could only outcompete with higher carbon price and higher carbon stock. In the coarse-scale model, oil-palm outcompeted REDD+ in all cases. For the fine-scale models at the landscape level, low carbon offset prices (US $3 MgCO2e) would enable REDD+ to outcompete oil-palm in 55% of the unprotected forests requiring US $27 million to secure these areas for 25 years. Higher carbon offset price (US $30 MgCO2e) would increase the competitiveness of REDD+ within the landscape but would still only capture between 69%-74% of the unprotected forest, requiring US $380-416 million in carbon financing. REDD+ has been identified as a strategy to mitigate climate change by many countries (including Malaysia). Although REDD+ in certain scenarios cannot outcompete oil palm, this research contributes to the global REDD+ debate by: highlighting REDD+ competitiveness in tropical floodplain landscapes; and, providing a robust approach for identifying and targeting limited REDD+ funds.
  2. Abram NK, Xofis P, Tzanopoulos J, MacMillan DC, Ancrenaz M, Chung R, et al.
    PLoS One, 2014;9(6):e95388.
    PMID: 24887555 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095388
    Lowland tropical forests are increasingly threatened with conversion to oil palm as global demand and high profit drives crop expansion throughout the world's tropical regions. Yet, landscapes are not homogeneous and regional constraints dictate land suitability for this crop. We conducted a regional study to investigate spatial and economic components of forest conversion to oil palm within a tropical floodplain in the Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The Kinabatangan ecosystem harbours significant biodiversity with globally threatened species but has suffered forest loss and fragmentation. We mapped the oil palm and forested landscapes (using object-based-image analysis, classification and regression tree analysis and on-screen digitising of high-resolution imagery) and undertook economic modelling. Within the study region (520,269 ha), 250,617 ha is cultivated with oil palm with 77% having high Net-Present-Value (NPV) estimates ($413/ha-yr-$637/ha-yr); but 20.5% is under-producing. In fact 6.3% (15,810 ha) of oil palm is commercially redundant (with negative NPV of $-299/ha-yr-$-65/ha-yr) due to palm mortality from flood inundation. These areas would have been important riparian or flooded forest types. Moreover, 30,173 ha of unprotected forest remain and despite its value for connectivity and biodiversity 64% is allocated for future oil palm. However, we estimate that at minimum 54% of these forests are unsuitable for this crop due to inundation events. If conversion to oil palm occurs, we predict a further 16,207 ha will become commercially redundant. This means that over 32,000 ha of forest within the floodplain would have been converted for little or no financial gain yet with significant cost to the ecosystem. Our findings have globally relevant implications for similar floodplain landscapes undergoing forest transformation to agriculture such as oil palm. Understanding landscape level constraints to this crop, and transferring these into policy and practice, may provide conservation and economic opportunities within these seemingly high opportunity cost landscapes.
  3. Alfred R, Ahmad AH, Payne J, Williams C, Ambu LN, How PM, et al.
    PLoS One, 2012;7(2):e31400.
    PMID: 22347469 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031400
    Home range is defined as the extent and location of the area covered annually by a wild animal in its natural habitat. Studies of African and Indian elephants in landscapes of largely open habitats have indicated that the sizes of the home range are determined not only by the food supplies and seasonal changes, but also by numerous other factors including availability of water sources, habitat loss and the existence of man-made barriers. The home range size for the Bornean elephant had never been investigated before.
  4. Ancrenaz M, Sollmann R, Meijaard E, Hearn AJ, Ross J, Samejima H, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2014;4:4024.
    PMID: 24526001 DOI: 10.1038/srep04024
    The orangutan is the world's largest arboreal mammal, and images of the red ape moving through the tropical forest canopy symbolise its typical arboreal behaviour. Records of terrestrial behaviour are scarce and often associated with habitat disturbance. We conducted a large-scale species-level analysis of ground-based camera-trapping data to evaluate the extent to which Bornean orangutans Pongo pygmaeus come down from the trees to travel terrestrially, and whether they are indeed forced to the ground primarily by anthropogenic forest disturbances. Although the degree of forest disturbance and canopy gap size influenced terrestriality, orangutans were recorded on the ground as frequently in heavily degraded habitats as in primary forests. Furthermore, all age-sex classes were recorded on the ground (flanged males more often). This suggests that terrestrial locomotion is part of the Bornean orangutan's natural behavioural repertoire to a much greater extent than previously thought, and is only modified by habitat disturbance. The capacity of orangutans to come down from the trees may increase their ability to cope with at least smaller-scale forest fragmentation, and to cross moderately open spaces in mosaic landscapes, although the extent of this versatility remains to be investigated.
  5. Ancrenaz M, Gimenez O, Ambu L, Ancrenaz K, Andau P, Goossens B, et al.
    PLoS Biol, 2005 Jan;3(1):e3.
    PMID: 15630475
    Great apes are threatened with extinction, but precise information about the distribution and size of most populations is currently lacking. We conducted orangutan nest counts in the Malaysian state of Sabah (North Borneo), using a combination of ground and helicopter surveys, and provided a way to estimate the current distribution and size of the populations living throughout the entire state. We show that the number of nests detected during aerial surveys is directly related to the estimated true animal density and that a helicopter is an efficient tool to provide robust estimates of orangutan numbers. Our results reveal that with a total estimated population size of about 11,000 individuals, Sabah is one of the main strongholds for orangutans in North Borneo. More than 60% of orangutans living in the state occur outside protected areas, in production forests that have been through several rounds of logging extraction and are still exploited for timber. The role of exploited forests clearly merits further investigation for orangutan conservation in Sabah.
  6. Brunke J, Russo IM, Orozco-terWengel P, Zimmermann E, Bruford MW, Goossens B, et al.
    BMC Genet, 2020 04 17;21(1):43.
    PMID: 32303177 DOI: 10.1186/s12863-020-00849-z
    BACKGROUND: Constraints in migratory capabilities, such as the disruption of gene flow and genetic connectivity caused by habitat fragmentation, are known to affect genetic diversity and the long-term persistence of populations. Although negative population trends due to ongoing forest loss are widespread, the consequence of habitat fragmentation on genetic diversity, gene flow and genetic structure has rarely been investigated in Bornean small mammals. To fill this gap in knowledge, we used nuclear and mitochondrial DNA markers to assess genetic diversity, gene flow and the genetic structure in the Bornean tree shrew, Tupaia longipes, that inhabits forest fragments of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, Sabah. Furthermore, we used these markers to assess dispersal regimes in male and female T. longipes.

    RESULTS: In addition to the Kinabatangan River, a known barrier for dispersal in tree shrews, the heterogeneous landscape along the riverbanks affected the genetic structure in this species. Specifically, while in larger connected forest fragments along the northern riverbank genetic connectivity was relatively undisturbed, patterns of genetic differentiation and the distribution of mitochondrial haplotypes in a local scale indicated reduced migration on the strongly fragmented southern riverside. Especially, oil palm plantations seem to negatively affect dispersal in T. longipes. Clear sex-biased dispersal was not detected based on relatedness, assignment tests, and haplotype diversity.

    CONCLUSION: This study revealed the importance of landscape connectivity to maintain migration and gene flow between fragmented populations, and to ensure the long-term persistence of species in anthropogenically disturbed landscapes.

  7. Bursell MG, Dikow RB, Figueiró HV, Dudchenko O, Flanagan JP, Aiden EL, et al.
    iScience, 2022 Dec 22;25(12):105647.
    PMID: 36590460 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105647
    Similar to other apex predator species, populations of mainland (Neofelis nebulosa) and Sunda (Neofelis diardi) clouded leopards are declining. Understanding their patterns of genetic variation can provide critical insights on past genetic erosion and a baseline for understanding their long-term conservation needs. As a step toward this goal, we present draft genome assemblies for the two clouded leopard species to quantify their phylogenetic divergence, genome-wide diversity, and historical population trends. We estimate that the two species diverged 5.1 Mya, much earlier than previous estimates of 1.41 Mya and 2.86 Mya, suggesting they separated when Sundaland was becoming increasingly isolated from mainland Southeast Asia. The Sunda clouded leopard displays a distinct and reduced effective population size trajectory, consistent with a lower genome-wide heterozygosity and SNP density, relative to the mainland clouded leopard. Our results provide new insights into the evolutionary history and genetic health of this unique lineage of felids.
  8. Costantini D, Sebastiano M, Goossens B, Stark DJ
    Folia Primatol., 2017;88(1):46-56.
    PMID: 28662508 DOI: 10.1159/000477540
    Accelerometers enable scientists to quantify the activity of free-living animals whose direct observation is difficult or demanding due to their elusive nature or nocturnal habits. However, the deployment of accelerometers on small-bodied animals and, in particular, on primates has been little explored. Here we show the first application of accelerometers on the western tarsier (Cephalopachus bancanus borneanus), a nocturnal, small-bodied primate endemic to the forests of Borneo. The fieldwork was carried out in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We provide guidelines for the deployment of accelerometers on tarsiers that might also be applied to other primate species. Our collected data on 2 females show levels of leaping activity comparable to those previously described using direct observation of wild or captive individuals. The 2 females showed different patterns of leaping activity, which calls for work to explore individual differences further. Our work demonstrates that accelerometers can be deployed on small primates to acquire body motion data that would otherwise be demanding to collect using classic field observations. Future work will be focused on using accelerometer data to discriminate in more detail the different behaviours tarsiers can display and to address the causes and consequences of individual variations in activity.
  9. Davidar P, Sharma R, de Silva S, Campos-Arceiz A, Goossens B, Puyravaud JP, et al.
    Science, 2023 Feb 24;379(6634):765.
    PMID: 36821683 DOI: 10.1126/science.adg7470
  10. English M, Gillespie G, Goossens B, Ismail S, Ancrenaz M, Linklater W
    PeerJ, 2015;3:e1030.
    PMID: 26290779 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1030
    Plant recovery rates after herbivory are thought to be a key factor driving recursion by herbivores to sites and plants to optimise resource-use but have not been investigated as an explanation for recursion in large herbivores. We investigated the relationship between plant recovery and recursion by elephants (Elephas maximus borneensis) in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, Sabah. We identified 182 recently eaten food plants, from 30 species, along 14 × 50 m transects and measured their recovery growth each month over nine months or until they were re-browsed by elephants. The monthly growth in leaf and branch or shoot length for each plant was used to calculate the time required (months) for each species to recover to its pre-eaten length. Elephant returned to all but two transects with 10 eaten plants, a further 26 plants died leaving 146 plants that could be re-eaten. Recursion occurred to 58% of all plants and 12 of the 30 species. Seventy-seven percent of the re-eaten plants were grasses. Recovery times to all plants varied from two to twenty months depending on the species. Recursion to all grasses coincided with plant recovery whereas recursion to most browsed plants occurred four to twelve months before they had recovered to their previous length. The small sample size of many browsed plants that received recursion and uneven plant species distribution across transects limits our ability to generalise for most browsed species but a prominent pattern in plant-scale recursion did emerge. Plant recovery time was a good predictor of time to recursion but varied as a function of growth form (grass, ginger, palm, liana and woody) and differences between sites. Time to plant recursion coincided with plant recovery time for the elephant's preferred food, grasses, and perhaps also gingers, but not the other browsed species. Elephants are bulk feeders so it is likely that they time their returns to bulk feed on these grass species when quantities have recovered sufficiently to meet their intake requirements. The implications for habitat and elephant management are discussed.
  11. Estes JG, Othman N, Ismail S, Ancrenaz M, Goossens B, Ambu LN, et al.
    PLoS One, 2012;7(10):e44601.
    PMID: 23071499 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044601
    The approximately 300 (298, 95% CI: 152-581) elephants in the Lower Kinabatangan Managed Elephant Range in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo are a priority sub-population for Borneo's total elephant population (2,040, 95% CI: 1,184-3,652). Habitat loss and human-elephant conflict are recognized as the major threats to Bornean elephant survival. In the Kinabatangan region, human settlements and agricultural development for oil palm drive an intense fragmentation process. Electric fences guard against elephant crop raiding but also remove access to suitable habitat patches. We conducted expert opinion-based least-cost analyses, to model the quantity and configuration of available suitable elephant habitat in the Lower Kinabatangan, and called this the Elephant Habitat Linkage. At 184 km(2), our estimate of available habitat is 54% smaller than the estimate used in the State's Elephant Action Plan for the Lower Kinabatangan Managed Elephant Range (400 km(2)). During high flood levels, available habitat is reduced to only 61 km(2). As a consequence, short-term elephant densities are likely to surge during floods to 4.83 km(-2) (95% CI: 2.46-9.41), among the highest estimated for forest-dwelling elephants in Asia or Africa. During severe floods, the configuration of remaining elephant habitat and the surge in elephant density may put two villages at elevated risk of human-elephant conflict. Lower Kinabatangan elephants are vulnerable to the natural disturbance regime of the river due to their limited dispersal options. Twenty bottlenecks less than one km wide throughout the Elephant Habitat Linkage, have the potential to further reduce access to suitable habitat. Rebuilding landscape connectivity to isolated habitat patches and to the North Kinabatangan Managed Elephant Range (less than 35 km inland) are conservation priorities that would increase the quantity of available habitat, and may work as a mechanism to allow population release, lower elephant density, reduce human-elephant conflict, and enable genetic mixing.
  12. Evans LJ, Jones TH, Pang K, Saimin S, Goossens B
    Sensors (Basel), 2016 Sep 19;16(9).
    PMID: 27657065
    The role that oil palm plays in the Lower Kinabatangan region of Eastern Sabah is of considerable scientific and conservation interest, providing a model habitat for many tropical regions as they become increasingly fragmented. Crocodilians, as apex predators, widely distributed throughout the tropics, are ideal indicator species for ecosystem health. Drones (or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)) were used to identify crocodile nests in a fragmented landscape. Flights were targeted through the use of fuzzy overlay models and nests located primarily in areas indicated as suitable habitat. Nests displayed a number of similarities in terms of habitat characteristics allowing for refined modelling of survey locations. As well as being more cost-effective compared to traditional methods of nesting survey, the use of drones also enabled a larger survey area to be completed albeit with a limited number of flights. The study provides a methodology for targeted nest surveying, as well as a low-cost repeatable flight methodology. This approach has potential for widespread applicability across a range of species and for a variety of study designs.
  13. Evans LJ, Davies AB, Goossens B, Asner GP
    PLoS One, 2017;12(10):e0184804.
    PMID: 29020111 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184804
    Riparian ecosystems are amongst the most biodiverse tropical habitats. They are important, and essential, ecological corridors, linking remnant forest fragments. In this study, we hypothesised that crocodile's actively select nocturnal resting locations based on increased macaque predation potential. We examined the importance of riparian vegetation structure in the maintenance of crocodile hunting behaviours. Using airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and GPS telemetry on animal movement, we identified the repeated use of nocturnal resting sites by adult estuarine crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) throughout the fragmented Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah, Malaysia. Crocodile resting locations were found to resemble, in terms of habitat characteristics, the sleeping sites of long-tailed macaque; positioned in an attempt to avoid predation by terrestrial predators. We found individual crocodiles were actively selecting overhanging vegetation and that the protrusion of trees from the tree line was key to site selection by crocodiles, as well as influencing both the presence and group size of sleeping macaques. Although these findings are correlational, they have broad management implications, with the suggestion that riparian corridor maintenance and quality can have implications beyond that of terrestrial fauna. We further place our findings in the context of the wider ecosystem and the maintenance of trophic interactions, and discuss how future habitat management has the potential to mitigate human-wildlife conflict.
  14. Evans MN, Guerrero-Sanchez S, Kille P, Müller CT, Bakar MSA, Goossens B
    Conserv Physiol, 2020;8(1):coaa127.
    PMID: 33408869 DOI: 10.1093/conphys/coaa127
    Agricultural development is a major threat to global biodiversity, and effective conservation actions are crucial. Physiological repercussions of life alongside human-modified landscapes can undermine adaptable species' health and population viability; however, baseline data are lacking for many wildlife species. We assessed the physiological status of a generalist carnivore, the Malay civet (Viverra tangalunga), persisting within an extensively human-modified system in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We characterized hematology and serum biochemistry panels from civets sampled across a mosaic landscape comprising tropical forest fragments and oil palm plantations. Intra-population variation in certain blood parameters were explained by expected biological drivers such as sex, age category and sampling season. Furthermore, we determined several erythrocyte measures, immune cell counts and dietary biochemistry markers significantly varied with proximity to oil palm plantation boundaries. These findings were supported by a case study, whereby blood profiles of GPS collared male civets were contrasted based on their exclusive use of forests or use of oil palm plantations. These data provide robust and valuable first insights into this species' physiological status and suggest agricultural landscapes are impacting the persisting population.
  15. Evans MN, Waller S, Müller CT, Goossens B, Smith JA, Bakar MSA, et al.
    Environ Res, 2022 May 01;207:112216.
    PMID: 34656630 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112216
    Patterns and practices of agricultural expansion threaten the persistence of global biodiversity. Wildlife species surviving large-scale land use changes can be exposed to a suite of contaminants that may deleteriously impact their health. There is a paucity of data concerning the ecotoxicological impacts associated with the global palm oil (Elaeis guineensis) industry. We sampled wild Malay civets (Viverra tangalunga) across a patchwork landscape degraded by oil palm agriculture in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Using a non-lethal methodology, we quantified the levels of 13 essential and non-essential metals within the hair of this adaptable small carnivore. We robustly assessed the biological and environmental drivers of intrapopulation variation in measured levels. Metal concentrations were associated with civet age, weight, proximity to a tributary, and access to oxbow lakes. In a targeted case study, the hair metal profiles of 16 GPS-collared male civets with differing space use patterns were contrasted. Civets that entered oil palm plantations expressed elevated aluminium, cadmium, and lead, and lower mercury hair concentrations compared to civets that remained exclusively within the forest. Finally, we paired hair metal concentrations with 34 blood-based health markers to evaluate the possible sub-lethal physiological effects associated with varied hair metal levels. Our multi-facetted approach establishes these adaptable carnivores as indicator species within an extensively altered ecosystem, and provides critical and timely evidence for future studies.
  16. Frias L, Hasegawa H, Stark DJ, Lynn MS, Nathan SK, Chua TH, et al.
    PMID: 30619706 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2018.11.009
    Lemuricola (Protenterobius) nycticebi is the only pinworm species known to infect strepsirrhine primates outside Africa, and the only pinworm species yet described in slow lorises. Here, we provided a detailed morphological comparison of female and male worms, and a first description of fourth-stage larvae collected from free-living slow lorises (Nycticebus menagensis) in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Using mitochondrial and nuclear markers, we also reconstructed the species' phylogenetic relationship with other pinworms infecting primates. Both morphological and molecular results indicated a distinct association between L. (P.) nycticebi and its host. However, while taxonomy identified this species as a member of the Lemuricola clade and grouped pinworms infecting lemurs and slow lorises together, phylogenetic reconstruction split them, placing L. (P.) nycticebi within the Enterobius clade. Our results suggest that L. (P.) nycticebi may represent a different taxon altogether, and that it is more closely related to pinworm species infecting Old World primates outside Madagascar. Pongobius pongoi (Foitová et al., 2008) n. comb. is also proposed.
  17. Frias L, Stark DJ, Lynn MS, Nathan SK, Goossens B, Okamoto M, et al.
    Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl, 2018 Aug;7(2):141-146.
    PMID: 29988792 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2018.03.003
    Within host communities, related species are more likely to share common parasitic agents, and as a result, morphological similarities have led researchers to conclude that parasites infecting closely related hosts within a community represent a single species. However, genetic diversity within parasite genera and host range remain poorly investigated in most systems. Strongyloides is a genus of soil-transmitted nematode that has been reported from several primate species in Africa and Asia, and has been estimated to infect hundreds of millions of people worldwide, although no precise estimates are available. Here we describe a case of infection with a cryptic species of Strongyloides in a Bornean (Philippine) slow loris (Nycticebus menagensis) living within a diverse community of several primate species in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, Malaysian Borneo. Fresh fecal samples were collected from five primate species and nematode larvae cultured from these samples were selected for phylogenetic analyses. Sequences obtained for most larvae were identified as S. fuelleborni, grouping into three different clusters and showing no aggregation within specific hosts or geographic location. In contrast, a set of parasite sequences obtained from a slow loris clustered closely with S. stercoralis into a different group, being genetically distinct to sequences reported from other primate hosts, humans included. Our results suggest that although S. fuelleborni infects all haplorrhines sampled in this primate community, a different species might be infecting the slow loris, the only strepsirrhine in Borneo and one of the least studied primates in the region. Although more data are needed to support this conclusion, we propose that Strongyloides species in primates might be more diverse than previously thought, with potential implications for ecological and evolutionary host-parasite associations, as well as epidemiological dynamics.
  18. Frias L, Hasegawa H, Chua TH, Sipangkui S, Stark DJ, Salgado-Lynn M, et al.
    Int J Parasitol, 2021 10;51(11):925-933.
    PMID: 33862059 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2021.03.003
    Parasites are important components of ecosystems, influencing trophic networks, competitive interactions and biodiversity patterns. Nonetheless, we are not nearly close to disentangling their complex roles in natural systems. Southeast Asia falls within global areas targeted as most likely to source parasites with zoonotic potential, where high rates of land conversion and fragmentation have altered the circulation of wildlife species and their parasites, potentially resulting in altered host-parasite systems. Although the overall biodiversity in the region predicts equally high, or even higher, parasite diversity, we know surprisingly little about wild primate parasites, even though this constitutes the first step towards a more comprehensive understanding of parasite transmission processes. Here, we characterise the gastrointestinal helminth parasite assemblages of a community of Bornean primates living along the Kinabatangan floodplain in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo), including two species endemic to the island. Through parasitological analyses, and by using several measures of parasite infection as proxies for parasite diversity and distribution, we show that (i) most parasite taxonomic groups are not limited to a single host, suggesting a greater flexibility for habitat disturbance, (ii) parasite infracommunities of nocturnal primates differ from their diurnal counterparts, reflecting both phylogenetic and ecological constraints, and (iii) soil-transmitted helminths such as whipworm, threadworm and nodule worm are widespread across the primate community. This study also provides new parasite records for southern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina), silvered langurs (Trachypithecus cristatus) and Western tarsiers (Cephalopachus bancanus) in the wild, while adding to the limited records for the other primate species in the community. Given the information gap regarding primate-parasite associations in the region, the information presented here should prove relevant for future studies of parasite biodiversity and infectious disease ecology in Asia and elsewhere.
  19. Frias L, Stark DJ, Salgado Lynn M, Nathan S, Goossens B, Okamoto M, et al.
    Ecol Evol, 2019 Apr;9(7):3937-3945.
    PMID: 31015978 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5022
    Strongyles are commonly reported parasites in studies of primate parasite biodiversity. Among them, nodule worm species are often overlooked as a serious concern despite having been observed to cause serious disease in nonhuman primates and humans. In this study, we investigated whether strongyles found in Bornean primates are the nodule worm Oesophagostomum spp., and to what extent these parasites are shared among members of the community. To test this, we propose two hypotheses that use the parasite genetic structure to infer transmission processes within the community. In the first scenario, the absence of parasite genetic substructuring would reflect high levels of parasite transmission among primate hosts, as primates' home ranges overlap in the study area. In the second scenario, the presence of parasite substructuring would suggest cryptic diversity within the parasite genus and the existence of phylogenetic barriers to cross-species transmission. By using molecular markers, we identify strongyles infecting this primate community as O. aculeatum, the only species of nodule worm currently known to infect Asian nonhuman primates. Furthermore, the little to no genetic substructuring supports a scenario with no phylogenetic barriers to transmission and where host movements across the landscape would enable gene flow between host populations. This work shows that the parasite's high adaptability could act as a buffer against local parasite extinctions. Surveys targeting human populations living in close proximity to nonhuman primates could help clarify whether this species of nodule worm presents the zoonotic potential found in the other two species infecting African nonhuman primates.
  20. Gardner PC, Goossens B, Goon Ee Wern J, Kretzschmar P, Bohm T, Vaughan IP
    PLoS One, 2018;13(4):e0195444.
    PMID: 29649279 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195444
    Identifying the consequences of tropical forest degradation is essential to mitigate its effects upon forest fauna. Large forest-dwelling mammals are often highly sensitive to environmental perturbation through processes such as fragmentation, simplification of habitat structure, and abiotic changes including increased temperatures where the canopy is cleared. Whilst previous work has focused upon species richness and rarity in logged forest, few look at spatial and temporal behavioural responses to forest degradation. Using camera traps, we explored the relationships between diel activity, behavioural expression, habitat use and ambient temperature to understand how the wild free-ranging Bornean banteng (Bos javanicus lowi) respond to logging and regeneration. Three secondary forests in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo were studied, varying in the time since last logging (6-23 years). A combination of generalised linear mixed models and generalised linear models were constructed using >36,000 trap-nights. Temperature had no significant effect on activity, however it varied markedly between forests, with the period of intense heat shortening as forest regeneration increased over the years. Bantengs regulated activity, with a reduction during the wet season in the most degraded forest (z = -2.6, Std. Error = 0.13, p = 0.01), and reductions during midday hours in forest with limited regeneration, however after >20 years of regrowth, activity was more consistent throughout the day. Foraging and use of open canopy areas dominated the activity budget when regeneration was limited. As regeneration advanced, this was replaced by greater investment in travelling and using a closed canopy. Forest degradation modifies the ambient temperature, and positively influences flooding and habitat availability during the wet season. Retention of a mosaic of mature forest patches within commercial forests could minimise these effects and also provide refuge, which is key to heat dissipation and the prevention of thermal stress, whilst retention of degraded forest could provide forage.
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