Identifying Where REDD+ Financially Out-Competes Oil Palm in Floodplain Landscapes Using a Fine-Scale Approach.

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.

Alternative futures for Borneo show the value of integrating economic and conservation targets across borders.

Balancing economic development with international commitments to protect biodiversity is a global challenge. Achieving this balance requires an understanding of the possible consequences of alternative future scenarios for a range of stakeholders. We employ an integrated economic and environmental planning approach to evaluate four alternative futures for the mega-diverse island of Borneo.

Androgens and innate immunity in rehabilitated semi-captive orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio) from Malaysian Borneo.

Despite the implications for the development of life-history traits, endocrine-immune trade-offs in apes are not well studied. This is due, in part, to difficulty in sampling wild primates, and lack of methods available for immune measures using samples collected noninvasively. Evidence for androgen-mediated immune trade-offs in orangutans is virtually absent, and very little is known regarding their pattern of adrenal development and production of adrenal androgens.

Accelerated diversification of nonhuman primate malarias in Southeast Asia: adaptive radiation or geographic speciation?

Although parasitic organisms are found worldwide, the relative importance of host specificity and geographic isolation for parasite speciation has been explored in only a few systems. Here, we study Plasmodium parasites known to infect Asian nonhuman primates, a monophyletic group that includes the lineage leading to the human parasite Plasmodium vivax and several species used as laboratory models in malaria research. We analyze the available data together with new samples from three sympatric primate species from Borneo: The Bornean orangutan and the long-tailed and the pig-tailed macaques.

Correlation and persistence of hunting and logging impacts on tropical rainforest mammals.

Humans influence tropical rainforest animals directly via exploitation and indirectly via habitat disturbance. Bushmeat hunting and logging occur extensively in tropical forests and have large effects on particular species. But how they alter animal diversity across landscape scales and whether their impacts are correlated across species remain less known.

Evaluating multispecies landscape connectivity in a threatened tropical mammal community.

Habitat corridors are important tools for maintaining connectivity in increasingly fragmented landscapes, but generally they have been considered in single-species approaches. Corridors intended to facilitate the movement of multiple species could increase persistence of entire communities, but at the likely cost of being less efficient for any given species than a corridor intended specifically for that species. There have been few tests of the trade-offs between single- and multispecies corridor approaches.

Dispatch from the field: ecology of ground-web-building spiders with description of a new species (Araneae, Symphytognathidae).

Crassignathadanaugirangensis sp. n. (Araneae: Symphytognathidae) was discovered during a tropical ecology field course held at the Danau Girang Field Centre in Sabah, Malaysia.

Synergies for improving oil palm production and forest conservation in floodplain landscapes.

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.

Coming down from the trees: is terrestrial activity in Bornean orangutans natural or disturbance driven?

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.

Generation of SNP datasets for orangutan population genomics using improved reduced-representation sequencing and direct comparisons of SNP calling algorithms.

Background: High-throughput sequencing has opened up exciting possibilities in population and conservation genetics by enabling the assessment of genetic variation at genome-wide scales. One approach to reduce genome complexity, i.e.

Blood meal analysis of tabanid fly after it biting the rare Sumatran rhinoceros.

Objective: To demonstrate a noninvasive large mammalian genetic sampling method using blood meal obtained from a tabanid fly.

Methods: Blood meal was recovered from the abdomen of an engorged tabanid fly (Haematopota sp.) which was captured immediately after biting a Sumatran rhino in captivity.

Quantity and configuration of available elephant habitat and related conservation concerns in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain of Sabah, Malaysia.

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.

Long-term field data and climate-habitat models show that orangutan persistence depends on effective forest management and greenhouse gas mitigation.

Background: Southeast Asian deforestation rates are among the world's highest and threaten to drive many forest-dependent species to extinction. Climate change is expected to interact with deforestation to amplify this risk. Here we examine whether regional incentives for sustainable forest management will be effective in improving threatened mammal conservation, in isolation and when combined with global climate change mitigation.

Ape conservation physiology: fecal glucocorticoid responses in wild Pongo pygmaeus morio following human visitation.

Nature-based tourism can generate important revenue to support conservation of biodiversity. However, constant exposure to tourists and subsequent chronic activation of stress responses can produce pathological effects, including impaired cognition, growth, reproduction, and immunity in the same animals we are interested in protecting. Utilizing fecal samples (N = 53) from 2 wild habituated orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio) (in addition to 26 fecal samples from 4 wild unhabituated orangutans) in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, we predicted that i) fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations would be elevated on the day after tourist visitation (indicative of normal stress response to exposure to tourists on the previous day) compared to samples taken before or during tourist visitation in wild, habituated orangutans, and ii) that samples collected from habituated animals would have lower fecal glucocorticoid metabolites than unhabituated animals not used for tourism.

Home range and ranging behaviour of Bornean elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis) females.

Background: 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.

Geographical variation in and evolutionary history of the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) with the description of a new subspecies from Borneo.

Recent morphological and molecular studies led to the recognition of two extant species of clouded leopards; Neofelis nebulosa from mainland southeast Asia and Neofelis diardi from the Sunda Islands of Borneo and Sumatra, including the Batu Islands. In addition to these new species-level distinctions, preliminary molecular data suggested a genetic substructure that separates Bornean and Sumatran clouded leopards, indicating the possibility of two subspecies of N. diardi.

Recent surveys in the forests of Ulu Segama Malua, Sabah, Malaysia, show that orang-utans (P. p. morio) can be maintained in slightly logged forests.

Background: Today the majority of wild great ape populations are found outside of the network of protected areas in both Africa and Asia, therefore determining if these populations are able to survive in forests that are exploited for timber or other extractive uses and how this is managed, is paramount for their conservation.

Methodology/principal Findings: In 2007, the "Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project" (KOCP) conducted aerial and ground surveys of orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus morio) nests in the commercial forest reserves of Ulu Segama Malua (USM) in eastern Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Compared with previous estimates obtained in 2002, our recent data clearly shows that orang-utan populations can be maintained in forests that have been lightly and sustainably logged.

Unhealthy travelers present challenges to sustainable primate ecotourism.

Background: Ecotourism can function as a powerful tool for species conservation. However, a significant proportion of travelers at wildlife sanctuaries may be ill and potentially infectious, creating unnecessary risk of pathogen transmission to wildlife.

Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to adult visitors at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, Sabah, Malaysia.

Perceived vaccination status in ecotourists and risks of anthropozoonoses.

Anthropozoonotic (human to nonhuman animal) transmission of infectious disease poses a significant threat to wildlife. A large proportion of travelers to tropical regions are not protected against vaccine-preventable illnesses, and a majority of these travelers demonstrate poor recall of actual vaccination status. Here we characterize self-perceived vaccination status among a large sample of ecotourists at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, Sabah, Malaysia.

Reproductive parameters over a 37-year period of free-ranging female Borneo orangutans at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre.

We analysed the reproductive parameters of free-ranging female orangutans at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC) on Borneo Island, Sabah, Malaysia. Fourteen adult females produced 28 offspring in total between 1967 and 2004. The average censored interbirth interval (IBI) (i.

Aerial surveys give new estimates for orangutans in Sabah, Malaysia.

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.