THE PRESENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF SMALL CARNIVORES IN OIL PALM PLANTATION AND CARNIVORES IN OIL PALM PLANTATION AND

THE PRESENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF SMALL CARNIVORES IN OIL PALM PLANTATION AND CARNIVORES IN OIL PALM PLANTATION AND

THEIR ROLE IN CONTROLLING RAT DAMAGE : PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM A CAMERA

TRAPPING STUDY TRAPPING STUDY

Mohd Naim

, Andreas Dwi Advento ,

, Sudharto Ps ,

, Andrew P. , Jennings

, Geraldine Veron

, Aude Verwilghen

, Jean-Pierre

Caliman

1SMART Research Institute (SMARTRI), Jalan Teuku Umar, No: 19 Pekanbaru 28112, Riau, Indonesia.

2Small Carnivores – Research and Conservation, 83 St. Lawrence Street, Portland, ME 04101, USA.

3Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Département Systématique et Evolution, UMR CNRS 7205 OSEB, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 51, 75231 Paris cedex 05, FRANCE.

4CIRAD, UPR Systemes de Perennes, F-34398 Montpellier, France.

Oil palm

4 major Vegetable Oil crops 2010*

Land use:

170 Mio ha

Indonesia = 5.7 Mio ha*

Malaysia = 4.1 Mio ha*

* H t d / t d l t

Fitzherbert et al. (2008) Source: Oil world (2010)

* Harvested area/matured plant

Oil palm

9 Oil palm plantations support fewer species than forests

(Fit h b t t l 2008) (Fitzherbert et al., 2008)

9 19 species of carnivores were recorded in forest adjacent to oil recorded in forest adjacent to oil palm plantations

(Maddox et al., 2007)

Pest problem

in oil palm plantation in oil palm plantation

9 Oil palm subject to attack by pests in the field

9 Rats are one of the most

destructive, causing problems from nursery to mature areas

nursery to mature areas

(Wood and Chung, 2003; Anon, 2007)

Predators of rats

9

Numerous predators of rats include various species of cats, civets, owls, snakes, and monitor lizards

snakes, and monitor lizards

9

The barn owl has been intensively studied

(Lenton, 1984; Smal, 1988; Naim et al., 2010; 2011)

9

But other predators are poorly known, and there are only very few studies on these species, especially in oil palm

S A l (2012)

p , p y p

plantation

Scott and Gemita, 2004; Rajaratnam et al., 2007) Source: Ancrenaz et al. (2012)

Camera traps

9 Become increasingly popular in recent years in Indonesia and other

S th t A i t i

Southeast Asian countries

al., 2007; Arlyne et al., 2009; Jennings et al., 2010)

9 Applications range from species 9 Applications range from species inventories to estimation of animal density and abundance

9 Our study was initiated to investigate the presence and distribution of small carnivore species in oil palm plantation and the effect of habitat within and

d il l l t ti ll

around oil palm plantation on small

carnivore species

Study sites

¾ The study was conducted in two mature oil palm plantations:

Source: Google map

p p

Rama-rama (A) and Libo (B) estates in Riau Province, Indonesia, from March 2012 to March 2013

March 2013

¾ The terrain was flat to undulating

Camera trap positions

LI004

C i i

LI002 LI003

LI001

Camera trap position

Camera trap positions

RA001 RA002

RA004

RA003

Camera trap position

Installation of camera trap

Camera trap position, brands, effort and altitude ,

Estate Site

number Position Camera Brand Trap nights Altitude (m)

Libo LI001 Near Conservation area Reconyx 250 84

LI002 Near Settlement Reconyx 249 63

LI003 Near Conservation area Bushnell 238 51

LI004 Near Conservation area Bushnell 70 34

Rama-rama RA001 Centre of oil palm estate Bushnell 247 32

RA002 Near Forest Reconyx 247 22

RA003 Centre of oil palm estate Bushnell 246 46

RA004 Near Forest Reconyx 109 27

Results

Leopard cat,

Prionailurus bengalensis

Common palm civet,

Paradoxurus hermaphroditus a ado u us e ap od tus

Malay civet,

Viverra tangalunga

Viverra tangalunga

Monitor lizard,

Varanus salvator

Varanus salvator

Records of

small carnivores and reptile

No. of independent pictures CPUE

Estate Camera Trap Small Carnivores Reptile Small Carnivores Reptile

s a ca o es a d ept e

p p p

LC PC MC ML LC PC MC ML

Libo LI001 (cons) 23 15 0 3 9,20 6,00 0,00 1,20

LI002 ( ttl ) 9 3 0 0 3 61 1 20 0 00 0 00

LI002 (settle) 9 3 0 0 3,61 1,20 0,00 0,00

LI003 (cons) 30 4 0 10 12,61 1,68 0,00 4,20

LI004 (cons) 36 1 0 0 51,43 1,43 0,00 0,00

Total Libo 36 1 0 0 12,14 2,85 0,00 1,61

Rama-rama RA001 (centre)( ) 4 2 0 1 1,62 0,81 0,00 0,40

RA002 (forest) 31 0 1 0 12,60 0,00 0,41 0,00

RA003 (centre) 13 0 1 0 5,28 0,00 0,41 0,00

RA004 (forest) 27 1 0 1 10 98 0 41 0 00 0 41

RA004 (forest) 27 1 0 1 10,98 0,41 0,00 0,41

Total Rama-rama 75 3 2 2 7,61 0,30 0,20 0,20

Remarks: CPUE= Catch Per Unit Effort, number of photographs for each animal per 100 trap nights.

LC= Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis); PC= Common Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) MC= Malay Civet (Viverra tangalunga); ML= Monitor Lizard (Varanus salvator).

Comparison of occupancy of

small carnivores and monitor lizard

Species Occupancy

Species Occupancy

Libo Rama-rama

Leopard cat 0.36 0.29

C l i t 0 13 0 02

Common palm civet 0.13 0.02

Malay civet 0 0.01

Monitor lizard 0.12 0.01

Remark: Occupancy of each species was calculated using PRESENCE 4.1 software.

Occupancy of

small carnivores and monitor lizard

Location Small carnivores Monitor lizard

LC PC MC

Near forest 0.41 0.01 0.01 0.01

Near forest 0.41 0.01 0.01 0.01

Near consv. area 0.44 0.16 0 0.11 Centre of estate 0.16 0.03 0.01 0.01

Near settlement 0.18 0.06 0 0

Remarks: Occupancy of each species was calculated using PRESENCE 4 1 Remarks: Occupancy of each species was calculated using PRESENCE 4.1

software.

LC= Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis); PC= Common Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus); MC= Malay Civet (Viverra tangalunga); ML= Monitor Lizard (Varanus salvator).

Activity pattern of leopard cat

leopard cat

6 78 9

phed

near forest area

12 14 16

phed

near conservation area

01 23 4 56

.00 .00 .00 .00 .00 .00 .00 ,00 .00 .00 .00 .00 .00 .00 .00 .00 .01 .02 .03 .04 .05 .06 .00 .00

no of photograp

0 2 4 6 8 10

8.00 9.00 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 0.00 1,00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 0.01 1.02 2.03 3.04 4.05 5.06 6.00 7.00

no of photograp 17.00-18. 18.01-19. 19.01-20. 20.01-21. 21.01-22. 22.01-23. 23.01-00. 00.01-01, 01.01-02. 02.01-03. 03.01-04. 04.01-05. 05.01-06. 06.01-07. 07.01-08. 08.01-09. 09.01-10. 10.01-11. 11.01-12. 12.01-13. 13.01-14. 14.01-15. 15.01-16. 16.01-17.

hour

17.00-18 18.01-19 19.01-20 20.01-2 21.01-22 22.01-23 23.01-00 00.01-0 01.01-02 02.01-03 03.01-04 04.01-05 05.01-06 06.01-07 07.01-08 08.01-09 09.01-10 10.01-1 11.01-12 12.01-13 13.01-14 14.01-15 15.01-16 16.01-17

hour

2 2,5 3 3,5

ographed

in centre of oil palm

2 2,5 3 3,5

graphed

near settlement

0 0,5 1 1,5 2

8.00 9.00 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 0.00 1,00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 0.01 1.02 2.03 3.04 4.05 5.06 6.00 7.00

no. of photo

0 0,5 1 1,5 2

8.00 9.00 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 0.00 1,00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 0.01 1.02 2.03 3.04 4.05 5.06 6.00 7.00

no of photog 17.00-18 18.01-19 19.01-20 20.01-21 21.01-22 22.01-23 23.01-00 00.01-01 01.01-02 02.01-03 03.01-04 04.01-05 05.01-06 06.01-07 07.01-08 08.01-09 09.01-10 10.01-11 11.01-12 12.01-13 13.01-14 14.01-15 15.01-16 16.01-17

hour

17.00-18 18.01-19 19.01-20 20.01-21 21.01-22 22.01-23 23.01-00 00.01-01 01.01-02 02.01-03 03.01-04 04.01-05 05.01-06 06.01-07 07.01-08 08.01-09 09.01-10 10.01-11 11.01-12 12.01-13 13.01-14 14.01-15 15.01-16 16.01-17

hour

Activity pattern of Common palm civet

common palm civet

Common palm civet

5 6 7

aphed

2 3 4

no. photogra

0

n 1

hour

Activity pattern of Malay civet

Malay civet

Malay civet

2

phed

Malay civet

1

of photogra

0

No o

hour

Activity pattern of monitor lizard

Monitor lizard

3,5 4 4,5

phed

Monitor lizard

1,5 2 2,5 3

of photograp

0 0,5 1 ,

no o

hour

Rat Damage

10,00

Libo estate ^10,00 Bukit Mas estate

10,00

Rama-rama estate

7,50 7,50 7,50

5,00

damage

5,00

damage

5,00

damage

2,50

2,50

d

2,50

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

0,00

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

0,00

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

0,00

year year year

Conclusions

9 Our preliminary analyses suggest the great potential p y y gg g p for using camera-traps to determine the presence and distribution of rat predators in oil palm plantations

9 Conservation and forest areas may help promote the diversity of small carnivores and reptiles which in turn will keep rat damage stable at a low level

9 Higher occupancy of the leopard cat, common palm

civet and monitor lizard in Libo estate than in Rama-

rama estate; the Malay civet has so far only been

rama estate; the Malay civet has so far only been

recorded in Rama-rama

Next studies

9 Additional 10 camera-traps in Libo and 9 Additional 10 camera traps in Libo and

Rama- rama estates

9 R di t ki t d f ll i

9 Radio tracking study for small carnivores 9 Investigations at other sites (Bangka,

Kalimantan and Papua): Night spot counting; Line transect; Camera trapping and Radio Tracking.

and Radio Tracking.

Th k Y

Thank You