US EPA

5053067 

Journal Article 

Bearded pig (Sus barbatus) utilisation of a fragmented forest-oil palm landscape in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo 

Love, K; Kurz, DJ; Vaughan, IanP; Ke, A; Evans, LJ; Goossens, B 

2017 

1 

Wildlife Research
ISSN: 1035-3712
EISSN: 1448-5494 

44 

8 

603-612 

10.1071/WR16189 

WOS:000426386200002 

Context. Oil palm plantations have become a dominant landscape in Southeast Asia, yet we still understand relatively little about the ways wildlife are adapting to fragmented mosaics of forest and oil palm. The bearded pig is of great ecological, social, and conservation importance in Borneo and is declining in many parts of its range due to deforestation, habitat fragmentation and overhunting. Aims. We assessed how the bearded pig is adapting to oil palm expansion by investigating habitat utilisation, activity patterns, body condition, and minimum group size in a mosaic landscape composed of forest fragments and surrounding oil palm plantations. Methods. We conducted our study in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, in and around the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, an area consisting of secondary forest fragments (ranging 1200-7400 ha) situated within an extensive oil palm matrix. We modelled bearded pig habitat use in forest fragments and oil palm plantations using survey data from line transects. Camera traps placed throughout the forest fragments were used to assess pig activity patterns, body condition and minimum group size. Key results. All forest transects and 80% of plantation transects showed pig presence, but mean pig signs per transect were much more prevalent in forest (70.00 +/- 13.00 s.e.) than in plantations (0.91 +/- 0.42 s.e.). Pig tracks had a positive relationship with leaf cover and a negative relationship with grass cover; pig rooting sites had a positive relationship with wet and moderate soils compared to drier soils. Ninety-five percent of pigs displayed good or very good body condition in forests across the study area. Pigs also aggregated in small groups (mean = 2.7 +/- 0.1 s.e. individuals), and showed largely diurnal activity patterns with peak activity taking place at dawn and dusk. Groups with piglets and juveniles were more active during the day and less active at night as compared to overall activity patterns for all groups. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that bearded pigs in our study area regularly utilise oil palm as habitat, as indicated by their signs in most oil palm sites surveyed. However, secondary forest fragments are used much more frequently and for a wider range of behaviours (e.g. nesting, wallowing) than adjacent oil palm plantations. These forests clearly remain the most important habitat for the bearded pig in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, and their protection is a high conservation priority for this species. 

activity pattern; body condition; habitat use; Lower Kinabatangan; matrix; mosaic; Suidae