Increasing land-use intensity reverses the relative occupancy of two quadrupedal scavengers
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Twining, JP
Bernard, H
Ewers, RM
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Human land use is continuously altering the natural environment, yet the greater ecological implications of this change for many groups that are key to healthy ecosystem functioning remains uncharacterised in the tropics. Terrestrial scavenging vertebrates are one such group, providing integral ecosystem services through the removal of carrion which is a crucial component of both nutrient cycling and disease dynamics. To explore how anthropogenic processes may affect forest scavengers, we investigated the changes in the relative occupancy of two important terrestrial scavengers along a gradient of land use intensity, ranging from protected forest to oil palm plantation in Borneo. We found the Malay civet (Viverra tangalunga) had highest, albeit variable, occupancy in areas of low land use intensity and the Southeast Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator macromaculatus) had highest occupancy in areas of high land use intensity. Land use had no effect on the combined occupancy of the two species. In high land use intensity sites, individual water monitors were larger and had better body condition, but at population level had a highly biased sex ratio with more males than females and increased signs of intraspecific conflict. We did not assess scavenging rate or efficiency as a process, but the high occupancy rates and apparent health of the scavengers in high land use intensity landscapes suggests this ecological process is robust to land use change.
Date Issued
2017-05-11
Date Acceptance
2017-04-21
Citation
PLOS ONE, 2017, 12 (5)
ISSN
1932-6203
Publisher
PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE
Journal / Book Title
PLOS ONE
Volume
12
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2017 Twining et al. This is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.
Sponsor
Rainforest Research Sdn Bhd
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000401314300064&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
LBEE_P34395
Subjects
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
WATER MONITOR LIZARDS
FOREST FRAGMENTATION
VARANUS-SALVATOR
CONSERVATION
COMMUNITY
OIL
MESOPREDATORS
POPULATIONS
LANDSCAPE
INDONESIA
General Science & Technology
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN e0177143