Danlced Management of Maliau Basin Conservation Area Sabah, Malaysia Maliau Basin Conservation Project Zoological Survey November 200 Author: Dr. Carl Traeholt NEPCon, Odensegade 4 B, Postbox 5102, DK 8100 Aarhus C, Denmark Phone: + 45 86180866 Fax: + 45 86181012 E-mail: [email protected] submitted by Carl Traeholt NEPCon Aarhus Denmark phone: 019-3521399 (mobile) email: [email protected] Duration: June -September 29th, 2000 March -June 30th, 2001 Table of contents List of a bb revia finns ~...~~ ~.. 4 1. Background :~ 5 2. Activities and results...~~...~..~.~.~..&A~ ~~ 6 2.1 Small mammals trapping : 6 2.2 Amphibian collection 9 2.3 Recording wildl~fe by camera trapping 10 2.4 Other mammal~pecies and monitoring routes 11 2.5 Birdob,~ervation /2 2.2.6 7 Otherslraining , 13 2.7.1 Species identification training 13 2.7.2 Data analysis workshop 15 2.7.3 Other training activities , , 15 3. Data analysis and interpretation 17 3.1 Big mammals ~ 17 3.1.1 Banteng, Bo~'.iavanicus 18 3.1.2 Elephants, Elephas maximus 19 3.1.3 Sambardeer, Cervus' unicolour 20 3.1.4 Bearded pig, ..f)'USscrofa 20 3.1.5 Barking deer,Mun~iiacu~' mun~iak andM atherodes " 21 3.1.6 Sun bear,Helarctos malayanus , 21 3.1.7 Clouded leopard, Nel?felis'nebulosa 22 3.2 Smail.mammaL~ ~ 22 3.2.1 Mustelids, civets, cats, otters and mongooses 23 3.2.2 Rats, squirrels and shrews , , , , ,., ,..23 3.2.2 Other captured species 25 4. 3.3Constraints Primates ...~.~.~~ ~ ~ ~...~ 28 4.1 General. con,~traint,~ , 28 4.24.3 CMTTOurism and development, 28 4.3.1 Priorities of transportation 29 4.3..2Facilities 29 4.44.4.1 Labour Transfer and replacement of staff 30 4.4.2 Staff and salary 30 ,.. 4.4.3 Language and books in English 30 4.4.4 Training courses 31 4.5 Reporting 0;[surveys' 31 Recorom e n da tio os 32 5.1 Future collServation area 32 5.35.2 B~fferHabitat zone corridor 33 34 5.4 Ecotouri~m development , 35 5.4.1 Buildings and other facilities 36 5.5 CMT -.future job per~pectives 36 5.6 Staffand incentive~' 37 5.6.1 Staff TOR 37 5.7 Poaching 38 5.7 }future research areas and topics 39 5.7.1 Camera Trapping 39 Refe re DCes 41. Annex 2: A small selection of species photographed with a utoma ti c sensor ca me ras 47 Annex 4: List of mammals recorded from surveys in Maliau Basin and adjacent area. 51 ~ 5. List of abbreviations CL Casual Labour CMT Conservation ManagementTrainee CTH Camel Trophy Hut DANCED Danish Cooperation for Environment and Development IUCN World Conservation Union lln. Jalan (road) MBCA Ma]iau Basin Conservation Area PA Protected Area PMG Project Management Group Sg. Sungai (river) TA lntemationa] technica] assistant TOR Tenns of reference 1. Background The original TOR for the TA in zoology was to assist in putting up an extensive monitoring program for MBCA, train local rangers in basic wildlife survey and identification as well as data analysis and finally carry out various wildlife surveys (Annex5). The first input started already in June 2000 and ended in September2000. The overall monitoring system was implemented and various activities such as workshops relevant to the Fauna Team and surveys were conducted. Photography workshop (Technical assistancereport no. 6) Progress report no. 1 for Zoology input (Technical assistancereport No.1) Tracks and spoor reading workshop (Monitoring report" 2001) Small mammal and amphibian trapping (Monitoring report, 2001). Monitoring and data samplingmethods workshop (Technical assistancereport, 2001) Simple data-analysesworkshop (Technical assistancereport, 2001) In the final duration of the zoology input, we have been very active in field in order to extract sufficientzoological data of the interior parts ofMBCA beforethe departureof the TA for zoology. This report presents the data collected from the entire input of the TA. In view of the overall managerial objectives of the project data are pooled and followed up with simple analysesin order to make it applicable for the PMG in their efforts to develop a long-term managementplan for MBCA. ~ 2. Activities and results The final input for the international zoology T A commenced on the 5thMarch and ended on the 31st May, 2001. During this time we conducted three (3) extensive surveys trips during which we made five plots for small mammalstrapping. )'$"" ~ - r"\ "'"...1 "" ,..'" 1. Pakis Camp. I ~~ 2. Strike Ridge and Camp 88 ~ " j. 3. Tembadau Valley, double plot --"' c ~.. (Fig. 1). c"":_~ \< ... During thesesurveys we focusedo~ r /~; -".. ,. \ :w.ip Trapping of small mam- ~ ~.. mals. ~~ "' ,:/ :i 2 Collecting amphibians. , B~~~'"f:A '.,~, ) ;~~- :1 Recording animals by "" \; _.~ camera traps. ~~ 4 Recording other t'..,..:o..,,~1 specIes. ",~~ 5. Birds. alley 6. Others. \ \ ..""",-'.' .., Furtheffilore, we put up several new 7~,,~..- ~ .' monitoring routes at each site and "~ .. finally, we concentrated on some Cl.rl-t.security Gate extra curricular activities which are nevertheless very important for the F.ig~re 1. Maliau Basin with the adjacent southern .dlstnct popularly known as "Tembadau Valley" (green rangers m the future. stipulated line). The red stars indicate survey plots carried out by the Fauna Team. One of the plots in While not in the field the rangers Tembadau Valley is only about 3,5 km from Agathis followed two workshops/courses. Camp where two previous surveys were carried out in 2000. Using Microsoft Excel for simple data storage and analysis. This workshop took place in Luasong Forestry Centre and lasted an initial two days and followed up with two I-day courses post survey trip. Identification, naming and tagging of specimenswas carried out on location every time new specimenswere captured. 2.1 Small mammals trapping An analysis of small mammal community and abundance was conducted in each of the survey sites by deploying at least 50 cage traps (40 x 15 x 20 cm) on the ground in a 105 x 105 meter large plot. Each trap was positioned in a grid system 15 meters apart. In Camp 88 and Tembadau Valley we also deployed at least 10 tree traps. In each camp we further deployed at least 10 traps around the respective campsite. .n..."~Jmammal Table 1. The species caught during surveys in Maliau Basin and Tembadau Valley. There were 113 individuals representing 21 species from seven families. porcupine 'richys .fasciculafa:\;. Haeromvs mar1!arettae ' mouse Chestnut b~llied spiny rat,,Whitehead's Max()mys ochraceiventer rat Maxomvswhiteheadi Ked spiny Tat suriferc .,Maxomys !own spiny rat -~ raiah -~ spiny rat s baeodon~iviventer Dark tailed tree rat cremoriventer mo~- rat Wiviventer~apit Malavsianfield rat Rattus tiommlicus Polynesianrat '"7 ~omLong-tailedRaneeLonp;-tailedHattu.\'SmallMaxomys Traps were left for 8 days (Pakis Camp and Strike Ridge) and 10 40 days (Camp 88 and Tembadau Valley) and checked at least once 35 per day. Combined with the 30 surveys in 20001 (double plot in III 'Strike Ridge ~25 Agathis Camp, 10 days) this :J Q. 'Ca~88 consists of a total of 3162 trap tV "20 ~ Sawang 1 nights. This is 5 times as many as II C .Sawang 2 the total of the previous surveys () 15 Z put together2. Furthermore, the previous two surveys concentrat-ed 10 on only one site respectively, 5 namely Camel Trophy and Bambangan. In addition, one of 0 2 3 4 the weakest points of e.g. the L ~-- 5 6 1 8 9 10 nme (days) survey carried out in 1.998 (Gasis , et al., 1.998) is ~hat they h~:e only Figure 2. The cumulative number of new trappings as a left theIr traps m one posItion for function of time at four destinations in MBCA. Notice that 3-4 consecutive days. Although there is a general tendency of few trappings during the this does not entirely explain a first 2-3 days. Not.e also that no.ne of th~ trapping efforts very low trapping success there is have reach a pomt of saturation albeit C~mp 88 and , Sawang 1 & 2 appears to approach saturatIOn whereas no ~ou~t that thes: data are Strike Ridge still increases drastically. Hence it would heavily blased- According to many have been appropriate to continue trapping at Pakis previous surveys one should Camp for another 2-4 days.. expect a latency time of up to 3-4 c~ days before the first individual 401 i New enters a trap (Lundahl & Olsson, Recaptll'es 2000; Traeholt, 1999; Anan et al., ~~ 1998). Trap shy animals such as ro many rat species in areas unfamiliar with human presence 21.25'" j are reluctant to enter traps "C ;S3> immediately after it is deployed .5 0 and the disturbance created by z 15 cutting the grid of the plot 10 combined with the scent of human beings combine to create this 5 effect. This was also clearly 1) demonstrated in some of the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 present survey plots (Fig. 2). TillE (days) ...Figure 3. Capture rate as a function days at Strike A1t~m~t1vely, It IS necessary to Ridge. When "recapture" crosses "new" it is appropriate maIntaIn the traps deployed for at to terminate the trapping session. It is likely to have least 8-10 days or preferably even occurred at day 10-12 in this occasion. I Belian Cantp survey has bccn omi11cddue 10inconsis1cncy in trapping procedure. 11was rcporlcd by tho CTM to be due to a flooded Maliau River. 2 The total of the previous trapping efforts is 764 trap niKhts. It is based on Paine's 1988 expedition (284 trap nights) and Gasis' 19% survey (480 trap nights). 0 more.