Short Communication First Estimates of Primate Density and Abundance in Siberut National Park, Mentawai Islands, Indonesia
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Short Communication First estimates of primate density and abundance in Siberut National Park, Mentawai Islands, Indonesia M ARCEL C. QUINTEN,FIFIN N OPIANSYAH and J . K EITH H ODGES Abstract In we carried out the first systematic survey to the IUCN Red List (IUCN, ). The pig-tailed langur is determine the density and abundance of endemic forest pri- among the most threatened primates (Mittermeier mates in Siberut National Park, in the Mentawai Islands of et al., ). West Sumatra, Indonesia. Distance sampling was employed Regardless of their conservation status, there is a dearth to survey transects located systematically throughout the of reliable information on the size of the region’s primate Park, yielding a total survey effort of km and obser- population, which is essential for effective management vations of primates for data analysis. From density estimates and conservation planning. The few publications that have for the four resident primate species, the Siberut langur presented population estimates for the Mentawai Islands are Presbytis siberu, the pig-tailed snub-nosed langur Simias typically species-specific (e.g. Tilson, ; Whittaker, ) concolor, Kloss’s gibbon Hylobates klossii and the Siberut and/or base their estimates on geographically restricted data macaque Macaca siberu, we extrapolated a total population (e.g. Waltert et al., ; Quinten et al., ). Significantly, of c. , primates within the Park. We conclude that there is a lack of data from the archipelago’s only protected Siberut National Park is of major significance for the contin- area, Siberut National Park, located on the largest and ued survival of Siberut’s endemic primates, and provide re- northernmost of the four islands. Formally declared in commendations to help ensure that it will continue to , the Park covers .% of Siberut (Fig. ) and comprises function as a refuge for primates. predominantly evergreen primary lowland rainforest (.%; M. Quinten, unpubl. data). Unlike many of Keywords Hylobates klossii, line-transect survey, Macaca Indonesia’s protected areas, Siberut National Park was de- siberu, Mentawai Islands, population density, Presbytis si- signed to contain human settlements. It is subdivided into beru, Siberut National Park, Simias concolor three land-use zones (sanctuary, traditional use and park village) and there are at least , inhabitants in the park he Mentawai Island primates are a unique community village zone (PHPA, ), which is the least restricted. As Tof sympatrically occurring, endemic species of the with many government-established parks and reserves, pro- c. , km (BPS, ) Mentawai Archipelago in West tection and enforcement within the Park are hampered by ’ Sumatra, Indonesia. On the four main islands (Siberut, staff members lack of knowledge and training in wildlife Sipora, North Pagai and South Pagai) six species (Roos ecology and conservation management, and by insufficient . et al., ) coexist: the Siberut macaque Macaca siberu, funding. Thus, despite its -year history and its potential the Pagai Island macaque Macaca pagensis, the Siberut lan- importance as a refuge for primates, no systematic surveys gur Presbytis siberu, the Pagai langur Presbytis potenziani, have been carried out within the Park boundaries and the pig-tailed snub-nosed langur Simias concolor, and consequently no data on primate density and abundance Kloss’s gibbon Hylobates klossii. Threatened mainly by are available. anthropogenic hunting and habitat loss (commercial log- Following on from surveys of primates in the north of the ging, agriculture), all six species are considered to be in de- island, outside the National Park (Waltert et al., ; cline (Whittaker, ). They are categorized as Vulnerable Quinten et al., ), the Siberut Conservation (M. siberu), Endangered (P. siberu (as P. potenziani siberu) Programme established a collaboration with the Siberut and H. klossii) or Critically Endangered (P. potenziani (as National Park Authority, Green Siberut Association, and P. potenziani potenziani), M. pagensis and S. concolor)on UNESCO to carry out surveys within the Park. Our aims were to provide the first systematic and reliable estimates of primate density and abundance in the Park, extend the MARCEL C. QUINTEN (Corresponding author) and J. KEITH HODGES Reproductive existing dataset on primate population sizes in the Biology Unit, German Primate Center, Kellnerweg 4, Goettingen 37077, Mentawai Islands, and provide training in primate survey Germany, and Siberut Conservation Programme, Pola Mas, Padang 25122, methodology and data analysis for staff of the National Indonesia. E-mail [email protected] Park Authority and affiliated organizations in the region. FIFIN NOPIANSYAH Siberut National Park Office, Padang, West Sumatra, − Indonesia We organized a -day workshop ( May ), dur- ing which participants received in-depth training in theor- Received August . Revision requested November . Accepted December . First published online March . etical (e.g. survey design, general methodology) and Oryx, 2016, 50(2), 364–367 © 2015 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605314001185 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 01 Oct 2021 at 13:27:16, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605314001185 Primates in Siberut National Park 365 primate observations by transect, and analysed each species separately using both visual and acoustic observations. We truncated the data to estimate the detection function g(x) and the cluster (group) size (Table ); we determined cluster size using the size bias regression method, regressing ln(clus- ter size) against the estimated g(x). By surveying all transects – times we achieved a total survey effort of km, yielding detection events for the four primate species on Siberut (Table ): S. concolor (), M. siberu (), P. siberu () and H. klossii (). Presbytis si- beru was the most abundant primate, and based on a density of c. individuals per km (c. clusters per km )we estimate the total population in the Park to be , indi- viduals. We modelled a density of . individuals per km (c. clusters per km ) and a total population of c. , individuals for Siberut’s other colobine, S. concolor. The es- timated densities of H. klossii and M. siberu were . and . individuals per km (c. and c. clusters per km ), respectively, yielding population estimates of c. , gib- bons and , macaques (Table ). Collectively, this indi- cates a population of c. , primates within the Park. However, as our survey transects were located almost ex- clusively in primate habitat (e.g. primary and swamp forest), leaving non-suitable habitat underrepresented (c. –%of the Park area, including bare land and agricultural areas; M. Quinten, unpubl. data), this number may represent a slight overestimation. FIG. 1 Locations of closed-circuit transects, within a Given that no other systematic survey of primates has systematic-random sampling grid, used to survey the four been conducted in Siberut National Park we cannot com- endemic primate species in Siberut National Park in the pare our results with earlier information, or comment on Mentawai Islands, Indonesia. The rectangle on the inset indicates population changes over time. A comparison with the the location of the main map in Indonesia. only available population estimates for the whole island (Whittaker, , largely based on WWF, ; Table ), practical (e.g. equipment handling, transect cutting) aspects however, suggests that a substantial proportion of the popu- of primate population surveys. We then assigned successful lations of all four primate species occurs within the Park, participants to one of seven teams and sent them to the field emphasizing its conservation importance for the region’s to conduct distance sampling surveys (Buckland et al., , primates. It also indicates that P. siberu and S. concolor are ) of primates at two or three of a total of closed- considerably more abundant on Siberut than Whittaker circuit transects (length per transect , m), located ac- () suggested (our estimates for the Park are c. .– cording to a random vector grid (Fig. ). The survey design times higher than those of Whittaker for the entire island). represented the best possible solution taking into account Given the Park’s comparatively high abundance of pri- logistical difficulties (no roads, remoteness, difficult terrain) mates, and considering that () the Park covers almost and available resources (time, manpower, budget). half of Siberut Island, () the areas outside the Park are lar- All teams conducted daily survey walks during times of gely production and conversion forest, and () there is little peak primate activity (c. .–. and .–.), and remaining forest (and thus primate habitat) on the three recorded standard survey data (cf. Quinten et al., ). southern Mentawai Islands, we conclude that Siberut Using a laser range finder, perpendicular distances were National Park represents the most important habitat for pri- measured from the transect line to the centre of all counta- mates in the Mentawai region. To successfully fulfil its func- ble individuals of each primate cluster; when primates were tion as a refuge, the Park administration will need to address detected acoustically the perpendicular distance to the esti- two main challenges. Firstly, encroachment associated with mated location was measured. All teams returned to main- human population growth (cf.