Is Gurney's Pitta Hydrornis Gurneyi on the Brink of Extinction?

Is Gurney's pitta Hydrornis gurneyi on the brink of extinction?

N AY M YO S HWE,NITI S UKUMAL,MARK G RINDLEY and T OMMASO S AVINI

Abstract The remaining large patches of lowland forest in et al., ), with South-east Asia expected to have the high- Tanintharyi, southern Myanmar, are the last global strong- est rate of vertebrate extinctions (Sodhi et al., ; hold for the Endangered Gurney’s pitta Hydrornis gurneyi. Laurance, ; Gray et al., ). There are multiple causes Except for a few individuals, the remaining population is of this, including overexploitation of wildlife to meet now restricted to this forest, below  m altitude, mostly increasing demand for food, tonics and medicines, and within the Nga Wun, Lenya, and Parchan Reserved Forests. trade in live animals (Nijman, ; Rao et al., ; However, as in much of South-east Asia, Tanintharyi has Duckworth et al., ). However, the major cause of verte- been subjected to extensive deforestation, particularly for brate declines in South-east Asia is the massive reduction in oil palm cultivation. The aim of this research was to deter- the extent and quality of natural habitats, particularly low- mine the extent of remaining habitat suitable for Gurney’s land tropical forests, as a result of legal and illegal logging pitta. During January–October  we revisited  locations and conversion of forest to large-scale agricultural produc- (of ) where the species was detected during –,and tion (Green et al., ; Sodhi et al., ; Clay, ). found it in only  of those locations (%); in all other loca- The Tanintharyi Region, the most southerly part of tions the forest had been cleared. We measured the decline of Myanmar, on the Ismuth of Kra, falls within a zoogeograph- suitable habitat since  by examining all available intact ical transition zone between the Sundaic and Indo-Burmese forest in areas with elevations ,  m and slope ,  °. In subregions, supporting biological assemblages associated less than  decades suitable habitat has declined from , with both, including the Endangered Malay tapir Tapirus  to  km (%). Protection of remaining lowland forest is indicus, Critically Endangered Sunda pangolin Manis java- now critical. Although the expansion of oil palm cultivation nica, and Endangered Lar gibbon Hylobates lar (Woodruff has slowed since its peak in the early s, two national & Turner, ). This transition zone is a unique haven for parks proposed by the Myanmar government in , biological diversity (Hughes et al., ; Donald et al., ), which would potentially offer legal protection for most of and is of major conservation importance for a range of low- the remaining Gurney’s pitta habitat, remain on hold because land specialist bird species, including the regionally endemic of political uncertainties. We recommend an alternative con- and Endangered Gurney’s pitta Hydrornis gurneyi and other servation approach for this species, based on an Indigenous species (Donald et al., ). Community Conserved Area model, and further research Tanintharyi has one of the largest areas of continuous low- to improve knowledge of the species and to determine how land forest in mainland South-east Asia (Donald et al., ) it could be saved from extinction. and until recently was largely spared from the high rates of clearance occurring elsewhere in the region (Leimgruber Keywords Deforestation, Gurney’s pitta, habitat, Hydrornis et al., ). Since , however, a large area of the gurneyi, Lenya National Park, Myanmar, South Tanintharyi, Tanintharyi lowland forest has been converted to oil palm Sundaic lowland plantations as part of a government plan for national self-  sufficiency in edible oils; this has seen at least , km in the Tanintharyi Region allocated to at least  oil palm com- Introduction panies (Baskett, ). Forest clearance has slowed since the election of a second democratic government in  and in re-   lobal biodiversity has declined by % since sponse to public and NGO pressure highlighting the negative   G(Cardinale et al., ; Lanz et al., ). This trend environmental and social impacts of the oil palm industry is most accentuated in the tropical regions (Hoffmann and related illegal logging. Yet despite the cancellation of several concessions, oil palm cultivation remains a significant threat ’ NAY MYO SHWE* (Corresponding author), NITI SUKUMAL and TOMMASO SAVINI to Tanintharyi sbiodiversity,aselsewhereintheregion(e.g. Conservation Ecology Program, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Fitzherbert et al., ;Clay,;Lauranceetal.,a,b). Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand. E-mail [email protected] Any significant further loss of this forest, already almost entirely MARK GRINDLEY Fauna & Flora International, Myanmar Programme, Yangon, lost from neighbouring Thailand and nearby Malaysia, would Myanmar be catastrophic for lowland specialist species in particular. *Also at: Fauna & Flora International, Myanmar Programme, Yangon, ’ Myanmar One such specialist species is Gurney s pitta, which is     naturally restricted to flat, lowland Sundaic moist evergreen Received March . Revision requested April .     Accepted  September . First published online  September . forest between ° and . ° N latitude (Donald et al., ).

Oryx, 2020, 54(1), 16–22 © 2019 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605318001242 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.202.226, on 25 Sep 2021 at 06:40:30, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318001242 Gurney’s pitta 17

The species was first described from Tanintharyi in  of suitable elevation and slope, and resurveyed for the (Hume & Davison, ), but was not recorded for over species in these areas. Finally, we discuss the threats to the  years until being rediscovered on the Thai side of species and propose appropriate conservation actions. the peninsula in June  (Round & Treesucon, ; Gretton et al., ). The species also occurs in Thailand but the population there has declined, mainly because its Study area habitat is not protected. In – this population was The study was conducted in what is believed to be the reported to be functionally extinct (Round, ). A recent remaining natural range of Gurney’s pitta in the southern survey in Thailand in the remaining patches of potential Tanintharyi Region (formerly Tenasserim Division), in habitat located only four individuals: two females detect- southern Myanmar. The region is bounded by Mon State ed visually and two males detected by calls (Thailand to the north, Thailand to the east and south, and the Wildlife Research Division, ). The species was first Andaman Sea to the west (Fig. a). The area has a dry season reconfirmed in southern Tanintharyi during field surveys (November–March) with monthly rainfall of ,  mm, in  (Eames et al., ), followed by an estimate of a  and a wet season (April–October) with a mean monthly total range size of c. , km (Donald et al., ). A popu- rainfall of  mm (Baskett, ). We include all mainland lation estimate of ,–, pairs (Eames et al., ) forested areas in south Tanintharyi (mostly within Lenya, justified downlisting the species from Critically Endan- Nga Wun, Parchan and Tanintharyi Reserved Forests) gered to Endangered in  (BirdLife International, from . to . ° N latitude, representing the limits of ). However, the increase in forest clearance for oil the species according to historical and recent observations palm cultivation during Myanmar’s political transition (Eames et al., ; Donald et al., ). from military to civilian government led to a massive reduction in lowland habitat. There is currently no strong evidence that the species is Methods being targeted by collectors or hunters, although this possibility cannot be discounted as trade in the species occurred Of the  locations where the species was detected during in the past (Round & Treesucon, ). Nonetheless, under- –, .%( locations) were below  m altitude standing the extent, nature and impact of habitat loss on and %( locations) below  m, with five records from Gurney’s pitta is essential for conservation planning for above  m, potentially of transient or non-breeding, the species. dispersing animals (Round & Treesucon, ; Lambert & Although the current extent of occurrence of the species Woodcock, ; Round, ). We therefore defined suit-  is defined as , km (BirdLife International, ), the able habitat as below  m and with slopes ,  ° (after estimate of the species’ total range in Myanmar, using niche Eames et al., ), and covered by closed-canopy forest envelope modelling based on unconverted forest up to and degraded primary forest with bamboo, following   m altitude, is , km (Donald et al., ), with no Donald et al. () and Gretton et al. (). Elevation potentially suitable areas identified in Thailand. Although and slope maps were derived from the  m resolution the species was rediscovered in  in Thailand, it was ASTER Global Digital Elevation Map (NASA, ), and  only found in a single  km patch of lowland forest, preferred elevation and slope ranges were determined in an area already disturbed and fragmented (Round & using ArcGIS . (Esri, Redlands, USA). Treesucon, ). It was subsequently discovered at four To quantify habitat loss we analysed forest cover for other sites in Thailand (Gretton et al., ). It was reported , ,  and , resulting in three time intervals. to inhabit forest with an understory of rattans, native trees Landsat  satellite images were used to identify forest areas in and palms (Round, ), with a preference for areas with ,  and , and Landsat  images for  (USGS, nearby streams or gullies (Gretton et al., ). However, ). The images were firstly classified into vegetated and recent surveys in Myanmar mostly recorded the species in non-vegetated areas, using the normalized difference vege- degraded primary and bamboo forest inside Lenya and tation index, with ArcGIS. For each map, mangrove forest Nga Wun Reserved Forests (Saw et al., ). coverage (Tanintharyi Region Mangrove Forest dataset, ) Here our aim was to identify the remaining suitable was removed. Agricultural areas in ,  and  were habitat within the species’ range and assess how much has excluded using a land-use layer obtained from unpublished been lost since commercial oil palm plantations began in Fauna & Flora International data and from Baskett (). southern Myanmar in . We first compiled all known For , the first year of the government’s oil palm devel- records of the species since its rediscovery in Myanmar in opment programme (Baskett, ), no land-use data are , and used these to determine the species’ elevation available. However, before oil palm expansion there were and slope preferences. We then used remote sensing data only small agricultural patches covering not more than to identify the remaining forest coverage within the areas % of the total area, mainly used for subsistence by local

FIG. 1 Remaining habitat for Gurney’s pitta Hydrornis gurneyi in south Tanintharyi, southern Myanmar, in (a) , before oil palm plantations began, (b) in , when the species was rediscovered in  locations along the trans-Tanintharyi highway (the five main areas for the species (A–E) are from Fig.  of Eames et al., ), (c) in  when the most extensive survey for the species was conducted (Donald et al., ), and (d) in , with the majority of the suitable habitat in three main areas (A–C), and showing proposed protected areas, oil palm concessions and a new read along one of the valleys in area B.

villagers. Therefore, we assume that all identified vegetation ,  in ,  in , nine in , eight in , and areas in  would have been forested. The potential range  in . In addition, we included the locations of two of Gurney’s pitta in each year was then obtained by masking records from camera-trap surveys we conducted in  for the resulting forest coverage for each of the four years with tigers and their prey, giving a total of  locations. We elevations ,  m and slopes ,  °. attempted to revisit all of the  locations during January– We collated the coordinates of all detections reported in October , with most points surveyed during March– Eames et al. () and Donald et al. (), giving a total of June, the period of peak calling activity when response to  detections for –. These comprised  records in playback calls is most likely (Gretton et al., ; Lin et al.,

; Round, ). At each site we sought to confirm if National Park extension (currently Nga Wun Reserved suitable habitat (i.e. closed-canopy evergreen, secondary Forest; Fig. d), which was proposed in . The remaining  forest with bamboo) was still present, and to determine  km (%) of Gurney’s Pitta habitat occurs in small iso- the persistence or infer the absence of the species. The lated patches within existing oil palm concessions (Fig. d). search for the species was facilitated by the use of playback Overall, % of the remaining habitat falls in areas under the calls, a method already shown to be effective for Gurney’s complete or partial control of the Karen National Union, an pitta (Donald et al., ) and for other pitta species (Lin ethnic government that signed a ceasefire agreement with et al., ). At each site we played the call for  minutes; the Myanmar government in  and that is engaging if no animal responded we waited – minutes and then in negotiations over a peace settlement and federalism. played the call again for  minutes. This process was re- The Karen National Union and Karen civil society have a peated a third time if no response was detected. Any areas strong desire to establish community-based conservation recently converted for agriculture were noted. In %of in these areas (NMS & MG, pers. obs. –;CAT, the previously known  sites the species responded after ; TRIPNET, ). Fauna & Flora International and the first playback, % after the second and % after the third. other organizations are currently helping Karen groups pursue these objectives.

Results Discussion We estimate that prior to oil palm development (i.e. the  baseline) the potential suitable habitat for Gurney’s pitta Our assessment indicates that . %ofGurney’s pitta habitat  was ,–, km (Fig. a); the range incorporates % has been lost since , mostly to large-scale oil palm planta- variability to account for small agricultural patches tion. The species’ population is likely to have declined similar- undetectable by our forest cover classification method. In ly, and this is borne out by a lower encounter rate for the , when the species was rediscovered in Myanmar, suit- species in  and  compared to  (NMS, NS & TS, able lowland evergreen forest within the species’ range had pers. obs.). Most previously known sites of Gurney’spittahave  already been reduced to , km (a –% loss since ), been obliterated by clearance for both large-scale oil palm and with this remnant habitat concentrated in only five major small-scale rubber and betel nut Areca catechu plantations areas (Fig. b), defined as areas of continuous, suitable habi- (Bhagwat et al., ). Our findings are of concern for the  tat .  km .By, when the most extensive survey for rich biodiversity restricted to lowland forest in the transition the species was carried out (Donald et al., ), our analysis zone between the Sundaic forest and the Isthmus of Kra  identified only  km of remaining suitable habitat across (Hughes et al., ). Following the almost complete loss of these five areas (Fig. c), a .–% decrease since . Our this forest in neighbouring Thailand, to agriculture and for  analysis for  suggests only  km of suitable lowland the development of infrastructure such as dams (Irvin et al., forest remains, in just three major areas (Fig. d), a % loss ), the only remaining patches are in Myanmar.  since . Overall, our analysis indicates that three of the Our estimate of only  km of remaining habitat is far  five principal areas identified in  and  (Fig. b,c) less than the previous estimate of , km (Donald et al., still retained forest cover in , but were much reduced ). Donald et al. () used MaxEnt, however, which in area (Fig. d). Since large-scale development of palm tends to overestimate land coverage because it uses only oil plantations began in Tanintharyi in ,c.%of presence records (Elith et al., ), and included forests  Gurney’s pitta habitat has been lost (i.e. ,–, km ). up to  m altitude and relatively disturbed habitats in We were able to resurvey  of the  locations of pre- which the species can be found but may have limited vious records. Of these,  locations were still covered by survival. In our analysis, however, we estimated the area vegetation suitable for the species (i.e. closed canopy forest of remaining suitable habitat using a conservative approach, or degraded primary forest with bamboo) and the species focusing only on conditions suitable for the long-term sur- was detected. The remaining  sites were fully degraded, vival of the species. The large difference between our esti- logged or otherwise cleared. Five locations could not be mate of remaining habitat and BirdLife’s() estimate  reached for logistical and security reasons. of , km is because the latter is based on the species’  Currently none of the  km of remaining habitat extent of occurrence (the minimum convex polygon that is under any formal conservation management. However, contains all sites of occurrence). c. % of areas B and C (Fig. d) lies within Lenya For , when Gurney’s pitta was rediscovered in Reserved Forest, which was selectively logged by the then Myanmar, we identified five major areas for the species Myanmar Forest Department through to the end of the (located along the trans-Tanintharyi highway; Fig. b). s, but proposed in  as Lenya National Park. During their  survey Eames et al. () recorded the Another % of area A falls within the proposed Lenya species in two major areas (areas C and D in Fig. b). One

of these areas (D) has since been deforested. The three Karen residents of Tanintharyi (CAT, ), and this offers remaining areas for the species (A, B and C; Fig. c) were the possibility of engaging with Indigenous communities on further reduced by , when the most extensive survey conservation management. The nationally and internation- for the species was concluded (Donald et al., ). ally well-known Gurney’s pitta could potentially be adopted The greatest threat to Gurney’s pitta is the expansion of as a symbol of unity and peace between ethnic communities oil palm cultivation from the late s onwards, responsible and the Tanintharyi and Myanmar governments. for most of the forest loss between then and .In, Hunting is an additional, although indirect, threat to based on a detailed assessment of the social and environ- Gurney’s pitta. During the  surveys we noted a signifi- mental sustainability of oil palm in the region, there was a cant rise in the use of drift nets for hunting ground-dwelling call for a moratorium on any new forest clearing (Baskett, species. Although primarily targeting the pangolin, the nets ; FFI, ). The new government of the National also pose a threat to Gurney’s pitta as it spends much of its League for Democracy, which took office in May , sub- time on the ground. sequently launched a review that was ongoing as of February The population size of Gurney’s pitta is currently  but that has led to the cancellation of some concessions. unknown but the decline of suitable habitat for the species  By  the remaining  km of habitat was in three and lack of legal protection, and continuing forest degra- areas, separated by higher elevations that may make them dation, increase the possibility that the species could functionally isolated. New access roads are being built for go extinct in the near future. Distance sampling surveys military purposes along the Myanmar–Thailand border are required in the remaining habitat areas we have identi- and along one of the valleys in area B (Fig. d). The surfacing fied, to establish a baseline for monitoring the population and subsequent widening of the trans-Tanintharyi highway and for the establishment of a conservation management cleared two Gurney’s pitta areas (Fig. b; Hla et al., ). strategy. Moreover, the road connecting Myanmar to the Thai The rapid decline in habitat for Gurney’s pitta and the border crossing of Dan Singkhon, currently being widened, implied decline of the population indicate that the species delimits the northern edge of area A (Fig. d). The recently should be recategorized as Critically Endangered based on opened Boke Pyin to Yadanaporn–Khaloneloi road bisects the Red List criteria (IUCN, )Ac; i.e. a reduction in the largest patch of remaining forest between areas A and B population size (A) based on an inferred population size re- (Fig. d). Curtailment of agricultural encroachment along duction of $ %(), and a decline in extent of occurrence both civilian and military roads is a priority for maintenance (c). Recategorization of the species would not only reflect its of what is left of the habitat of Gurney’spitta. precarious future but also focus attention on the decimation The lack of protection of lowland forest was the main of its globally unique, lowland forest habitat. reason for the functional extinction of the species in neighbouring Thailand (Round, ). None of the remaining Acknowledgements We thank the Forest Department of the Gurney’s Pitta habitat in Myanmar is under any form of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation for granting permission to conduct the 2016 surveys; Yuzanna II oil legal protection or conservation management. Although the palm company for help with logistics; Philip D. Round for support reserved forests offer some protection from expansion of and for sharing his knowledge of Gurney’s pitta; George A. Gale, commercial agriculture, the limited resources for law Matt Grainger, Dusit Ngoprasert and two anonymous reviewers for enforcement make it difficult for the township forest depart- comments; Myo Myint Aung and Carl Reeder (Fauna & Flora ment officers to police large and remote areas and keep International) for assistance with maps and landscape analysis; Paul Donald for providing the location data of detections of Gurney’s small-scale agricultural expansion and logging in check. A pitta from the 2003–2013 surveys; all Fauna & Flora International’s further constraint is that formal gazettement of the proposed field biologists in Tanintharyi, particularly Saw Soe Aung and Aung Lenya National Park and its extension are currently delayed Si Hein, and Maung Zaw, Wai Yan, Myint Naing Oo, Chit Min Oo, because of long-running disputes over land ownership and Kyaw San, and other village conservation group members from user rights between the Myanmar government, local and Yadanaporn village in Boke Pyin Township. The 2016 field work Indigenous communities, ethnic leadership and Indigenous and subsequent analysis were undertaken by NMS as part of an ongoing PhD, sponsored by a KMUTT Petchra Pra Jom Klao organizations. A further confounding factor is the possible re- Scholarship (Diamond scholar 18/2558). This research was supported turn of peoples displaced by .  years of conflict between by the EU, Helmsley Charitable Trust and Segre Conservation the Myanmar army and ethnic groups, a right that is recog- Foundation, through the FFI Tanintharyi Conservation Programme. nized in law but for which there are currently no plans. The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the authors Much of the remaining Gurney’s pitta habitat lies within and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the EU or other funders. areas controlled by the Karen ethnic group and they are key stakeholders in any future conservation management for Author contributions Project design: NMS, NS, TS; data collection the species. The Indigenous and Community Conservation NMS; data analysis and writing: all authors. Area model has been proposed as a solution for protection of both biodiversity and customary village forests by ethnic Conflicts of interest None.

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