DOCSLIB.ORG

Human Impacts on Two Endemic Cassowary Species in Indonesian New Guinea

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Human Impacts on Two Endemic Cassowary Species in Indonesian New Guinea Human impacts on two endemic cassowary species in Indonesian New Guinea J EDEDIAH F. BRODIE and M ARGARETHA P ANGAU-ADAM Abstract Cassowaries are important seed dispersers in reproductive traits in some plant taxa (Pannell, ; tropical rainforests of New Guinea, but little is known Hall & Walter, ), and cassowaries were estimated to about their population ecology or their responses to be the most important vertebrate disperser of plant human disturbance. We used camera traps to measure the seeds at a floristically diverse site in New Guinea (Mack occurrence, local abundance, and activity patterns of nor- &Wright,). thern cassowaries Casuarius unappendiculatus in lowland Of the three cassowary species the southern cassowary C. forests near Nimbokrang, Papua, and dwarf cassowaries casuarius (height .–. m) is native to New Guinea and Casuarius bennetti in the Arfak Mountains, West Papua. Australia, and the northern C. unappendiculatus (.–. m) Our goals were to assess human impacts on cassowaries at and dwarf cassowaries C. bennetti (.–. m) are endemic multiple spatial scales and to measure their activity patterns to New Guinea (heights from Pratt & Beehler, ). over an elevational divide. At fine spatial scales local abun- Australian populations of the southern cassowary have dance of cassowaries was strongly reduced in areas fre- been studied using sign surveys (Westcott, ), transects quented by humans. At larger spatial scales the distance to (Moore, ), radio telemetry (Westcott et al., ) and the nearest village or drivable road did not affect local abun- global positioning system telemetry (Campbell et al., dance but altered the stage structure of the individuals de- ). However, other than a preliminary study on the im- tected, with a higher proportion of juveniles relative to pacts of logging on northern cassowaries (Pangau-Adam adults. Local abundance of cassowaries was unrelated to et al., ) almost nothing is known about the population site usage by introduced pigs. Both populations studied ecology of the species in New Guinea. were strongly diurnal and their activity patterns were not The northern and southern species are categorized as significantly different. Efforts to control hunting remain Vulnerable, and the dwarf as Near Threatened on the critical to sustaining cassowaries and the seed dispersal ser- IUCN Red List (BirdLife International, a,b, ), and vices they provide. all three are thought to have declining populations (IUCN, ). This threat is largely attributable to their sus- Keywords Activity patterns, bird conservation, climate ceptibility to over-hunting (Johnson et al., ; Sales, ) change, exploitation, hunting, introduced species, Papua, and, in some areas, habitat loss (Crome & Moore, ; ratite Campbell et al., ; Pangau-Adam et al., ). We studied a population of C. unappendiculatus in low- land forests and a population of C. bennetti in submontane forests of Indonesian New Guinea using motion-triggered Introduction camera traps. Substantial habitat remains available in assowaries Casuarius spp. are the largest avian frugi- both areas (Miettinen et al., ; Fig. ) but hunting pres- Cvores and the largest-bodied seed dispersing animals sure was thought to be high, based on proximity to in the tropical forests of New Guinea and Australia. human settlements and conversations with local hunters Dispersal of seeds by cassowaries is known to be important (Pangau-Adam & Noske, ). We sought to assess how for many plant species (Mack, ; Westcott et al., ; both species responded to potential hunting pressure, Bradford & Westcott, , ; Pangau-Adam & using accessibility (e.g. the distance to the nearest village Muehlenberg, ) and even for the evolution of or road) as a proxy. We also tried to ascertain whether ac- cessibility influenced cassowary population structure. In heavily hunted populations it can become increasingly dif- JEDEDIAH F. BRODIE* (Corresponding author) Departments of Zoology and ficult for juveniles to reach adulthood or for adults to sur- Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada E-mail [email protected] vive, and thus the age structure can shift to a higher proportion of juveniles (Mills, ; Brodie et al., ). MARGARETHA PANGAU-ADAM† Biology Department, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Cenderawasih University, Papua, Indonesia Other than hunting, mammal introductions in New *Also at: Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Guinea are of conservation concern because the region Vancouver, Canada lacks most placental mammal lineages. Exotic primates †Also at: Department of Conservation Biology, University of Göttingen, Germany near Jayapura, Papua, for example, could have significant effects on native birds not adapted to these nest predators Received June . Revision requested July . Accepted July . First published online November . (Corlett & Primack, ). There were no ungulates in Oryx, 2017, 51(2), 354–360 © 2015 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605315001039 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.202.226, on 24 Sep 2021 at 11:48:42, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605315001039 Human impacts on endemic cassowaries 355 Methods Study system and field sampling In June we deployed Reconyx HC camera-trap units (Reconyx, Inc., Holmen, USA) at two humid tropical forest sites: in the lowlands near Nimbokrang, Papua Province, and in the Arfak Mountains, West Papua Province (Fig. ). The cameras were retrieved – months later. The Nimbokrang area has flat, alluvial forest, much of which was flooded to a depth of a few centimetres at the time of camera deployment; the area we worked in was at – m elevation. The forests have not been com- mercially logged, although illegal selective logging of mer- bau Intsia bijuga (Fabaceae) is widespread. The northern cassowary is the only cassowary in this area. In the Arfak Mountains we worked near the village of Syoubri, at eleva- tions of ,–, m in lower montane forests (Flannery, FIG. 1 The study sites in the Arfak Mountains and Nimbokrang, ). The topography is steep; for example, one camera in Indonesian New Guinea. transect spanned vertical metres over , linear metres (a mean slope of %). The forests have a lower canopy than New Guinea prior to the introduction of pigs (Sus scrofa × S. in Nimbokrang, and denser understorey vegetation. There celebensis) by humans sometime in the last few thousand has been no commercial logging, and forest clearance for years (Flannery, ). Pigs breed quickly and are omnivor- small-scale subsistence agriculture is limited to areas near ous, suggesting that they could possibly compete with casso- villages. The dwarf cassowary is the only cassowary there. waries for fruit. We conducted a preliminary assessment of Subsistence hunting is common in both areas, and casso- possible interference competition between these species by waries are preferred prey species (MP-A & JB, pers. obs.). examining at fine spatial scales whether cassowaries avoided The cameras were arranged along transects radiating areas frequented by pigs. from two villages and the nearby Korea Road in the Climate change is another potential threat. Many tropical Nimbokrang area, and two villages in the Arfak animals are thought to be near their thermal maxima Mountains. Cameras were set c. km apart along each tran- (Tewksbury et al., ), implying that any near-future sect, usually on small game trails, stream beds, ridge tops, or rises in temperature could force them to migrate to higher in other areas that animals might use for movement or for- elevations, possibly leading to biodiversity loss in the low- aging. The distance from the cameras to human habitation – lands (Colwell et al., ). For many tropical bird species, or roads was . km, with various distance categories ap- ambient temperatures are already thought to exceed the proximately equally represented. Cameras were attached to upper critical temperature beyond which they must expend the bases of trees, housed within protective metal cases. energy to stay cool (Khaliq et al., ). We conducted They operated hours per day, recording colour images a preliminary assessment of whether C. unappendiculatus during the day and black-and-white at night. Although cas- in the lowlands were near their thermal maximum by sowaries may be active at any time, foraging is thought to be examining whether they constrained their daily activity to strictly diurnal (Moore, ). Upon being triggered by mo- mornings and evenings (i.e. avoiding the heat of the day) tion in front of the receptor, a camera recorded a sequence relative to the activity patterns of C. bennetti at higher of three images and then did not record again for at least s. elevations. Specifically, we predicted that ( ) local abundance of Data analysis cassowaries would be higher at sites further from human access and at sites with low usage by humans (predators) To test prediction () we used N-mixture models (Royle, and pigs (introduced potential competitors), ()theage ) to estimate whether the local abundance of cassowar- structure of cassowary populations would be related to po- ies at specific sites (i.e. camera trap stations) was related to tential hunting pressure, with a lower proportion of mature the distance from the site to the nearest drivable road or vil- adults at sites closer to human access, and () northern lage (a metric of potential hunting pressure), and
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Studies on the Systematics of the Cestodes Infecting the Emu
    10F z ú 2 n { Studies on the systematics of the cestodes infecting the emu, Dromaíus novuehollandiue (Latham' 1790) l I I Michael O'Callaghan Department of Environmental Biology School of Earth and Environmental Sciences The llniversity of Adelaide Frontispiece. "Hammer shaped" rostellar hooks of Raillietina dromaius. Scale bars : l0 pm. a DEDICATION For mum and for all of the proficient scientists whose regard I value. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT 1-11 Declaration lll Acknowledgements lV-V Publication arising from this thesis (see Appendices H, I, J). Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Generalintroduction 1 1.2 Thehost, Dromaius novaehollandiae(Latham, 1790) 2 1.3 Cestodenomenclature J 1.3.1 Characteristics of the family Davaineidae 4 I.3.2 Raillietina Fuhrmann, 1909 5 1.3.3 Cotugnia Diamare, 1893 7 t.4 Cestodes of emus 8 1.5 Cestodes from other ratites 8 1.6 Records of cestodes from emus in Australia 10 Chapter 2. GENERAL MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1 Cestodes 11 2.2 Location of emu farms 11 2.3 Collection of wild emus 11 2.4 Location of abattoirs 12 2.5 Details of abattoir collections T2 2.6 Drawings and measurements t3 2.7 Effects of mounting medium 13 2.8 Terminology 13 2.9 Statistical analyeis 1.4 Chapter 3. TAXONOMY OF THE CESTODES INFECTING STRUTHIONIFORMES IN AUSTRALIA 3.1 Introduction 15 3.2 Material examined 3.2.1 Australian Helminth Collection t6 3.2.2 Parasitology Laboratory Collection, South Australian Research and Development Institute 17 3.2.3 Material collected at abattoirs from farmed emus t7 J.J Preparation of cestodes 3.3.1
    [Show full text]
  • The Avifauna of Mt. Karimui, Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea, Including Evidence for Long-Term Population Dynamics in Undisturbed Tropical Forest
    Ben Freeman & Alexandra M. Class Freeman 30 Bull. B.O.C. 2014 134(1) The avifauna of Mt. Karimui, Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea, including evidence for long-term population dynamics in undisturbed tropical forest Ben Freeman & Alexandra M. Class Freeman Received 27 July 2013 Summary.—We conducted ornithological feld work on Mt. Karimui and in the surrounding lowlands in 2011–12, a site frst surveyed for birds by J. Diamond in 1965. We report range extensions, elevational records and notes on poorly known species observed during our work. We also present a list with elevational distributions for the 271 species recorded in the Karimui region. Finally, we detail possible changes in species abundance and distribution that have occurred between Diamond’s feld work and our own. Most prominently, we suggest that Bicolored Mouse-warbler Crateroscelis nigrorufa might recently have colonised Mt. Karimui’s north-western ridge, a rare example of distributional change in an avian population inhabiting intact tropical forests. The island of New Guinea harbours a diverse, largely endemic avifauna (Beehler et al. 1986). However, ornithological studies are hampered by difculties of access, safety and cost. Consequently, many of its endemic birds remain poorly known, and feld workers continue to describe new taxa (Prat 2000, Beehler et al. 2007), report large range extensions (Freeman et al. 2013) and elucidate natural history (Dumbacher et al. 1992). Of necessity, avifaunal studies are usually based on short-term feld work. As a result, population dynamics are poorly known and limited to comparisons of diferent surveys or diferences noticeable over short timescales (Diamond 1971, Mack & Wright 1996).
    [Show full text]
  • Rainforest Disturbance Affects Population Density of the Northern Cassowary Casuarius Unappendiculatus in Papua, Indonesia
    Rainforest disturbance affects population density of the northern cassowary Casuarius unappendiculatus in Papua, Indonesia M ARGARETHA P ANGAU-ADAM,MICHAEL M ÜHLENBERG and M ATTHIAS W ALTERT Abstract Nominally protected areas in Papua are under and human population growth are leading to high rates threat from encroachment, logging and hunting. The of deforestation and forest conversion. Besides disturbance northern cassowary Casuarius unappendiculatus is the from logging, large-scale oil palm plantations are the pri- largest frugivore of the lowland rainforest of New Guinea mary cause of the loss of lowland forest in Papua (Frazier, and is endemic to this region, and therefore it is an 2007). A number of conservation areas and protection important conservation target and a potential flagship forests have been established in this region (de Fretes, 2007) species. We investigated effects of habitat degradation on the but agricultural encroachment, illegal logging and hunting species by means of distance sampling surveys of 58 line by immigrants and local communities are common. As in transects across five distinct habitats, from primary forest to other parts of the tropics, local extinction of forest avifauna forest gardens. Estimated cassowary densities ranged from following forest fragmentation and extensive forest clearing −2 14.1 (95%CI9.2–21.4) birds km in primary forest to 1.4 is to be expected (Kattan et al., 1994; Castelletta et al., 2000; −2 (95%CI0.4–5.6) birds km in forest garden. Density Waltert et al., 2004). Large forest birds such as cassowaries estimates were intermediate in unlogged but hunted natural (Casuarius spp.) are particularly likely to disappear if forest and in .
    [Show full text]
  • Coos, Booms, and Hoots: the Evolution of Closed-Mouth Vocal Behavior in Birds
    ORIGINAL ARTICLE doi:10.1111/evo.12988 Coos, booms, and hoots: The evolution of closed-mouth vocal behavior in birds Tobias Riede, 1,2 Chad M. Eliason, 3 Edward H. Miller, 4 Franz Goller, 5 and Julia A. Clarke 3 1Department of Physiology, Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona 85308 2E-mail: [email protected] 3Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas 78712 4Department of Biology, Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador A1B 3X9, Canada 5Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City 84112, Utah Received January 11, 2016 Accepted June 13, 2016 Most birds vocalize with an open beak, but vocalization with a closed beak into an inflating cavity occurs in territorial or courtship displays in disparate species throughout birds. Closed-mouth vocalizations generate resonance conditions that favor low-frequency sounds. By contrast, open-mouth vocalizations cover a wider frequency range. Here we describe closed-mouth vocalizations of birds from functional and morphological perspectives and assess the distribution of closed-mouth vocalizations in birds and related outgroups. Ancestral-state optimizations of body size and vocal behavior indicate that closed-mouth vocalizations are unlikely to be ancestral in birds and have evolved independently at least 16 times within Aves, predominantly in large-bodied lineages. Closed-mouth vocalizations are rare in the small-bodied passerines. In light of these results and body size trends in nonavian dinosaurs, we suggest that the capacity for closed-mouth vocalization was present in at least some extinct nonavian dinosaurs. As in birds, this behavior may have been limited to sexually selected vocal displays, and hence would have co-occurred with open-mouthed vocalizations.
    [Show full text]
  • Cassowaries V2
    Cassowaries Name: Cassowary Facts Speech • There are three species of Cassowary: Prepare a 3 minute speech about the Cassowary. Southern Cassowary, Northern Cassowary, Select one of the following topics as the focus of your Dwarf Cassowary. speech. • The Southern Cassowary is the “The male Cassowary - a good father” third tallest and second heaviest living bird. “The Cassowary - a very dangerous bird” A Cassowary’s three toed feet have sharp claws. • “The Cassowary, emu and ostrich - similarities and • Cassowaries are very shy, but when disturbed, they are differences” capable of inflicting serious injuries to dogs and people. “The effect humans have had on the Cassowary” • Cassowaries have horn-like but soft and spongy crests called casques on their heads. Number Crunchers A group of scientists spent three weeks recording the number of • The female Cassowary is larger than the male, but it is the Cassowaries in three areas of New Guinea. male that is responsible for the care of offspring. Below are their results: Do you know any more interesting facts about Cassowaries? Area 1 Area 2 Area 3 Cassowary Research males 17 males 16 males 22 Prepare a short information report on the females 15 females 13 females 17 Cassowary. chicks 18 chicks 14 chicks 14 Habitat. (Where are Cassowaries found?) In what area did they see the most Cassowaries Diet. (What do Cassowaries eat?) (including chicks)? Description. (What do adult and young Cassowaries look like?) What was the total number of chicks? Threats. (Why is the Southern Cassowary endangered?) What was the total number of males? Role. (What important role in the ecosystem do Cassowaries play?) What was the total number of females? Art What was the total number of Cassowaries? Draw or paint a Cassowary showing the bright colors of its head and neck.
    [Show full text]
  • Genetic Diversity and Plant Propagation in the Rare Rainforest Tree, Ryparosa Kurrangii
    Genetic diversityandplantpropagationinthe rare rainforesttree, Cape Tribulation, Daintree lowlands rainforest, Queensland, Australia. Cape Tribulation,Daintreelowlandsrainforest,Queensland,Australia. A reporttotheAustralianFloraFoundation Bruce L.Webber&IanE.Woodrow The UniversityofMelbourne Victoria, 3010Australia School ofBotany June 2005 Ryparosa kurrangii . IMAGE © BRUCE WEBBER B.L. Webber & I.E. Woodrow Genetic diversity & propagation in Ryparosa. Table of contents: Preface .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 3 2 Research methodolgy ............................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Vegetative propagation techniques ............................................................................................... 4 2.1.1 Aerial rooting ........................................................................................................................ 4 2.1.2 Field-sampled cuttings .......................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Cyanogenic quantification............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Depicting Cassowaries in the Qing Court
    Transcultural Studies 2013.1 7 Images, Knowledge and Empire: Depicting Cassowaries in the Qing Court Lai Yu-chih, Academia Sinica, Taiwan Translated by Philip Hand Originally published in Chinese under the title “Tuxiang, zhishi yu diguo: Qinggong de shihuoji tuhui 圖像, 知識與帝國：清宮的食火雞圖繪,” The National Palace Museum Research Quarterly, 29:2 (2011). Introduction: Where the new Qing history meets art history The new Qing history studies have been one of the most widely noticed and fruitful developments in the last decade or so of Chinese historical research.1 The Qing was previously seen as an extension of Chinese dynastic rule, but the new Qing history studies stress that despite being the ruling house of China, the dynasty was established and led by the Manchus. The importance of research into “Sinicisation” is greatly deemphasised; in its place is a focus on the difference of Manchu rule.2 Examples include the martial culture of the Qing and their policies toward the border regions of Tibet, Mongolia, and Central Asia. Of particular interest is the fast expansion of the Qing Empire, which nearly tripled its territory in one short century (1660-1760). On this basis, the writers of the new Qing history have raised a challenge to the description of the Qing in traditional historical writing as a closed, stagnant victim of western imperialism. From the perspective of comparative and global history, they have drawn comparisons between the Qing and other modern empires such as the Russian, the British, and the Ottoman. They have attempted to argue that the dynasty, particularly the high Qing, was an expansionist colonial empire in the modern sense.3 In other words, the expansion and rule of the 1 For more on this historiographical movement, see Evelyn S.
    [Show full text]
  • Cycads and Their Associated Species in Queensland Travel Scholarship Report
    Cycads and their associated species in Queensland Travel Scholarship Report The author with Lepidozamia hopei at Cape Tribulation, Queensland Felix Merklinger Diploma Course 45 July 2009 1 Preface The second year of the three-year diploma course at Kew offers the opportunity to apply for a travel scholarship. This is the chance for a student to study a chosen plant or group of plants in their natural habitat. Since working in the Palm House at Kew as a member of staff, I have developed a passion for the order Cycadales. Kew has an extensive collection of cycads; mainly the South African Encephalartos, which are well represented in the living collections of the Palm and Temperate House. I am especially interested in the genus Cycas and their insect pollinators, and am planning to study this relationship intensively throughout my future career. Australia was chosen as the destination for my first trip to look at cycads in the wild. This continent has some of the most ancient relicts of flora and fauna to be found anywhere in the world. Australia is home of all three families within the Cycadales and also has a number of weevils involved in their pollination. This, therefore, is the perfect country to be starting my studies. Additionally, the Australian species of cycads at Kew are not as well represented as the African species – the Australian cycads can be notoriously difficult to grow in cultivation and, of course, the import and export regulations from and into Australia are rather tight. 2 This trip provided a great opportunity to study the native flora of a country, combining this chance with a passion for insect-plant interactions, accumulating knowledge and experience for a possible future career and gathering horticultural understanding of an ancient group of plants which is in need of long-term conservation.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecography ECOG-04917 Latham, A
    Ecography ECOG-04917 Latham, A. D. M., Latham, M. C., Wilmshurst, J. M., Forsyth, D. M., Gormley, A. M., Pech, R. P., Perry, G. L. W. and Wood, J. R. 2019. A refined model of body mass and population density in flightless birds reconciles extreme bimodal population estimates for extinct moa. – Ecography doi: 10.1111/ecog.04917 Supplementary material Supplementary Material Appendix 1 1 Table A1. Extant flightless bird data used to model the relationship between body mass and population density under three alternative scenarios (Low, Medium, High) created to represent, for a given species, density of populations from different habitats (i.e. more or less suitable) or populations more or less impacted by human activities. Male Female Density scenario- 2 Human Family Binomial Species weight weight (individuals/km ) Habitat1 Reference Impact (g) (g) Low Medium High 0.03 – – DSD High Lowest estimate; Okello et al. (2016) 0.15 – – DSD Medium Estimate from inside SNP; Magige et al. (2009) – 0.08 – DSD High Highest estimate; Okello et al. (2016) – 0.16 – DSD Medium Overall density estimate; Magige et al. (2009) Struthionidae Struthio camelus Ostrich 128,000 100,000 Mean of upper and lower estimates; Brown et al. – 0.70 – DSD Medium (1982) – – 0.25 DSD Medium Estimate from outside SNP; Magige et al. (2009) Estimate for plains with low predation; Brown et al. – – 0.80 DSD Low (1982) Lower range estimate in agro-ecosystem; Giordano 0.05 – – NDSG High et al. (2008) Upper range estimate in natural grassland; Giordano – 0.86 – NDSG Medium Rheidae Rhea americana Greater rhea 25,000 20,000 et al.
    [Show full text]
  • On Ratites and Their Interactions with Plants*
    Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 64: 85-118, 1991 On ratites and their interactions with plants* Las rátidas y su interacci6n con las plantas JAMES C. NOBLE CSIRO, Division of Wildlife and Ecology, National Rangelands Program, P.O. Box 84, Lyneham, A.C.T. 2602, Australia RESUMEN Se revisan las historias de los fosiles, patrones de distribucion y preferencias de medio ambiente natural-nabitat, tanto de miembros extintos como sobrevivientes de las ratidas. Se pone especial enfasis en aquellas caracterlsticas f{sicas y anatomicas de las rátidas que tienen aparente significacion desde el punto de vista de Ia dinamica vegetal, especialmente aquellos aspectos relacionados con Ia germinacion de las semillas y establecimiento de los brotes. Aparte de los kiwis de Nueva Zelanda (Apteryx spp.), Ia caracteristica principal que distingue a las ratidas de otras aves es su gran tamafio. En tanto que las consecuencias evolutivas del gigantismo han resultado en Ia extincion comparativamente reciente de algunas especies, tales como, las moas (las Dinornidas y Emeidas) de Nueva Zelanda y los pajaros elefantes (Aeporní- tidas) de Madagascar, el gran tamaño de las rátidas contemporáneas les confiere Ia capacidad de ingerior considerables cantidades de alimentos, como as{ tambien {temes particulares como frutas y piedras demasiado grandes para otras aves, sin sufrir ningún menoscabo en el vuelo. Muchos de estos alimentos vegetates, especialmente frutas como las de los Lauranceae, pueden ser altamente nutritivos, pero las ratidas son omnivoras y pueden utilizar una gama de alternativas cuando es necesario. Es aún incierto si Ia seleccion de alimentos está relaeionada directamente con Ia recompensa nutritiva; sin embargo, Ia estacion de reproduccion del casuario australiano (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii) está estrecha- mente ligada al per{odo de máxima produccion frutal de los árboles y arbustos en sus habitat de selvas tropicales lluviosas.
    [Show full text]
  • Human Impacts on Two Endemic Cassowary Species in Indonesian New Guinea
    Human impacts on two endemic cassowary species in Indonesian New Guinea J EDEDIAH F. BRODIE and M ARGARETHA P ANGAU-ADAM Abstract Cassowaries are important seed dispersers in reproductive traits in some plant taxa (Pannell, ; tropical rainforests of New Guinea, but little is known Hall & Walter, ), and cassowaries were estimated to about their population ecology or their responses to be the most important vertebrate disperser of plant human disturbance. We used camera traps to measure the seeds at a floristically diverse site in New Guinea (Mack occurrence, local abundance, and activity patterns of nor- &Wright,). thern cassowaries Casuarius unappendiculatus in lowland Of the three cassowary species the southern cassowary C. forests near Nimbokrang, Papua, and dwarf cassowaries casuarius (height .–. m) is native to New Guinea and Casuarius bennetti in the Arfak Mountains, West Papua. Australia, and the northern C. unappendiculatus (.–. m) Our goals were to assess human impacts on cassowaries at and dwarf cassowaries C. bennetti (.–. m) are endemic multiple spatial scales and to measure their activity patterns to New Guinea (heights from Pratt & Beehler, ). over an elevational divide. At fine spatial scales local abun- Australian populations of the southern cassowary have dance of cassowaries was strongly reduced in areas fre- been studied using sign surveys (Westcott, ), transects quented by humans. At larger spatial scales the distance to (Moore, ), radio telemetry (Westcott et al., ) and the nearest village or drivable road did not affect local abun- global positioning system telemetry (Campbell et al., dance but altered the stage structure of the individuals de- ). However, other than a preliminary study on the im- tected, with a higher proportion of juveniles relative to pacts of logging on northern cassowaries (Pangau-Adam adults.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Full Biodiversity Report
    Sepik Development Project Review March 2020 Dr Diana Fisher Associate Professor School of Biological Sciences University of Queensland Introduction I was asked by the Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR), to provide expert advice on the environmental impact statement (EIS) of the proposed Sepik Development Project. I have prepared this report in accordance with Division 23.12 of Part 23 of the Australian Federal Court Rules and the Expert Evidence Practice Note including the associated Annexures (Practice Note). I have read the Practice Note and agree to be bound by it. a) A plain English summary of the key issues raised by the Project EIS. The main issues in the EIS involve: Species in danger of extinction The most severe categories of threat in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) global Red List of threatened species are Critically Endangered (CR) and Endangered (EN). The threshold to meet these criteria is high. For example, criteria for a species to be classified ‘Critically Endangered’ include that the species has been assessed to have more than 50% chance of global extinction within three generation based on evidence from monitoring, it has actually declined more than 80% in population in the last three generations, or there are fewer than 250 known individuals and it is still declining. The EIS found that there are between eight (confirmed) and sixteen (confirmed plus potential) Critically Endangered or Endangered species in the project area, and the first section of the infrastructure corridor and Bewani region. Another twenty-six to fifty-three species are in a less severe category of imperilment (Vulnerable or Near-threatened).
    [Show full text]