FACULTY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics (Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute) University of Hohenheim Agroecology in the Tropics and Subtropics PD Dr. Anna C. Treydte Conflicts of human land-use and conservation areas: The case of Asian elephants in rubber-dominated landscapes of Southeast Asia Dissertation Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree “Doktor der Agrarwissenschaften” (Dr.sc.agr. / Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences) to the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences presented by: Franziska Kerstin Harich born in Freiburg, Germany Stuttgart 2017 This thesis was accepted as doctoral dissertation in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree “Doktor der Agrarwissenschaften” (Dr.sc.agr. / Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences) by the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Hohenheim on May 19, 2017. Date of oral examination: June 12, 2017 Examination committee Supervisor and Reviewer PD Dr. Anna C. Treydte Co-Reviewer Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tommaso Savini Additional Examiner Prof. Dr. Reinhard Böcker Head of Committee Prof. Dr. Andrea Knierim Author’s Declaration I, Franziska Kerstin Harich, hereby affirm that I have written this thesis entitled “Conflicts of human land-use and conservation areas: The case of Asian elephants in rubber- dominated landscapes of Southeast Asia” independently as my original work as part of my dissertation at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Hohenheim. All authors in the quoted or mentioned publications in this manuscript have been accredited. No piece of work by any person has been included without the author being cited, nor have I enlisted the assistance of commercial promotion agencies. This thesis has not been presented into other boards for examination. Stuttgart, 2017 Franziska Kerstin Harich ii Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the support of many people and institutions. First of all, I want to sincerely thank my supervisor PD Dr. Anna C. Treydte, whose guidance, advices, and encouragement were always there when needed while giving me all the freedom to follow my own way and ideas. She is a truly inspiring supervisor and thanks to her great support I enjoyed my PhD study despite all the hardships along the way. My second supervisor, Prof. Dr. Tommaso Savini, played a key role in my search for a suitable study site. I am very grateful for his support and trust in me as well as all the in- depth discussions on ecological survey designs. I further want to thank Prof. Dr. Reinhard Böcker for joining my examination committee and for readily sharing his vast ecological knowledge with me. I sincerely thank Dr. Chution Savini from the Srinakharinwirot University, who was the initial contact and driving force that resulted in the cooperation with the King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi and who helped me obtaining my research permit in record time. John Roberts from the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF) and the Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort invited me to conduct research in Thailand in the first place. I am very grateful for his and the foundations’ generous support in this ‘kick-off’ research phase in Thailand. My sincerest gratitude further belongs with Kriangsak Sribuarod, head of the Khlong Saeng Wildlife Research Station, who was the best host imaginable. He provided me with all the equipment and helped me set up my field team. And to my marvelous, hard-working team, namely Ponlawat Klinkratok, Natcha Buncherd, Kittipong Lerdrungroj, Pichani Saengtharatip and several rangers: thank you so much for sticking with me during heavy rains and enduring armadas of leeches, mosquitoes and ticks. I am very thankful for the research permits provided by the National Research Council of Thailand as well as by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. Many thanks go to the Tai Rom Yen National Park and its head, Pichet Chaisawat Chaisawad, and the Khlong Saeng Wildlife Sanctuary as well as its former chief, Sompol Sulyapradit, for their support of this project and the research on the ground. iii This thesis was part of the project ‘Sustainable Rubber Cultivation in the Mekong Region’ (SURUMER) and I had great support provided by the overall project and the funding agency, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), for which I am very much obliged. I am thankful to the project team and my peers Sabine Baumgartner, Inga Häuser, Dr. Marc Cotter, Dr. Gerhard Langenberger, Dr. habil. Konrad Martin, Reza Golbon, Samuel Tuffa Kawo, Kevin Thellmann and all people from the former institute 380 for being such wonderful colleagues. I particularly want to thank Eva Schmidt, the soul of our group, for her help in administrative issues and all the every-day problems. A very big “Thank you” belongs to Dr. Joseph Ogutu for his great statistical support throughout all these years and for his detailed comments on manuscript drafts. Furthermore, I want to thank the current as well as the former head of my working group, PD Dr. Frank Rasche and Prof. Dr. Joachim Sauerborn, who generously provided me all the support to carry out and finalize my research project. Special thanks also to my colleagues in Thailand and China, who welcomed me open- heartedly into their working groups. From the King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, I particularly want to thank Prof. Dr. George Gale, Dr. Dusit Ngoprasert, Dr. Wanlop Chutipong, Daphawan Khamcha, Dr. Naruemon Tantipisanuh and Niti Sukumal amongst many others. I owe many thanks to Prof. Dr. Zhang Li from the Beijing Normal University for his cooperation and support. From the XTBG, I want to thank Prof. Dr. Richard Corlett, Prof. Dr. Quan Ruichang, Dr. Ling-Zeng Meng and Bai Zhilin. Also, many thanks to Yang Shibiao and Bounsing Soukhaseum for their field assistance. Family and friends are the anchors that pull you through times of hardships. Thank you, Andrea and Nadja, for always being there for me when I need you most, no matter the time and distance. Thank you Bird, for keeping my eyes open to the things that truly matter in life. And thanks to all my friends and relatives that I could not name here individually, but whose support was of invaluable importance. Finally, I want to thank my endless loving and patient mother and my brother Tobias who always and ever back me up, no matter what. This thesis was finalized in memory of my father for whose love and support throughout all these years I am truly grateful for. iv Summary Over the last decades, expanding rubber plantations in Southeast Asia have continuously diminished natural wildlife habitat, thereby increasing conflicts between human land-uses and nature conservation. The consequences of the rubber boom are manifold, with short- term economic benefits for smallholder farmers and long-term costs for species diversity and ecosystem services (ESS). Sustainable wildlife populations are critical for ecosystem functioning but the ongoing habitat degradation and conflicts with people threaten the survival of larger mammal populations. This trend is particularly problematic if the respective species in decline are keystone species such as the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), which holds important ecological functions in maintaining tree diversity. Continuous land-use transformations increase the importance of conservation efforts for wild mammal diversity within the agricultural matrix surrounding natural areas. In order to develop a profound knowledge basis for effective protection strategies, the major aim of this thesis’ work, therefore, was to analyze the potential of rubber-dominated landscapes in sustaining wildlife populations while considering the risk of conflicts due to wildlife damage. Furthermore, the ecological importance of large mammals was assessed using the example of Asian elephants. In addition, a methodology was developed to incorporate multiple levels of species diversity into ESS evaluation models. As a first step, the available literature on mammalian wildlife in rubber plantations was analyzed to provide an overview on species diversity found in these land-use systems on a large geographical scale. This provided indications for the potential of wildlife-friendly farming approaches. As the available data on wildlife diversity in rubber cultivation was scarce, oil palm plantations were included as a reference for general ecological impacts of tropical tree crop systems on animal populations. Our review showed that species richness was highly reduced in the plantations compared to natural forest and that most species in rubber and oil palm farms were rather visitors than permanent residents. For ground-truthing and a more detailed assessment of species richness and presence in rubber plantations, transect and camera trap surveys were conducted in the farm-forest transition zone of the Tai Rom Yen National Park, located in a typical rubber-dominated landscape in southern Thailand. Furthermore, farmers were interviewed on the kind and extent of wildlife damage and their perceptions towards nature conservation. With 35 recorded wildlife species, the forest was found to hold the highest diversity while more v than 70% of these mammals were still found at the forest edge. However, a strong decline of species diversity and presence was observed in the surrounding farmland. Crop damage by wildlife affected 40% of all interviewed farmers. In 85% of all rubber damage incidents, young trees were affected, which had