The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Urban forest fragmentation impoverishes native mammalian biodiversity in the tropics

Urban forest fragmentation impoverishes native mammalian biodiversity in the tropics
Urban forest fragmentation impoverishes native mammalian biodiversity in the tropics

Urban expansion has caused major deforestation and forest fragmentation in the tropics. The impacts of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity are understudied in urban forest patches, especially in the tropics and little is known on the conservation value of the patches for maintaining mammalian biodiversity. In this study, camera trapping was used to determine the species composition and species richness of medium- and large-sized mammals in three urban forest patches and a contiguous forest in Peninsular Malaysia. We identified the key vegetation attributes that predicted mammal species richness and occurrence of herbivores and omnivores in urban forest patches. A total number of 19 mammal species from 120 sampling points were recorded. Contiguous forest had the highest number of species compared to the urban forest patches. Sunda Pangolin and Asian Tapir were the only conservation priority species recorded in the urban forest patches and contiguous forest, respectively. Top predators such as Malayan Tiger and Melanistic Leopard were completely absent from the forest patches as well as the contiguous forest. This was reflected by the abundance of wild boars. We found that mammal species richness increased with the number of trees with DBH less than 5 cm, trees with DBH more than 50 cm, and dead standing trees. In the future, the remaining mammal species in the urban forest patches are expected to be locally extinct as connecting the urban forest patches may be infeasible due to land scarcity. Hence, to maintain the ecological integrity of urban forest patches, we recommend that stakeholders take intervention measures such as reintroduction of selected species and restocking of wild populations in the urban forest patches to regenerate the forest ecosystems.

contiguous forest, herbivores, omnivores, species composition, species richness, urban forest patches
2045-7758
12506-12521
Tee, Sze Ling
b0d10686-ebc7-4648-a2ea-3f23532fd54f
Samantha, Liza D.
fa244d21-b562-4231-ac16-5bb5c64ff484
Kamarudin, Norizah
fcf4df25-dbf2-489b-8309-74bebd86cb07
Akbar, Zubaid
f374dc01-1a42-49e9-a31a-c7ff4859a700
Lechner, Alex M.
19c72359-7dc0-435c-817a-f67d4956656f
Ashton-Butt, Adham
327a148f-4a26-45f2-9611-6b4378134e04
Azhar, Badrul
1b729d4a-a1a3-4a11-beab-9cf3a9cbaf4c
Tee, Sze Ling
b0d10686-ebc7-4648-a2ea-3f23532fd54f
Samantha, Liza D.
fa244d21-b562-4231-ac16-5bb5c64ff484
Kamarudin, Norizah
fcf4df25-dbf2-489b-8309-74bebd86cb07
Akbar, Zubaid
f374dc01-1a42-49e9-a31a-c7ff4859a700
Lechner, Alex M.
19c72359-7dc0-435c-817a-f67d4956656f
Ashton-Butt, Adham
327a148f-4a26-45f2-9611-6b4378134e04
Azhar, Badrul
1b729d4a-a1a3-4a11-beab-9cf3a9cbaf4c

Tee, Sze Ling, Samantha, Liza D., Kamarudin, Norizah, Akbar, Zubaid, Lechner, Alex M., Ashton-Butt, Adham and Azhar, Badrul (2018) Urban forest fragmentation impoverishes native mammalian biodiversity in the tropics. Ecology and Evolution, 8 (24), 12506-12521. (doi:10.1002/ece3.4632).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Urban expansion has caused major deforestation and forest fragmentation in the tropics. The impacts of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity are understudied in urban forest patches, especially in the tropics and little is known on the conservation value of the patches for maintaining mammalian biodiversity. In this study, camera trapping was used to determine the species composition and species richness of medium- and large-sized mammals in three urban forest patches and a contiguous forest in Peninsular Malaysia. We identified the key vegetation attributes that predicted mammal species richness and occurrence of herbivores and omnivores in urban forest patches. A total number of 19 mammal species from 120 sampling points were recorded. Contiguous forest had the highest number of species compared to the urban forest patches. Sunda Pangolin and Asian Tapir were the only conservation priority species recorded in the urban forest patches and contiguous forest, respectively. Top predators such as Malayan Tiger and Melanistic Leopard were completely absent from the forest patches as well as the contiguous forest. This was reflected by the abundance of wild boars. We found that mammal species richness increased with the number of trees with DBH less than 5 cm, trees with DBH more than 50 cm, and dead standing trees. In the future, the remaining mammal species in the urban forest patches are expected to be locally extinct as connecting the urban forest patches may be infeasible due to land scarcity. Hence, to maintain the ecological integrity of urban forest patches, we recommend that stakeholders take intervention measures such as reintroduction of selected species and restocking of wild populations in the urban forest patches to regenerate the forest ecosystems.

Text
Tee_et_al-2018-Ecology_and_Evolution (1) - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (1MB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 21 September 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 4 December 2018
Published date: December 2018
Keywords: contiguous forest, herbivores, omnivores, species composition, species richness, urban forest patches

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 427207
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/427207
ISSN: 2045-7758
PURE UUID: 5cd3ba9d-1753-4525-af4e-686870d64a31

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 08 Jan 2019 17:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 12:17

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Sze Ling Tee
Author: Liza D. Samantha
Author: Norizah Kamarudin
Author: Zubaid Akbar
Author: Alex M. Lechner
Author: Adham Ashton-Butt
Author: Badrul Azhar

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×