Preliminary analysis on abundance of large mammals at Sungai Relau, Taman Negara

Kawanishi, Kae; Abdul Malek Sahak; Sunquist, Melvin

Preliminary analysis on abundance of large mammals at Sungai Relau, Taman Negara

1999

Kawanishi, Kae | Abdul Malek Sahak | Sunquist, Melvin

This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the relative abundance of mammals based on camera-trapping data and track counts at Sg. Relau (Merapoh), Taman Negara, Pahang. Abundance is expressed as a Relative Abundance Index (RAICT) based on 'detection' (i.e., ≥1 photographs of a species/trap-night/trap location) and total trap nights (n = 4192) for camera-trapping data. The trackcount data, or RAITc . were based on 'counts' (i.e., a 100-m strip of the ground where ≥1 tracks of species were recorded) on a total of 119 sample strips. The camera trapping yielded a total of 1513 photographs of 43 vertebrate species, which translated into 923 detections. The track counts produced a total of 312 counts of 16 species. The most common medium to large ungulate were wild boar, Sus serofa (RAICT= 2.55, RAITC= 0.67), tapir, Tapirus indicus (RAlCT= 4.22, RAITC= 0.35), barking deer, Muntiacus muntjac (RAlCT= 2.55, RAITC= 0.41), and elephant, Elephas maximus (RAlCT=1.03, RAITC = 0.41), in that order. Both sambar deer, Cervus unicolor (RAIcT = 0.29, RAITC( = 0.13), and seladang, Bos gaurus (RAICT =0.072, RAITC = 0.24), were uncommon. Among carnivores, the sun bear, Helarctos malayanus (RAICT= 1.27, RAITC= 0.0067) and leopard, Panthera pardus (RAICT=2.48, RAITC = 0.034) were relatively common. The rarest large terrestrial mammals in the study site were Sumatran rhinoceros, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis (RAlCT = 0, RAITC= 0), serow, Capricornis sumatrensis (RAlCT= 0.024, RAITC( = 0), wild dog, Cuon alpinus (RAICT = 0.07, RAITC = 0.0017) and the tiger, Panthera tigris (RAICT=0.29, RAITC=0). Recommendations in the application of camera trapping and track count to assess large mammal abundance are discussed.

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