Notes on the Diet of the Malay Civet (Viverra tangalunga) and other Civets in Logged and Unlogged Lowland Dipterocarp Rain Forests in Sabah, Borneo

Civet diets were examined in a logged and unlogged Bornean rain forest. Malay civets (Viverra tangalunga) consumed invertebrates, fruit, rodents, insectivores, birds, snakes and lizards, and appear to show preference for centipedes and scorpions. Other civet species consumed fruit, such as figs, Connarus sp. and Annona sp., particularly in the unlogged forest, but also consumed invertebrates and vertebrates. Reduced fruit consumption observed in the logged forest may be due to lower availability and may be offset by increased consumption of invertebrates. The increased overlap in diet between Malay civets and other civets in disturbed areas may lead to increased competition

Effects of logging on landscape-level tree diversity across an elevational gradient in Bornean tropical forests

Logging has caused a substantial loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Therefore, it is important to examine how logging affects biodiversity on a landscape scale to plan responsible management of a tropical forest. Although a number of plot-based studies have shown the effect of logging on local tree species richness (alpha diversity), the effect on species turnover along environmental gradients (beta diversity) remains largely unknown. In this study, we evaluated how logging disturbance affects alpha and beta diversity along an elevational gradient on the eastern slope of Mount Trus Madi in Borneo. We further investigated how pioneer and late-successional tree species differed in the habitat range to clarify the mechanism underlying the beta diversity pattern. We selected 90 plots, each with a radius of 20 m, with a range of disturbance intensity (five classes from highly degraded forests to pristine forests) in lower (285–600 m asl) and higher elevation areas (600–1105 m asl). The remaining above-ground biomass, which is an indicator of past disturbance intensity, strongly varied across the plots (5.4–570.6 and 3.1–771.6 Mg ha−1 in lower and higher elevation areas, respectively). Diameter at breast height (DBH) and species name were recorded for all trees with a DBH larger than 10 cm. We calculated the species number per 20 individual trees for each plot to represent alpha diversity. Beta diversity along the elevational gradient was calculated as the slope of the relationship between standardized compositional dissimilarity (beta deviation) and the elevational difference. Alpha diversity decreased in higher (17.3–12.3 species per 20 trees) and lower areas (16.8–11.3 species per 20 trees) with increasing logging intensity. Beta diversity along the elevational gradient also decreased to almost zero in highly disturbed areas. Pioneer tree species had a wider elevational range than late-successional species. These results suggest that the shift in dominant tree species after logging (from late-successional to pioneer species) was the main driver of the decline in beta diversity along the elevational gradient. We conclude that preserving and restoring beta diversity are important to sustain tropical production forests

Herbarium X-ray fluorescence screening for nickel, cobalt and manganese hyperaccumulator plants in the flora of Sabah (Malaysia, Borneo Island)

Sabah (Malaysia) on the Island of Borneo has high plant diversity (>8000 species) occurring on a wide range of soils, including ultramafic soils which are known to host hyperaccumulator plants. In this study a new approach (“Herbarium X-ray Fluorescence Ionomics”) was used to obtain elemental data from herbarium specimens using non-destructive X-ray Fluorescence spectroscopy analysis. In total ~7300 specimens were thus analysed for nickel, cobalt, and manganese concentrations at the Herbarium of the Forest Research Centre (FRC) in Sepilok, Sabah. The measurements led to recording a total of 759 specimens (originating from 17 families in 30 genera and 74 species) as trace element hyperaccumulators, including 28 nickel hyperaccumulator species (in 10 families, 17 genera), 12 cobalt hyperaccumulator species (in 3 families, 7 genera), and 51 manganese hyperaccumulator species (in 12 families, 24 genera). The outcomes of this research demonstrate that handheld XRF is highly useful approach for hyperaccumulator plant discovery in herbarium collections that has the potential to add vast numbers of hyperaccumulating taxa to the global inventory

Conservation assessment and spatial distribution of endemic orchids in Sabah, Borneo

Orchids are among the most threatened plants due to habitat loss and illegal harvesting for horticultural demands. Sabah is a centre of orchid diversity, with approximately 1300 species of which 250 orchid taxa are endemic to Sabah. In this study, we conducted an IUCN Red List assessment on 136 endemic species and used Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) to develop species distribution models for 47 species. The species distribution models were developed using presence-only data and six environmental predictors. The accuracy of the models were assessed using the area under the curve (AUC) and models with an AUC of higher than 0.8 stacked together to produce a species richness heatmap. We found that 83% of the researched species were threatened, of which 14 species were assessed to be Critically Endangered, eight species as Endangered and 93 species as Vulnerable. The heatmap shows that all of the species occurred within the Totally Protected Area (TPA) network in western Sabah. The heatmap highlighted the mid-altitude areas adjacent to the Kinabalu and Crocker Range parks and Ulu Sipitang regions as areas with a high species richness that were outside the TPA network. These areas are also important for the conservation of the majority of the species assessed as Critically Endangered and Endangered. Urgent conservation actions are needed to protect these species from extinction. The results from this work will be used as part of an intensive conservation action plan for threatened endemic orchids of Sabah and used to identify important plant areas currently not within the existing TPA networ

Incorporating connectivity into conservation planning for the optimal representation of multiple species and ecosystem services

Funding was provided by the Rainforest Trust foundation. Support was also provided by the Sabah Forest Department, Forest Research Centre, the South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership, the U.N. Development Programme, the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (FRGS0414-STWN-1/2015), PACOS Trust, BC Initiative, the Natural Environment Research Council UK (grant NE/R009597/1), and the Universities of Aberdeen, Montana, and York. We are grateful to the numerous researchers that collected the data used in our analyses, as well as the local communities and government staff who manage forested areas across Sabah.Peer reviewedPostprin

Matrix of biomass values for 691 species in 180 understorey vegetation plots in Borneo

This csv file contains a matrix of biomass values for 691 plant taxa sampled across 180 vegetation plots (2 x 2m) located at the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) project in Sabah, Malaysia

Plot characteristics for understorey vegetation plots in Borneo

This csv file contains the full database of characteristics for each of 180 vegetation plots including logging metrics, environmental variables as well as taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity indices for understorey plants in Borneo

Data from: Logging increases the functional and phylogenetic dispersion of understorey plant communities in tropical lowland rainforest

1. Logging is a major driver of tropical forest degradation, with severe impacts on plant richness and composition. Rarely have these effects been considered in terms of their impact on the functional and phylogenetic diversity of understorey plant communities, despite the direct relevance to community reassembly trajectories. Here, we test the effects of logging on functional traits and evolutionary relatedness, over and above effects that can be explained by changes in species richness alone. We hypothesised that strong environmental filtering will result in more clustered (under-dispersed) functional and phylogenetic structures within communities as logging intensity increases. 2. We surveyed understorey plant communities at 180 locations across a logging intensity gradient from primary to repeatedly-logged tropical lowland rainforest in Sabah, Malaysia. For the 691 recorded plant taxa, we generated a phylogeny to assess plot-level phylogenetic relatedness. We quantified 10 plant traits known to respond to disturbance (dispersal mode, fruit type, life-history mode, pollination syndrome, reproduction strategy and seed number) and affect ecosystem functioning (plant growth form, plant height, specific leaf area and wood density), and tested the influence of logging on functional and phylogenetic structure. 3. We found no significant effect of local- or landscape-scale forest canopy loss, or configuration of logging roads on species richness. By contrast, both the trait dispersion index (FDis) and net relatedness index (NRI) for phylogenetic dispersion showed strong gradients from clustered towards more randomly-assembled communities at higher logging intensity, independent of variation in species richness. All functional traits showed significant phylogenetic signals, indicating strong concordance between functional and phylogenetic dispersion. 4. Synthesis. We found a strong logging signal in the functional and phylogenetic structure of understorey plant communities, over and above species richness, but this effect was opposite to that predicted. Logging increased, rather than decreased, functional and phylogenetic dispersion in understorey plant communities. This effect was particularly pronounced for functional response traits, which directly link disturbance with plant community reassembly. Our study provides novel insight into the way logging affects understorey plant communities in tropical rainforest and highlights the importance of trait-based approaches to improve our understanding of the broad range of logging-associated impacts

Species trait data for understorey plant species in Borneo

This csv file contains the complete list of species (691) sampled across 180 vegetation plots (2 x 2m) located at the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) project in Sabah, Malaysia, including their allocation to a range of plant functional traits as well as a distinction between native or exotic species origin