Habitat suitability analysis reveals high ecological flexibility in a \u201cstrict\u201d forest primate

Malene Friis Hansen,Ventie Angelia Nawangsari,Floris M Van Beest,Torben Dabelsteen,Niels Martin Schmidt,Mikkel Stelvig,Vincent Nijman

doi:10.1186/s12983-020-00352-2

Malene Friis Hansen, Ventie Angelia Nawangsari + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-020-00352-2

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Abstract

BackgroundResearch of many mammal species tends to focus on single habitats, reducing knowledge of ecological flexibility. The Javan lutung (Trachypithecus auratus) is considered a strict forest primate, and little is known about populations living in savannah. In 2017–2018, we investigated the density and distribution of Javan lutung in Baluran National Park, Indonesia. We conducted ad libitum follows and line transect distance sampling with habitat suitability analysis of Javan lutung.ResultsEstimated density was 14.91 individuals km− 2 (95% CI 7.91–28.08), and estimated population size was 3727 individuals (95% CI 1979 – 7019). Long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) habitat suitability was the main driver of lutung habitat suitability as the probability of lutung occurrence increased greatly with macaque habitat suitability. Distance to roads, and distance to secondary forest had a negative relationship with lutung occurrence. Lutung habitat suitability decreased with increasing elevation, however, Mt Baluran and the primary forest on Mt Baluran was under-sampled due to treacherous conditions. Follows of six focus groups revealed considerable use of savannah, with terrestrial travel. The follows also revealed polyspecific associations with long-tailed macaques through shared sleeping sites and inter-specific vocalisations.ConclusionsOur study provides new knowledge on the general ecology of Javan lutung, such as use of savannah habitats, underlining our need to branch out in our study sites to understand the flexibility and adaptability of our study species. Another undocumented behaviour is the polyspecific association with long-tailed macaques. We encourage more research on this subject.

Highlights

Research of many mammal species tends to focus on single habitats, reducing knowledge of ecological flexibility
We expect the Javan lutung to exhibit a higher ecological flexibility than previously assumed and thereby being able to exploit a diverse array of habitats, here savannah. We investigate this by providing density and abundance estimates from within Baluran National Park (BNP), and quantifying habitat preference
We provide density estimates from a systematic census, observations of high ecological flexibility, and observations of a possible polyspecific relationship between two Asian primates not documented before

Summary

Introduction

Research of many mammal species tends to focus on single habitats, reducing knowledge of ecological flexibility. The Javan lutung (Trachypithecus auratus) is considered a strict forest primate, and little is known about populations living in savannah. Studies on many tropical mammal species show a research bias towards specific habitats and often, single sites, severely restricting our notion of these species’ ecological flexibility and adaptability. This makes these studies potentially less relevant when comparing them to studies conducted on closely related species, to extrapolate to other areas, or to generalise to learn about broader topics. Compared to the wetter habitats, Javan lutung in these drier areas live in higher densities and larger group sizes [15], and may be ecologically distinct from their congeners in rainforests

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