Small habitat matrix: How does it work?

“Engaging the Enemy”: Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus morio) Conservation in Human Modified Environments in the Kinabatangan floodplain of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

Throughout the equatorial tropics, forest conversion to agriculture often fragments crucial primate habitat. In 30 years, 80% of the alluvial lowland forests along the Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, have been supplanted by oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantations. Today, only about 20% of the former orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus morio) population remains in the region. Because most of the land is now under the tenure of agribusiness companies, we used a pragmatic approach of mixed biosocial methods and citizen science engagement of oil palm growers (N = 6) as active conservation partners to study orangutan use of the privately administered landscape between protected forest fragments. We found that 22 of 25 remanent forest patches (0.5 to 242 hectares) surveyed within plantations contained food or shelter resources useful for orangutans. Of these, 20 are in regular transitory use by wider-ranging adult male orangutans, and in 9 patches, females are resident and raising offspring isolated within oil palm plantations. These findings indicate that orangutans retain a measure of normal metapopulation dynamics necessary for viability at the landscape level despite drastic habitat modification. We found that barriers to in situ conservation in these agroforest matrices were due to the following misconceptions across sectors: 1) Good farming practices require exclusion of wildlife; 2) Orangutans seen in plantations must be “rescued” by people; and 3) Translocation is an appropriate conservation strategy, and nondetrimental to orangutans. Our exploratory study exemplifies the value of biosocial methods and collaboration with industrial-scale farmers to support primate resilience in forests fragmented by agriculture.

Cryptic species and grey zone speciation of the Barbodes binotatus complex (Teleostei, Cyprinidae) in Sundaland

Morphology-based taxonomy of freshwater fish is effective when there are representative specimens covering large regions. However, in Sundaland, where the presence of cryptic species is high, the technique has its limitations. This is compounded by uncritical descriptions of holotypes in old literature. We demonstrate the problem using Barbodes binotatus first described from an ink drawing. Several species in the Barbodes genus of Sundaland exhibit morphological similarity to B. binotatus. We applied new DNA sequences of 16S, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), cytochrome b (Cytb) and recombination-activating gene 1 (RAG1), and pigmentation markers to clarify species complex boundaries in the Malay Peninsula, namely B. aff. binotatus "Malay Peninsula", Barbodes cf. banksi and Barbodes rhombeus. Results suggest B. binotatus-like specimens in the Malay Peninsula are B. rhombeus based on a threshold of 3% COI genetic divergence. B. aff. binotatus recorded in Sumatra, Borneo and the Philippines are likely valid but undescribed species. However, if the 2% COI threshold is applied, some populations in the northern Malay Peninsula would qualify as new and undescribed species. The implications of the 2% threshold and the likelihood of "grey zone" incipient populations are discussed. We further found a rapid visual method, not reported previously, to delineate B. aff. binotatus and B. cf. banksi, but it requires further validation. Additionally, we offer fresh perspectives by discussing the roles of biological species concept, morphological species concept, genetic species concept and mate recognition concept in the B. binotatus complex. Our findings reinforce the standpoint that species delineation is not entirely a binary process, but there is a spectrum to consider, especially in biogeography intersection regions.