Long‐term effects of forest fire on habitat use by siamangs in Southern Sumatra

Remote monitoring, personnel extinguishment or helicopter extinguishment? How to control forest fires more effectively

Forest fires have a great impact on the ecological environment. The government needs to take measures to control forest fires. Forest fires are easily affected by wind speed and other weather conditions, and the difficulty of extinguishing forest fires is easily affected by terrain complexity. Effective management methods can protect the important ecological functions of forests, thereby maintaining long-term development and economic efficiency. The government can put out the fire by remote monitoring, personnel extinguishing and helicopter extinguishing. Different from most articles on how to eliminate forest fires from the technical point of view, this article mainly analyzes from the two aspects of optimizing resource allocation and guiding policy formulation. This article constructs the differential game model under these three modes, and then obtains the equilibrium result. And the comparative analysis. Finally, the conclusion is drawn. The stronger the wind, the more residents need to flee. However, strong winds are not conducive to crews and helicopters fighting the fire. Rather than fighting fires, residents are more inclined to detect forest fires in time through remote monitoring. When the personnel can effectively control the fire, the personnel fire extinguishing mode is preferentially selected. Otherwise, helicopter firefighting mode should be selected.

Population densities of Hylobates agilis in forests with different disturbance histories in Ulu Muda Forest Reserve, Malaysia

Small ape habitat throughout Malaysia is rapidly being lost, degraded, and fragmented, and the effects of these changes on the abundance on this taxon are currently unknown. This study assessed the group density of Hylobates agilis in virgin forest, previously logged forest (1960s–1990s), and recently logged forest (2015–2017) of the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve (UMFR), Kedah, Malaysia. We conducted fixed‐point active acoustic triangulation at nine survey areas to estimate group density. We used vegetation “speed plots” and satellite imagery to quantify habitat characteristics and used model selection to identify ecological predictors of group density variation. The estimated group density of H. agilis in UMFR was 4.03 ± 0.14 groups km⁻², with an estimated total of 2927 ± 102 groups in areas below 450 m a.s.l. in UMFR. Group density did not differ significantly among habitat types. The best ecological predictors for group density were canopy cover and proportion of deforested area. Areas with recent deforestation were associated with relatively high group densities, suggesting compression of the populations persisting in these habitat types. The consistently high group densities detected in all forest types emphasizes the importance of degraded forest as habitat for H. agilis. Because of the threats to small apes in Malaysia, and the uncertain status of most populations, we recommend a nationwide population census and regular monitoring to inform conservation planning and implementation. Most urgently, we call for immediate and permanent protection of UMFR and other forests in the Greater Ulu Muda landscape to protect the globally significant populations of H. agilis, as well as other charismatic and threatened megafauna, birds, and flora in the area.

This study estimates the population density of Hylobates agilis in Ulu Muda Forest Reserve, part of the largest remaining habitat for the species in mainland Asia.

We estimate that lowland forests (<450 m a.s.l.) in Ulu Muda support 2972 ± 102 groups of H. agilis.

Our data suggest that recently selectively logged forests support gibbon densities equal to those in undisturbed forest, demonstrating the importance of this landscape.

Primate conservation: Lessons learned in the last 20 years can guide future efforts

Twenty years ago, we published an assessment of the threats facing primates and with the passing of two decades, we re-evaluate identified threats, consider emerging pressures, identify exciting new avenues of research, and tackle how to change the system to rapidly advance primate and primate habitat conservation. Habitat destruction and hunting have increased, the danger of looming climate change is clearer, and there are emerging threats such as the sublethal effects of microplastics and pesticides. Despite these negative developments, protected areas are increasing, exciting new tools are now available, and the number of studies has grown exponentially. Many of the changes that need to occur to make rapid progress in primate conservation are in our purview to modify. We identify several dimensions indicating the time is right to make large advances; however, the question that remains is do we have the will to prevent widespread primate annihilation and extinction?