Conservation among oil palm plantations? Mammalian diversity in protected forest areas of a mixed-use landscape in Indonesian Borneo

Abstract

Deforestation for land-use change in Borneo has global impacts on biodiversity. Mixed-use landscapes are spatially integrative countermeasures to conserve critical forest habitats for wildlife along with economic development. We used camera-traps to inventory remnant mammalian diversity, species richness, detection counts, and diel activity functions in protected forest areas in a large oil palm plantation landscape in East Kalimantan, Bornean Indonesia. From among 2,286 independent detections of species, our results provide evidence of the presence of at least 33 mammals in these forest areas, including species of high conservation value such as the critically endangered Bornean orangutan Pongo pygmaeus and the Sunda pangolin Manis javanica. Additionally, we provide diel activity patterns for 14 of the detected species and reflect on their meaning in the context of their habitat. Due to plantation activities, the protected areas may underlie characteristic ecological dynamics with an impoverished large carnivore guild and a majority of small mammals and small carnivores interacting as predator and prey. Abundant oil palm crops likely benefit large populations of small mammals (highest detection counts) while simultaneously supplying resources for a diverse carnivore community (highest species-richness) preying on small mammals. We highlight the potential of the forested protected areas as wildlife refugia in mixed-use landscapes for conservation and production efforts. We recommend further monitoring to ensure fulfilling this potential in the continuous management.