Research article2003Peer reviewed
Orangutan population density, forest structure and fruit availability in hand-logged and unlogged peat swamp forests in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
Felton, AM; Engstrom, LM; Felton, A; Knott, CD
Abstract
We investigated the population density of Bornean orangutans Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus and aspects of habitat quality in a selectively hand-logged peat swamp forest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, and in a comparable unlogged forest nearby. We conducted orangutan nest surveys, measured different parameters of forest structure, recorded monthly changes in fruit availability, and noted the sex and the stage of maturity of orangutans encountered. Nest density, an index of orangutan population density, was 21% lower in the logged area. The forest, logged 2 years previously, had fewer large food trees and a greater number of canopy gaps. We discuss these differences in relation to the lower orangutan nest density in the logged forest. Significantly fewer adult orangutans were observed in the logged study area. We hypothesize that fully adult orangutans, particularly females, are the most severely affected by hand-logging. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus; population density; nest survey; demographics; phenology
Published in
Biological Conservation
2003, Volume: 114, number: 1, pages: 91-101
UKÄ Subject classification
Ecology
Publication identifier
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(03)00013-2
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/86866