@article{b840cbcfb0284f6d89da72d7f75ad4f0,
title = "Protected area management priorities crucial for the future of Bornean elephants",
abstract = "Tropical protected area management strategies have traditionally been heavily skewed towards high carbon, primary forests. This focus can result in areas, such as heavily logged forests, being viewed as low quality and thus offered up for conversion. We assessed the importance of intact to heavily logged forests for the Bornean elephant in the Malaysian state of Sabah. By modelling distributions of elephants throughout Sabah based on GPS telemetry tracking of 29 individuals and airborne three-dimensional forest mapping, we present the most wide-scale analysis of forest use by Bornean elephants to date. Forests of 13 m in stature were found to be of highest suitability for elephants, especially when these areas were flat and low lying. Forest statures of this order are consistent with degraded landscapes, often viewed as suitable for oil palm conversion. Less than a quarter of fully-protected intact forests in Sabah were of suitable stature for elephants, whereas disturbed commercial forest reserves were found to be highly suitable. We suggest that the importance of degraded landscapes for the future of elephants is currently underestimated, and thus, the need for the preservation of such habitats is not seen as a priority. The loss of these landscapes to large-scale agriculture could prove detrimental to the longevity of the species in Borneo.",
keywords = "Borneo, Carnegie Airborne Observatory, Habitat suitability, Habitat use, Sabah",
author = "Evans, {Luke J.} and Asner, {Gregory P.} and Benoit Goossens",
note = "Funding Information: Mapping, processing and analysis were funded by the UN Development Programme, Avatar Alliance Foundation, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, World Wildlife Fund, Morgan Family Foundation, and the Rainforest Trust. We thank J. Heckler, N. Vaughn, R. Martin, P. Broderick, and D. Knapp for LiDAR data acquisition and processing support. The Carnegie Airborne Observatory has been made possible by grants and donations to G.P. Asner from the Avatar Alliance Foundation, Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, W. M. Keck Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Mary Anne Nyburg Baker and G. Leonard Baker Jr, and William R. Hearst III. We thank Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah Forestry Department, and Yayasan Sabah for granting permission to tag elephants and the Wildlife Rescue Unit for assistance in darting and collaring the elephants. GPS units were able to be purchased thanks to grants from Elephant Family, Houston Zoo, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, the Asian Elephant Foundation, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong, US Fish and Wildlife Service's Asian Elephant Conservation Fund. Funding Information: Mapping, processing and analysis were funded by the UN Development Programme , Avatar Alliance Foundation , Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil , World Wildlife Fund , Morgan Family Foundation , and the Rainforest Trust . We thank J. Heckler, N. Vaughn, R. Martin, P. Broderick, and D. Knapp for LiDAR data acquisition and processing support. The Carnegie Airborne Observatory has been made possible by grants and donations to G.P. Asner from the Avatar Alliance Foundation, Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, W. M. Keck Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Mary Anne Nyburg Baker and G. Leonard Baker Jr, and William R. Hearst III. We thank Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah Forestry Department, and Yayasan Sabah for granting permission to tag elephants and the Wildlife Rescue Unit for assistance in darting and collaring the elephants. GPS units were able to be purchased thanks to grants from Elephant Family, Houston Zoo, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, the Asian Elephant Foundation, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong, US Fish and Wildlife Service's Asian Elephant Conservation Fund. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 The Authors",
year = "2018",
month = may,
doi = "10.1016/j.biocon.2018.03.015",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "221",
pages = "365--373",
journal = "Biological Conservation",
issn = "0006-3207",
publisher = "Elsevier BV",
}