Influence of Agricultural Expansion and Human Disturbance on the Encounter Rates of Nocturnal Mammals in Tropical Hill Forests in Bangladesh
Agricultural expansion has had a detrimental effect on tropical forests and the animal communities that depend on them. Agroforestry systems, however, with their more complex tree and plant communities, have been shown to be important habitats for a range of globally threatened species, including no...
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MDPI AG
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Ecologies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4133/4/1/14 |
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| author | Hassan Al-Razi Marco Campera Sabit Hasan Marjan Maria Vincent Nijman K. Anne-Isola Nekaris |
| author_facet | Hassan Al-Razi Marco Campera Sabit Hasan Marjan Maria Vincent Nijman K. Anne-Isola Nekaris |
| author_sort | Hassan Al-Razi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Agricultural expansion has had a detrimental effect on tropical forests and the animal communities that depend on them. Agroforestry systems, however, with their more complex tree and plant communities, have been shown to be important habitats for a range of globally threatened species, including nocturnal animals. Here, we present novel data on the encounter rates of seven species of nocturnal mammals in relation to agroforestry systems within four national parks and associated plantations in Bangladesh to examine if encounter rates were influenced by the human population density, presence of plantations, and human access as represented by a Human Influence Index of anthropogenic disturbance. We walked 70.3 km of transects with only semi-natural forest, 26.9 km of transects with semi-natural forest and gardens, and 21.7 km of transects with semi-natural forest and monocultures over 55 nights from 2017–2019. Of the seven species of nocturnal mammals we detected, all were present in Satachari National Park, whereas six occurred in Lawachara National Park, Rajkandi Forest Range, and Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary. Within these national parks, three species (Bengal slow loris, large Indian civet, particolored flying squirrel) were more frequently recorded in areas with human disturbance, especially agroforestry plantations. With declining forest cover in Bangladesh, we highlight here the potential of agroforestry systems as emerging important habitats for these species. We encourage long-term studies of these lesser-studied taxa to understand fully the capacity of agroforestry systems in order to support their long-term conservation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:39:29Z |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-4133 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:39:29Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
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| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecologies |
| spelling | doaj.art-0c22cd4ecaeb44708d634ba6318a0a832023-11-17T10:40:42ZengMDPI AGEcologies2673-41332023-03-014119520810.3390/ecologies4010014Influence of Agricultural Expansion and Human Disturbance on the Encounter Rates of Nocturnal Mammals in Tropical Hill Forests in BangladeshHassan Al-Razi0Marco Campera1Sabit Hasan2Marjan Maria3Vincent Nijman4K. Anne-Isola Nekaris5Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life and Earth Science, Jagannath University, Dhaka 1100, BangladeshNocturnal Primate Research Group, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UKDepartment of Zoology, Faculty of Life and Earth Science, Jagannath University, Dhaka 1100, BangladeshDepartment of Zoology, Faculty of Life and Earth Science, Jagannath University, Dhaka 1100, BangladeshNocturnal Primate Research Group, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UKNocturnal Primate Research Group, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UKAgricultural expansion has had a detrimental effect on tropical forests and the animal communities that depend on them. Agroforestry systems, however, with their more complex tree and plant communities, have been shown to be important habitats for a range of globally threatened species, including nocturnal animals. Here, we present novel data on the encounter rates of seven species of nocturnal mammals in relation to agroforestry systems within four national parks and associated plantations in Bangladesh to examine if encounter rates were influenced by the human population density, presence of plantations, and human access as represented by a Human Influence Index of anthropogenic disturbance. We walked 70.3 km of transects with only semi-natural forest, 26.9 km of transects with semi-natural forest and gardens, and 21.7 km of transects with semi-natural forest and monocultures over 55 nights from 2017–2019. Of the seven species of nocturnal mammals we detected, all were present in Satachari National Park, whereas six occurred in Lawachara National Park, Rajkandi Forest Range, and Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary. Within these national parks, three species (Bengal slow loris, large Indian civet, particolored flying squirrel) were more frequently recorded in areas with human disturbance, especially agroforestry plantations. With declining forest cover in Bangladesh, we highlight here the potential of agroforestry systems as emerging important habitats for these species. We encourage long-term studies of these lesser-studied taxa to understand fully the capacity of agroforestry systems in order to support their long-term conservation.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4133/4/1/14agroforestrynocturnal mammalline transectBangladeshconservation |
| spellingShingle | Hassan Al-Razi Marco Campera Sabit Hasan Marjan Maria Vincent Nijman K. Anne-Isola Nekaris Influence of Agricultural Expansion and Human Disturbance on the Encounter Rates of Nocturnal Mammals in Tropical Hill Forests in Bangladesh Ecologies agroforestry nocturnal mammal line transect Bangladesh conservation |
| title | Influence of Agricultural Expansion and Human Disturbance on the Encounter Rates of Nocturnal Mammals in Tropical Hill Forests in Bangladesh |
| title_full | Influence of Agricultural Expansion and Human Disturbance on the Encounter Rates of Nocturnal Mammals in Tropical Hill Forests in Bangladesh |
| title_fullStr | Influence of Agricultural Expansion and Human Disturbance on the Encounter Rates of Nocturnal Mammals in Tropical Hill Forests in Bangladesh |
| title_full_unstemmed | Influence of Agricultural Expansion and Human Disturbance on the Encounter Rates of Nocturnal Mammals in Tropical Hill Forests in Bangladesh |
| title_short | Influence of Agricultural Expansion and Human Disturbance on the Encounter Rates of Nocturnal Mammals in Tropical Hill Forests in Bangladesh |
| title_sort | influence of agricultural expansion and human disturbance on the encounter rates of nocturnal mammals in tropical hill forests in bangladesh |
| topic | agroforestry nocturnal mammal line transect Bangladesh conservation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4133/4/1/14 |
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