Marbled cats in Southeast Asia: Are diurnal and semi-arboreal felids at greater risk from human disturbances?

Hendry, Alexander1; Amir, Zachary1; Decoeur, Henri1; Mendes, Calebe Pereira1; Moore, Jonathan H. H.2,3; Sovie, Adia1; Luskin, Matthew Scott1,4

2023

10.1002/ecs2.4338

Ecosphere   Impact Factor & Quartile

2150-8925

Southeast Asia supports the greatest diversity of felids globally, but this diversity is threatened by the severe forest loss and degradation occurring in the region. The response of felids to disturbances appears to differ depending on their ecology. For example, the largely terrestrial and nocturnal leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) thrives near forest edges and in oil palm plantations where it hunts rodents (Muridae) at night, thereby avoiding human activity peaks. Conversely, we hypothesized that the sympatric and similar-sized marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) would respond negatively to edges and relatively open oil palm plantations as they are more arboreal than leopard cats, rely on tree connectivity for hunting, and are diurnal so have less potential to temporally avoid humans. We used camera trapping from Southeast Asia to test habitat associations at multiple spatial scales using zero-inflated Poisson generalized linear mixed models and hierarchical occupancy modeling. We found that marbled cats were positively associated with large intact forests and, in contrast to leopard cats, negatively associated with oil palm plantations. Furthermore, we found preliminary evidence suggesting marbled cats may adapt their diel activity to become more crepuscular in degraded forests, likely shifting their activity to avoid humans. These findings suggest that the marbled cat's International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List conservation status should potentially be upgraded from Near Threatened to Vulnerable, matching other forest-dependent felids in the region. We posit our findings may be generalizable such that semi-arboreal and diurnal felids could face greater threats from habitat degradation than their terrestrial and nocturnal relatives.

camera trapping diel activity patterns habitat associations occupancy modeling small cat conservation tropical East Asia

SCI

English

Others

National Geographic Society's Committee for the Research and Exploration[9384-13] ; Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award DECRA[DE210101440]

Environmental Sciences & Ecology

Ecology

WOS:000913069600001

WILEY

Web of Science

1.Univ Queensland, Sch Biol Sci, Brisbane, Qld, Australia
2.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Sch Environm Sci & Engn, Shenzhen, Peoples R China
3.Univ East Anglia, Sch Environm Sci, Norwich, England
4.Univ Queensland, Ctr Biodivers & Conservat Sci, Brisbane, Qld, Australia

Hendry, Alexander,Amir, Zachary,Decoeur, Henri,et al. Marbled cats in Southeast Asia: Are diurnal and semi-arboreal felids at greater risk from human disturbances?[J]. Ecosphere,2023,14(1).

Hendry, Alexander.,Amir, Zachary.,Decoeur, Henri.,Mendes, Calebe Pereira.,Moore, Jonathan H. H..,...&Luskin, Matthew Scott.(2023).Marbled cats in Southeast Asia: Are diurnal and semi-arboreal felids at greater risk from human disturbances?.Ecosphere,14(1).

Hendry, Alexander,et al."Marbled cats in Southeast Asia: Are diurnal and semi-arboreal felids at greater risk from human disturbances?".Ecosphere 14.1(2023).