Interactions between environmental change and exploitation on tropical mammal megafauna

An extinction crisis looms in Southeast Asia. While habitat loss and climate change are renowned threats to tropical biodiversity (Struebig 2015), many species are also hunted or persecuted. Recent increases in exploitation have resulted in defaunation and the ‘empty forest syndrome’, whereby dwindling vertebrate populations are extirpated, with potentially far-reaching ecosystem-level impacts. For example, Malayan sunbear (Helarctos malanayus) habitat is diminishing across its range, but bears also experience hunting for body parts, persecution as agricultural pests, and are bycatch in snares set for other wildlife. Despite clear urgency, the socio-ecological patterns and processes of defaunation remain poorly understood. This PhD will address this by applying innovative methods from the natural and social sciences to species monitoring and questionnaire data.

The student will utilise existing cameratrap data from eight forest sites across Indonesian Borneo (Cheyne 2016), ranging from degraded peatlands near cities to remote protected areas. They will also implement a new 5-month camera survey in a region thought to historically support low wildlife densities.

Together, spatio-temporal modelling of camera data will yield important information on how species occupancy and population size varies across a disturbance gradient. The analyses will focus on conservation flagships such as sunbears and orangutan, which are persecuted by people.

Working with established social scientists in Universities of Kent and Bangor, the student will also develop a questionnaire to investigate the prevalence of hunting and associated environmental and socio-economic variables in settlements around each site. Because hunting is typically illegal, the survey will incorporate innovative methods for asking sensitive questions (St John 2018). Surveys will be undertaken by local researchers in Indonesia, but the student will need to design the study and analyse the data.

Ultimately, the student will combine the ecological and social datasets to help determine the relative influence of environmental change and persecution on wildlife populations, and apply this information to inform wider conservation strategies in the region.

The successful candidate will be accustomed with the ecological and social dimensions of conservation. They will have strong analytical skills, including advanced GIS, and experience of tropical fieldwork.

Supervisors

• Dr Matthew Struebig (University of Kent, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)
• Dr Robert Fish (University of Kent, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)
• Dr Freya A. V. St John (Bangor University)
• Dr Susan Cheyne (Borneo Nature)
• Dr Simon Tollington (Chester Zoo)
• Ms Cat Barton (Chester Zoo)

Making an application

This project has been shortlisted for funding by the ARIES NERC Doctoral Training Partnership. Terms and conditions with details on eligibility can be found on the UKRI website: View Website (https://www.ukri.org/files/legacy/publications/rcuk-training-grant-guide-pdf/)

Full details on the funding and how to apply can be found on our website: View Website Please note: for this project you’ll need to apply for the PhD in Biodiversity Management at the University of Kent (https://www.kent.ac.uk/scholarships/search/FNADNERC0002)

Interviews

There will be a two-stage interview process. The first round of interviews will take place on the 28th or 29th January 2019 at the University of Kent. Successful nominees will then participate in the second round of interviews, with the Aries panel, on 26th/27th February 2019 (venue TBC).