Habitat loss and degradation can undermine wildlife communities and ecosystem functioning. However, certain generalist wildlife species like mesopredators and omnivores can exploit these disturbed habitats, sometimes leading to population increases (e.g. ‘mesopredator release’ in degraded areas). Although mesopredator release may cause negative effects on food webs and zoonotic disease management, some disturbance‐tolerant species may help perpetuate important ecological interactions, such as seed dispersal. We evaluated the habitat associations of common palm civets Paradoxurus hermaphroditus, which are widespread generalist mesopredators in Southeast Asia. Common palm civets are also high‐quality seed dispersers, and potential zoonotic disease hosts. We used published and new camera trapping data to map their probability of presence across Southeast Asia and evaluate regional‐scale associations between capture rates and habitat variables such as elevation, ecoregion intactness and Human Footprint Index, among others. We also assessed the influence of habitat variables on their relative abundance at the local scale. At the regional scale, we found that common palm civets showed significant positive associations with landscapes characterized by lower ecoregion intactness, higher Human Footprint Index and lower elevations. At the local scale, their relative abundance showed a significant positive association with higher Human Footprint Index, but only to a certain point, after which it started decreasing. They also favoured lower elevations at the local scale. These multi‐scale results indicate that common palm civets' abundance can increase under certain levels of human disturbances, consistent with the ‘mesopredator release’ hypothesis. This suggests they may be crucial seed dispersers in degraded forest landscapes, especially where more sensitive seed dispersers have disappeared. Our results are also consistent with previous studies reporting that habitat degradation increases populations of potential zoonotic disease hosts, and thus risks of transmission to humans.

Nursamsi I, Partasasmita R, Cundaningsih N, Ramadhani HS. 2018. Modeling the predicted suitable habitat distribution ofJavan hawk-eagle Nisaetus bartelsi in the Java Island, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 19: 1539-1551. Javan hawk-eagle (Nisaetus bartelsi) isan endemic raptor of Java Island. The conservation status of Javan hawk-eagle (JHE) according to IUCN is endangered (EN) andincluded in CITES Appendix II list, and this species is also protected by the Indonesian government law based on act no. 5, year 1990.The position of Javan hawk-eagle as a top predator is now very threatened by habitat fragmentation, wildlife trade, and the decliningquality of its habitat. The primary purpose of this study was to give preliminary information about the distribution of predicted suitablehabitat for JHE as a means of finding potential releasing sites, as an evaluation for habitat protection, and even as an option for thedevelopment of new JHE protected areas. However, mapping the spatial distribution of potential habitat for JHE using terrestrial surveyis problematic because it requires enormous time, fund, and human resources. The most possible approach is by using Ecological NicheModeling (ENM)/species distribution modeling (SDM). In this study, modeling exercise was conducted by using a maximum entropymethod as an adaptation from Maxent software ver. 3.4.1, with the utilization of JHE-nest coordinate data and 16 environmentalvariables datasets as the main input. The predicted suitable habitat distribution map has shown a good match with historical and presentrecords of JHE and has fairly succeeded in capturing a wide range of habitat patches from tiny spots to quite large suitable habitat.Modeling results also showed that altitude, annual mean temperature, and two types of land cover (closed shrub, and forest area) areconsidered to be most important variables affecting the distribution of potential habitat for JHE. Moreover, about 17.77% (23,209 km2)area of Java Island has been projected to be suitable for Havan Hawk-Eagle's habitat, which mostly spread in mountainous areas whilealso appear in several lowland areas. This study suggests the importance of topographic, climatic, and land cover as pivotal predictors indetermining the suitability of habitat for JHE. This study also shows that the modeling results have a good match with the historicalrecords of JHE across the island, which suggests the overall accuracy of the model.

Habitat loss and degradation threaten forest specialist wildlife species, but some generalist mesopredators exploit disturbed areas and human‐derived food, which brings them into closer contact with humans. Mesopredator release is also important for human health for known zoonotic disease reservoirs, such as Asian civets (Viverridae family), since this group includes the intermediator species for the SARS‐CoV‐1 outbreak. Here we use camera trapping to evaluate the habitat associations of the widespread banded civet ( Hemigalus derbyanus ) across its range in Southeast Asia. At the regional scale, banded civet detections among published studies were positively associated with forest cover and negatively associated with human population. At the local scale (within a landscape), hierarchical modeling of new camera trapping showed that abundance was negatively associated with forest loss and positively associated with distance to rivers. These results do not support mesopredator release and suggest a low likelihood overlap with humans in degraded habitats and, therefore, a low risk of zoonotic disease transmission from this species in the wild. We also estimate that banded civet distribution has contracted to under 21% of its currently recognized IUCN Red List range, only 12% of which falls within protected areas, and a precipitous recent decline in population size. Accordingly, we suggest the banded civet's Red List status should be re‐evaluated in light of our findings.

Nursamsi I, Komala WR.2017. Assessment of the successfulness of mangrove plantation program through the use of open source software and freely available satellite images. Nusantara Bioscience 9: 251-259. Mangrove forest has a major role in the process of human-environment interaction, but almost every mangrove forest in the world is under threat. In Indonesia alone, 25% of South East Asia’s mangroves are at a risk. The continued decline in mangrove forest induced by anthropogenic activity has made all the stakeholders who have the concern at the mangrove forest preservation worried, including the government. There were several programs have been performed by the government to preserve the mangrove forest. One of the programs was “Mangrove Rehabilitation Program in three districts: Ciamis, Indramayu, and Subang” held by Forestry Department of West Java Province in 2007. The aims of this study were to assess the changes in mangrove forest area before the program performed and to evaluate the successfulness of the program, using the increasing of mangrove forest area as a parameter. This study was conducted only in Subang and Indramayu Districts of West Java, Indonesia. The assessment was conducted using Landsat 4-5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+, and Landsat 8 OLI acquired in 1996, 2006, and 2016 respectively. For each image, a supervised classification method was performed using open source GRASS GIS software. The resulting maps were then compared to quantify the changes. Field work activity conducted and confirmed the changes that occurred in the study areas. Our study shows that all of the two districts exhibit successfulness of the plantation program. Ground truth survey confirmed that the successfulness of the plantation program is due to the participation of communities in the area of study. This study also shows that by using open source software and freely available satellite images, the fast, robust, and reliable data as an initial step to monitor both short-term and long-term plantation program can be collected effectively and inexpensively.

Abstract. Setyawan AD, Supriatna J, Nisyawati, Nursamsi I, Sutarno, Sugiyarto, Sunarto, Pradan P, Budiharta S, Pitoyo A, Suhardono S, Setyono P, Indrawan M. 2021. Projecting expansion range of Selaginella zollingeriana in the Indonesian archipelago under future climate conditions. Biodiversitas 22: 2088-2103. The expansion of plant species to outside areas of its original localities has attracted great interest in theoretical ecology. The scientific curiosity of such phenomenon is even deeper when the geographical expansion is confined by natural boundaries and affected by environmental changes, including climates. This study aimed to predict the current suitable habitat niche of Selaginella zollingeriana Spring, a species with original distribution in Java Island, and to project its potential suitable niche in the Indonesian archipelago accounting for future climate conditions. In doing so, we applied the Ecological Niche Modelings (ENMs) using MaxEnt algorithm by employing 30 presence data of S. zollingeriana and twelve enviro-climatic variables. The model predicted around 17.22% (22,095 km2) of the Java Island area is potentially suitable for current habitat niche of S. zollingeriana, consisting of 10.93% (14,028 km2), 4.75% (6,097 km2), and 1.54% (1,970 km2) of low, medium, and high suitability areas, respectively. Under future scenarios, the model predicted the possibility of species expansion into the other four big islands (i.e., Sumatera, Borneo, Sulawesi, and Papua). Nonetheless, the model also predicted a declining trend of the availability of suitable niches wherein from 2030 to 2080 the modeled niche declined about 58% and 59% under the most optimistic and most pessimistic climate change projections, respectively. While this study provides a primary example in predicting species expansion in tropical archipelago, similar studies in a range of contexts (e.g., species, region) are recommended to add more evidence to strengthen the theoretical ground of expansion ecology under climate changes.