Body condition scoring of Bornean banteng in logged forests

Abstract

Background: The Bornean banteng (Bos javanicus lowi) is an endangered subspecies that often inhabits logged forest; however very little is known about the effects of logging on their ecology, despite the differing effects this has on other ungulate species. A body condition scoring system was created for the Bornean banteng using camera trap photographs from five forests in Sabah, Malaysia, with various past and present management combinations to establish if banteng nutrition suffered as a result of forest disturbance. Results: One hundred and eleven individuals were photographed over 38,009 camera trap nights from April 2011 to June 2014 in five forests. Banteng within forests that had a recent history of reduced-impact logging had higher body condition scores than banteng within conventionally logged forest. Conversely, when past logging was conducted using a conventional technique and the period of forest regeneration was relatively long; the banteng had higher body condition scores. Conclusion: The body condition scoring system is appropriate for monitoring the long-term nutrition of the Bornean banteng and for evaluating the extent of the impact caused by present-day reduced-impact logging methods. Reduced-impact logging techniques give rise to individuals with the higher body condition scores in the shorter term, which then decline over time. In contrast the trend is opposite for conventional logging, which demonstrates the complex effects of logging on banteng body condition scores. This is likely to be due to differences in regeneration between forests that have been previously logged using differing methods.

Monitoring body condition score of reintroduced banteng (Bos javanicusD’Alton, 1923) into Salakphra Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand

“…The visual features of each body compositions captured by camera trap can be used to investigate the development of BCS in banteng. The BCS assessment was previously recommended for use to investigate Bornean banteng (Bos javanicus lowi) in logging forests in Sabah, Malaysia (Prosser et al, 2016).…”

“…Only sufficiently visible images which showed the whole body of the animal were selected for scoring. The visual body condition of banteng was scored by a five-points pictorial scoring system developed from scoring indexes of Bornean banteng (Prosser et al, 2016) and Bali cattle (Soares & Dryden, 2011). Each individual was given a score in the appearance of seven key areas of its body.…”

“…The advantages of using the BCS are feasibility, simplicity and low costs (Schiffmann et al, 2017). Thus, measuring animal BCS is important and has been applied to large mammalian herbivores such as African buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer; Ezenwa, Jolles & O'Brien, 2009), the greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicorni; Heidegger et al, 2016), Asian elephants (Elephas maximus; Pokharel, Seshagiri & Sukumar, 2017), and Bornean banteng (Bos javanicus lovii; Prosser et al, 2016).…”

Herd demography, sexual segregation and the effects of forest management on Bornean banteng Bos javanicus lowi in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

“…Logging increases the abundance of pioneer species (Imai et al 2012), in cluding grasses, vines and shrubs favourable to banteng (S. Ridge unpubl. data), and regenerating vegetation benefits banteng body condition and breeding (Gardner et al 2014, Prosser et al 2016, which is likely to have influenced the larger herds observed in forest with < 8 yr of PLR. Reduced disturbance from heavy machinery in the years following logging activity may have helped herds re-form and allowed herds to aggregate more frequent ly.…”

“…Increased anthropogenic disturbance may cause herds to separate and also in crease stress levels, which is likely to impact banteng breeding activity and behaviour (Gardner et al 2014). Furthermore, B. j. lowi have reduced body conditions in conventionally logged forests compared to reduced-impact logging (RIL) forests (Prosser et al 2016).…”