The status of research on the mammals of Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

The Indonesian island of Sulawesi is widely considered a mammal conservation hotspot, mainly due to the high number of threatened endemic species with limited geographical ranges that are found there, and also due to the biogeographical importance of Sulawesi as the largest island in the Wallacea region. To date, there has been no comprehensive review to evaluate the status of what we know about mammals in Sulawesi. The overarching goal of our review is to contribute towards identifying knowledge gaps in the biology and ecology of mammals in Sulawesi. Our specific aims were to: 1) identify taxonomic and geographic bias in published research; 2) identify biases within existing ecological knowledge; and 3) identify key research priorities for the future. Our review covers a total of 280 articles (published between 1921 and 2017) on 144 species of mammal from Sulawesi. Through our review we found: 1) a strong taxonomic bias, with the majority of studies being conducted on primates (59% of published articles); 2) a geographic bias, where significantly fewer studies took place in the provinces of West Sulawesi and Gorontalo; and 3) a bias in research topics, with most studies (50% of published research) focusing on taxonomy and behaviour. As an outcome of this review, we provide specific recommendations for future researchers, including: 1) a checklist of understudied species, with particular emphasis on understudied species of conservation concern; 2) a checklist of understudied research topics, with an emphasis on the need to conduct detailed auto‐ecological studies; and 3) suggestions on how to adjust research methods on population and habitat studies.

The pikas of China: a review of current research priorities and challenges for conservation

“…Lorenzo et al . 2015; Broto & Mortelliti 2019). The rapid change in the number of species in Ochotona comes at a time when mammalogists are debating the relative merits of different species concepts with regards to conservation (see Zachos 2018 and references therein).…”

“…those endemic to a particular region, with a narrow range size and highly specific habitat requirements) and those at the greatest risk of extinction are often considered high priority targets for conservation (e.g. Trimble & van Aarde 2010; Broto & Mortelliti 2019). O. koslowi occurs in both groups.…”

“…We included all articles regardless of the country in which the study took place. Papers were assigned at least 1 of 12 research topics adapted from those of Broto and Mortelliti (2019): taxonomy, physiology, population, habitat, distribution, behavior, food, reproduction, disease, conservation, pest control, and ecological function (see Table 2 for definitions and Supporting Information S2, for examples). Papers on pest control were further subdivided into 2 categories: (a) papers in which pikas were considered a pest to be controlled, and (b) those studying the secondary effects of control.…”

Conserving large mammals on small islands: a case study on one of the world’s most understudied pigs, the Togean Islands babirusa

“…One such species is the Togean Islands babirusa (Babyrousa togeanensis, order Artiodactyla, family Suidae; hereafter, Togean babirusa), an endangered species endemic to the Togean Archipelago, Central Sulawesi, with a distribution range of less than 600 km² (Macdonald et al 2016). Despite being protected and listed as Appendix-1 CITES, only one research article is available on the species, predominantly based on interview surveys (Akbar et al 2007;Broto and Mortelliti 2019). Consequently, descriptions of its ecology and behavior are mostly speculations based on other babirusa species (Meijaard and Groves 2002;Ito and Melletti 2017).…”

Assessing population structure and body condition to inform conservation strategies for a small isolated Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) population in southwest China

“…Cameras cause minimal disturbance to animals and their habitat, can be used continuously for long periods of time, can withstand harsh weather conditions, and are relatively cheap [19,21,22]. They are widely used to conduct baseline surveys of protected species [23,24], to monitor endangered wildlife [25], to study habitat use [26], to observe animal behavior [27], and to study the mechanisms of coexistence in sympatric species [28,29]. Moreover, infrared cameras can also be used to estimate population size and density in conjunction with Spatially Explicit Capture-Recapture models (SECR) [30][31][32][33].…”