Student Grant 2016

Here are a summary of her findings.  Her full project will be submitted and presented to Imperial College London, DGFC and HUTAN.  She also aims to publish her paper in a peer review conservation journal.

Sai chose to undertake a camera trap study to research the impact of the forest corridor width on orangutans along the Kinabatangan River located 50km to the South East of Sepilok.

Sai’s project used camera traps along the river edge habitat, known as riparian forest, to capture images of any passing wildlife. During her study along with orangutans there were pictures taken of Elephants, Clouded Leopards, Leopard Cats, Sun Bears, Pangolins, Langurs and Civets among many other more common species highlighting the important nature of this type of habitat.

The encroachment of agriculture along the river results in the width of the forest to vary as you travel downstream. This variation has allowed Sai to study the correlation between forest width and the amount of orangutans using the forest as a corridor. The current guidelines for river edge forest width are based on the protection of the river bank from erosion and are set at 50 meters.

Sai’s research has shown that a corridor width of 800 meters is required to achieve a high density of orangutan use and a corridor width of up to 1,100 meters is required for maximum species richness. While additional research in to these findings will need to be conducted in the future to support these findings they are none the less important as they can be used to provide a guideline for the recommended minimum forest width to be increased.