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Biotic and abiotic drivers of dispersion dynamics in a large-bodied tropical vertebrate, the Western Bornean orangutan

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Abstract

Understanding of animal responses to dynamic resource landscapes is based largely on research on temperate species with small body sizes and fast life histories. We studied a large, tropical mammal with an extremely slow life history, the Western Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii), across a heterogeneous natural landscape encompassing seven distinct forest types. Our goals were to characterize fluctuations in abundance, test hypotheses regarding the relationship between dispersion dynamics and resource availability, and evaluate how movement patterns are influenced by abiotic conditions. We surveyed abundance in Gunung Palung National Park, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, for 99 consecutive months and simultaneously recorded weather data and assessed fruit availability. We developed a Bayesian hierarchical distance sampling model to estimate population dispersion and assess the roles of fruit availability, rainfall, and temperature in driving movement patterns across this heterogeneous landscape. Orangutan abundance varied dramatically over space and time. Each forest type was important in sustaining more than 40% of the total orangutans on site during at least one month, as animals moved to track asynchronies in fruiting phenology. We conclude that landscape-level movements buffer orangutans against fruit scarcity, peat swamps are crucial fallback habitats, and orangutans’ use of high elevation forests is strongly dependent on abiotic conditions. Our results show that orangutans can periodically occupy putative-sink habitats and be virtually absent for extended periods from habitats that are vitally important in sustaining their population, highlighting the need for long-term studies and potential risks in interpreting occurrence or abundance measures as indicators of habitat importance.

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Data availability

All data necessary to reproduce our results are available at figshare.com: DOI m10.6084/m9.figshare.14731866.

Code availability

All code necessary to reproduce our results are available at figshare.com https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14731890

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the many constructive comments provided by the handling editor and three reviewers. We thank field researchers Agus Trianto, Albani, M. Ali A. K., Busran A. D., Dika, John Harting, Sarah Jaffe, Lande, Sylvain Lemoine, Mi’an, Edward Tang, Jon Sweeney, Surya, and Zakaria. Our thanks to AJM’s Indonesian counterparts and supporting institutions: the Ministry of Research and Technology / National Research and Innovation Agency, the Ministry of Forestry’s Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Universitas Nasional, Universitas Tanjungpura, and the Gunung Palung National Park Bureau.

Funding

Our work at Gunung Palung has been supported by funding from University of California, Davis, University of Michigan, Victoria University of Wellington, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Hellman Foundation, Leakey Foundation, Orangutan Conservancy, Fulbright Foundation, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, and the AZA Ape TAG Initiative.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Andrew J. Marshall

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Andrew J. Marshall

  3. Program in the Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Andrew J. Marshall

  4. School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Andrew J. Marshall

  5. One Forest Project, Gunung Palung National Park, Ketapang, West Kalimantan, Indonesia

    Andrew J. Marshall, Loren G. Bell, Endro Setiawan & Heiko U. Wittmer

  6. Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Matthew T. Farr & Elise F. Zipkin

  7. Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Matthew T. Farr & Elise F. Zipkin

  8. Program in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Department of BioSciences, Rice University, Houston, USA

    Lydia Beaudrot

  9. Department of Biology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA

    Katie L. Feilen

  10. Gunung Palung National Park Bureau, Ketapang, West Kalimantan, Indonesia

    Endro Setiawan

  11. Department of Biology, Graduate School, Universitas Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia

    Endro Setiawan & Tatang Mitra Setia

  12. Faculty of Biology, Universitas Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia

    Tri Wahyu Susanto & Tatang Mitra Setia

  13. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Mark Leighton

  14. School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Heiko U. Wittmer

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  1. Andrew J. Marshall
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Contributions

AJM, ML, LB, KLF, and HUW designed the study. AJM and HUW raised funds for data collection; AJM, LGB, ES, TWS, and TMS collected the data and/or provided logistical support; LB, KLF, LGB, MTF, and AJM extracted data and contributed R code; MTF and EFZ developed the Bayesian hierarchical distance sampling model; AJM and HUW wrote the manuscript; AJM produced the figures. All authors contributed to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.

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Correspondence to Andrew J. Marshall.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All applicable institutional and/or national guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

Additional information

Communicated by Joanna E. Lambert.

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Marshall, A.J., Farr, M.T., Beaudrot, L. et al. Biotic and abiotic drivers of dispersion dynamics in a large-bodied tropical vertebrate, the Western Bornean orangutan. Oecologia 196, 707–721 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04964-1

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