Keeping it Cool: Mammal Responses to Microclimatic Variation in Disturbed Indonesian Lowland Forest

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Background Information

Climate change and deforestation of tropical rainforests is threatening the livelihoods of millions of people given the global importance of the ecosystems within them. Because tropical animals are adapted to the relatively stable tropical climate, they are disproportionately sensitive to climate change and more information is needed on their use of micro-climatic refuges within forest ecosystems to avoid harsh climatic conditions and manage exposure to biting insect and parasites (which prefer hot wet places).

Helen Slater’s PhD project used novel methods linking predictive modelling to identify how the availability of micro-refuges changes as a result of human disturbance. The study has been conducted at a UNESCO World Heritage site in Indonesia.

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This project is timely because we are currently at the brink of a global extinction crisis but scientists are still struggling to predict how species will respond to climate change and human disturbance.

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