Arrival in Sikundur
Emma's first blog on her and Chris's experiences in Sikundur.
Arriving at the Sikundur Base!
BU student’s Chris Marsh and Emma Hankinson finally arrived at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP) base camp in Sikundur, after obtaining their permits in March 2016 to begin fieldwork within the forest! Studies involve investigation into the spatial distribution of primate species (gibbon, siamang and Thomas langur) using vocal arrays in relation to canopy and vegetational structure, individuality of gibbon calls through recording and analysis of long calls, and orangutan habitat preferences in relation to 3D vegetation structure and microclimate. These studies will hopefully provide information and improve our understanding of habitat preferences and levels of adaptability of primates to forest structural changes in the face of increasing deforestation and climate change.
The Sikundur field station, a monitoring post for SOCP is located on the eastern edge of the Gunung Leuser National Park (GLNP), one of the largest protected areas of rainforests remaining in South-east Asia. It is an extremely diverse region containing a range of unique habitats and one of the last strongholds for many endemic, critically endangered species including the Sumatran orangutan and the Sumatran tiger.
The Sikundur area consists of lowland dipterocarp forest (a rapidly declining habitat type) which was subjected to large and small scale logging between 1976-1988, and again intermittently in the 1990s. This provides the opportunity for the comparison of primate species abundance and distribution over a gradient of forest structure and disturbance levels in historically logged and primary/undisturbed areas.
SIKUNDUR’S LOWLAND DIPTEROCARP FOREST (left)
EMMA SEARCHING FOR PRIMATES IN SIKUNDUR (right)
As the forest around Sikundur was historically logged, many of the trees are not as tall as they would be in pristine, lowland forest habitat, with a maximum tree height of approximately 60m. Within the next few months we will hopefully reach other areas of forest which are predominantly primary with a much greater tree height.
Racquel (left) is a 16 year old female orangutan from Sikundur. Each individual orangutan ranging within the Sikundur trail system is known. Orangutan follows are conducted daily, from early morning when they wake up to the evening when they build their nest. All behaviours and locations are noted alongside the height and species of tree they build their nest in. Racquel is thought to be pregnant which is exciting news!
At this time of year (March/April) fruit is scarce, therefore orangutans switch to young leaves (like Racquel in the picture on the left) and bark (below) to meet their nutritional needs.
Our first vocal array was conducted within the Sikundur trail system on the 8th April. The arrays consist of three recorders situated in a straight line 500m apart. Array recordings commenced at 5am and end at 10am each morning for four consecutive days. An observer records each primate group heard vocalising, alongside the time, approximate distance and the bearing of where the call is located. With triangulation, this will allow each group within the area to be mapped.
We were lucky enough to be visited by a Siamang group during day 3 of the vocal arrays. This group contained five individuals, and this female was travelling high up in the canopy with her young baby (below).
