Sebangau Landscape

Our research activities in the LAHG, a special zone within the Sebangau National Park are divided into four key areas:

• In-depth studies of Sebangau’s primates, understanding their behaviour, ranging, diet, reproduction, social networks and responses to disturbance; and collecting a long-term record of their density and abundance. Many orangutan, gibbon and red langur individuals have been habituated to human presence and are followed during their daily activities with the results used to discover more about the behaviour of some of our closest relatives, contribute to the study of primate evolution and support conservation planning in a multiple-use landscape. Our orangutan density research is the longest continuous study of its kind with results mapping a logging-induced crash and subsequent recovery after protection. This aids conservation management planning for this critically endangered species.
• Understanding Borneo’s elusive wild cats by capturing their movements, and that of their prey, using remote-sensored camera traps. The clouded leopard, marbled cat and flat-headed cat are magnificent and secretive beasts, and we are learning much about their behaviour and ecology through this study.
• Biodiversity and ecological monitoring. We study many different aspects of peat-swamp forest ecology, from birds to butterflies, litterfall to fruiting patterns, and use these to describe seasonal changes in the environment, to assess responses to and recovery from logging and fire, and to develop ecological indicators of change and disturbance.
• Studies of the impacts and effectiveness of habitat restoration activities, including the damming of illegal logging channels to restore natural hydrological conditions; and the reforestation of burnt and logged areas within and outside the forest.