Miyabi Nakabayashi

• Ph.D
• Professor (Associate) at Hiroshima University

Proboscis monkeys are largely confined along the eastern coastal zone of Sabah, Malaysia. Sulaman Lake Forest Reserve (SLFR) is the only Class V Mangrove Forest Reserve in the forestry district of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. This study is in accordance with the conservation strategies outlined in the Sabah Proboscis Monkey Action Plan (2019–2028), which...

We applied stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses to understand the faunivory of the four sympatric wild Paradoxurinae civet species in Borneo, which share similar ecological characteristics. We also employed compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis of amino acids to estimate these species’ trophic positions (TPs). The bulk stable isotope...

Understanding wildlife behavioral responses is crucial for assessing the effects of anthropogenic disturbance. We used camera traps to investigate the behavioral responses of two ungulate species, bearded pigs (Sus barbatus) and sambar deer (Rusa unicolor), to anthropogenic disturbance in three protected areas in Sabah, Malaysia, that have varying...

A newly found leaf arrangement to reduce self-shading was observed in a Japanese warm-temperate forest. For monoaxial trees that deploy leaves directly on a single stem, leaf arrangements involving progressive elongation of the petiole and progressive increase in deflection angle (the angle between stem and petiole) from the uppermost to the lowerm...

Bamboo species are common in Myanmar forests. They are monocarpic and some (but not all) conspecific bamboo clumps in a forest flower concurrently. The timing of flowering usually differs among bamboo species. Therefore, when flowering occurs in a forest, some spaces within a forest are expected to be occupied by conspecific and/or heterospecific n...

The sympatric four wild Paradoxurinae civet species in Borneo share similar ecological characteristics, but the coexistence mechanism of these species is unclear. We investigated their faunivory, reflected in their tropic positions (TP), by carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of bulk hair and compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis of a...

Once every few years, tropical rain forests in Southeast Asia experience severe droughts, which kill trees and shrubs. However, the census intervals for forest monitoring are often supra-annual for many study sites. When an episodic drought is included in a multi-year census interval, the substantial drop in survival rates in the drought year can b...

We report the movements related to feeding behavior (using radio telemetry), and the contribution of gut passage to seed germination, of a male masked palm civet Paguma larvata in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The 95% kernel and 95% minimum convex polygon (MCP) home-range sizes were 1.20 km2 and 2.85 km2, respectively, based on 39 telemetry fixes during...

Bamboos are mainly distributed in subtropical to tropical areas. Bamboos provide numerous ecosystem services, while the expansion of bamboo gives negative impacts on forest ecosystems. Despite big impacts of bamboos on a forest ecosystem, ecological characteristics of bamboo remain poorly understood. The spatial distributional patterns of three bam...

Phyllostachys nigra var. henonis, a monocarpic bamboo with a 120-year flowering interval, is next predicted to flower in Japan in the 2020s. Because a huge area of the country is presently covered by stands of this species, post-flowering dieback of these stands and ensuing drastic changes in land cover may cause serious social and/or environmental...

Terrestrial leeches can be useful tools for wildlife assessment. However, limited information is available on their fundamental ecology, such as temporal activity patterns and habitat preferences in tropical rainforests. Therefore, this study aimed to reveal the temporal (diel and seasonal) and spatial patterns of active leech abundance and identif...

Despite the benefits to the children playing in nature being widely recognized, merely enhancing children’s interest in nature will not effectively increase their nature experience because children’s activity nowadays is increasingly under their parents’ supervision. Therefore, to identify effective strategies, it is important to understand parenta...

To propose proper conservation measures and to elucidate coexistence mechanisms of sympatric carnivore species, we assessed temporal activity patterns of the sympatric carnivore species using 37,379 photos collected for more than 3 years at three study sites in Borneo. We categorized activity patterns of nine carnivore species (one bear, three cive...

To propose proper conservation measures and to elucidate coexistence mechanisms of sympatric carnivore species, we assessed their temporal activity patterns using 37,379 photos collected for more than three years at three study sites in Borneo. We categorized activity patterns of nine carnivore species (one bear, three civets, two felids, one skunk...

We investigated the effect of logging on Ficus species at a community level in the Imbak Canyon Conservation Area (ICCA) in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We made comparisons of species composition, density, fig size, and host-tree size (DBH) between heavily logged and relatively old forests, and assessed factors affecting the size of hemi-epiphytic spec...

In this paper, I summarize the plant foods used by four sympatric Paradoxurinae civet species, based on data collected between May 2010 and June 2018, and consider their possible coexistence mechanisms on Borneo. I recorded the plants eaten by them, both by direct observation and fecal analysis, at four sites in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. In total, I...

Ficus species are keystone plants in tropical rainforests, and hemi-epiphytic figs play a notably important role in forest ecosystems. Because hemi-epiphytic figs have strict germination requirements, germination and establishment stages regulate their populations. Despite the ecological importance of hemi-epiphytic figs in the rainforests, seed di...

Sungai Rawog Conservation Area (SRCA), located within the Segaluid Lokan Forest Reserve, is one of the largest wildlife conservation areas set aside in an active production forest reserve in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. However, much remains unknown about its animal communities. We conducted a mammal survey in and around the SRCA to gather baseline dat...

We evaluated short-term movements of three radio-collared binturongs in relation to food distribution in Bornean rainforests, in addition to the basic ecological information on their home-range size and diet. Mean 95% fixed kernel and 95% MCP home-range size were 4.24 ± 0.79 km² and 1.54 ± 0.89 km², respectively (mean ± SD). We recorded 13 fig Ficu...

We investigated the horizontal habitat use of three sympatric Paradoxurinae species, the common palm civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus, the small-toothed palm civet Arctogalidia trivirgata and the binturong Arctictis binturong, occurring within a small area in a lowland dipterocarp rainforest in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We evaluated their preference...

The common palm civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus is a small carnivore occurring in a broad array of habitats on Borneo, including logged and unlogged forest, cultivated land, and the outskirts of villages and towns. It is assigned incomplete legal protection in Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam. In addition, the recent, rapidly expanding increase in...

We compared feeding behavior of frugivorous civets with those of other sympatric frugivores in a Bornean rainforest. For each frugivore residing in 3 different species of fig trees (Ficus variegata, F. fistulosa, and F. benjamina), we recorded temporal visitation patterns, visitation length, and time spent searching for fruit spanning 1,758h of obs...

We investigated fruit selection of a radio-collared female binturong (Arctictis binturong pageli Schwarz, 1911) by focal animal sampling in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We recorded seven food species from 12 feeding trees over 16 months. The radio-collared binturong fed only ripe fig fruits (Ficus spp., Moraceae), suggesting that her diet largely depen...

Responses of biodiversity to changes in both land cover and climate are recognized [ 1 ] but still poorly understood [ 2 ]. This poses significant challenges for spatial planning as species could shift, contract, expand, or maintain their range inside or outside protected areas [ 2–4 ]. We examine this problem in Borneo, a global biodiversity hotsp...

We compared the sighting frequencies and habitat use of a mammalian carnivore, common palm civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus, between interior forests, and gravel roads and roadside forests by nocturnal line-transect survey, live-trapping, and radio-telemetry at Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Sabah, Malaysia. The results of line-transect survey and live-...

The orangutan is the world's largest arboreal mammal, and images of the red ape moving through the tropical forest canopy symbolise its typical arboreal behaviour. Records of terrestrial behaviour are scarce and often associated with habitat disturbance. We conducted a large-scale species-level analysis of ground-based camera-trapping data to evalu...

Space use and habitat selection of mammals are determined by the distribution and availability of critical resources. Such information on space use and habitat selection is necessary for the conservation and management of wild populations. We revealed the determinants of habitat use for 12 common palm civets (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) within a ma...

Common Palm Civets Paradoxurus hermaphroditus live solitarily and reportedly interact intra-specifically only rarely, other than as mother–young and as mating associations. Among three individuals observed feeding at a fruiting Endospermum diadenum tree, no aggression was noted between either of the two adult males and one female, but agonistic beh...

We studied the ability of domestic cats to distinguish familiarity based on faecal odours. This was evaluated by comparing the sniffing duration of cats’ own, familiar, and unfamiliar faeces. We found that (1) sniffing durations differed between unfamiliar faeces and the other types of faeces, (2) sniffing durations of faeces of the same unfamiliar...