Rui-Chang Quan’s research while affiliated with Conservation International and other places

Interdisciplinary efforts are fundamental for achieving successful conservation translocations. However, behavioral information is usually lacking to guide conservation translocations for social animals. This is particularly significant for the conservation of endangered Asian elephants. Therefore, by tracing the long‐term behavioral logbook records in the southern central part of Myanmar, our study highlighted that younger semi‐captive elephants (male ≤21 years old; female ≤42 years old) were identified as suitable candidates for translocations since they were more easily accepted by the wild population, with fewer fighting events and higher mingling probability. Furthermore, we recorded 136 present data combining field surveys and collection from literature, and we identified 4349.69 km² of suitable habitat in this region located around 10 km away from the villages, closer to managed forests and water. This study integrated ecological and behavioral information to support reinforcement conservation for Asian elephants in Southeast Asia, where most of the semi‐captive elephants are distributed. These insights could guide more effective reinforcement projects by considering age and sex for improved success in integration. Additionally, our study emphasizes the importance of habitats near human‐dominated areas, which are preferred by elephants, offering practical implications for habitat management and human‐elephant conflict mitigation efforts. Further research efforts from the behavioral perspectives, such as using camera trappings or video recordings, are encouraged to facilitate social animal conservation.

People’s knowledge and attitudes toward carnivores are crucial for understanding the distribution, ecology, conflicts, interactions, and threats that these species face. Carnivores are found both within and outside protected areas, making them susceptible to human-carnivore conflicts. However, In Sri Lanka, human dimensions of carnivores remain relatively understudied, despite several reported conflicts. To address these gaps, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 303 households around Dhunumadalwa Forest Reserve, Kandy, Central Sri Lanka in 2023. Our goal was to explore people’s knowledge—specifically their ability to identify carnivore species and understand environmental laws—alongside their attitudes and experiences with human carnivore conflicts. We found that 99 % of the respondents identified at least one of the 12 carnivore species shown during the interview. However, only 2 % of respondents identified as many as nine species, indicating a generally low ability to identify carnivore species. The ability to identify carnivores was significantly influenced by distance to the forest, gender, and education level. Respondents demonstrated a strong understanding of environmental laws, including forest and wildlife regulations and the penalties associated with killing species. Forty-one percent of the respondents expressed a positive attitude toward one of the carnivores, particularly leopards and other cat species, while 74 % particularly showed a negative attitude toward the civet species. The attitude towards carnivores was significantly influenced only by urbanization and education level. Carnivore conflicts were reported by 33 % of respondents, primarily involving leopards and civets, causing disturbances and economic losses. Despite these challenges, 68 % of respondents believed conflicts had decreased over the last two decades. However, 73 % of respondents had no clear idea about conflict mitigation measures, while 17 % advocated relocating problematic animals as a primary solution for conflicts. Our study highlights the complex nature of human carnivore interactions and emphasizes the need for educating people about carnivores. It also underscores the importance of improving protection measures for domestic animals and establishing compensation schemes and performance payments to enhance tolerance, coexistence, and foster positive attitudes toward these species.

Felid species hold critical ecological roles within tropical forest ecosystems and are particularly susceptible to human-induced disturbances. However, there is limited research on how sympatric felid species are distributed and coexist in human-dominated habitats. Using a long-term camera trap survey conducted in the disturbed tropical habitats of Xishuangbanna, southwestern China, we assessed the occupancy and spatio-temporal segregation among four sympatric felid species (Leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis, Marbled cat Pardofelis marmorata, Asiatic golden cat Catopuma temminckii, and Clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa), and explored how these patterns correlate with similarities in species traits. We found that the occupancy probabilities of leopard cats and clouded leopards were primarily influenced by anthropogenic disturbances rather than natural factors, with both species negatively affected by croplands. Similar species responses to croplands and livestock may facilitate the co-occurrence of leopard cats with clouded leopards in areas farther from croplands and with golden cats in regions with higher livestock abundance. The lack of significant spatial segregation among species is likely due to the observed segregation in daily activity patterns, which positively correlated with species trait similarities. Our study enhances our understanding of felid community assembly in the face of expanding human activity, offering valuable insights for future conservation in the Xishuangbanna region.

Large carnivores such as leopards (Panthera pardus) experience continuing threats from habitat loss and fragmentation, depletion of prey populations, and retaliatory killing following conflicts with humans. We aimed to identify factors affecting leopard occupancy and temporal overlap between leopards and tigers (P. tigris), their major prey, and human activities in the Parsa‐Koshi Complex (PKC), Nepal. We deployed 154 cameras for 21 days each along wildlife trails throughout PKC during December 2022–March 2023. We found low leopard occupancy (0.17 ± 0.04) in PKC, with greater occupancy rates within protected areas, particularly in Parsa National Park and its buffer zone. Human (63.10 ± 23) and livestock (36.46 ± 102) detections were higher across the PKC. Leopard occupancy was positively associated with the presence of tigers and prey. Temporal overlap was moderately high between leopards and tigers, as well as between leopards and their prey. Our research suggests that coexistence between leopards and tigers is likely largely facilitated by higher prey availability, which may reduce competition. Further, we demonstrate that maintaining forest cohesion can improve habitat for leopards. Intensifying use of agricultural areas could reduce forest fragmentation and increase leopard habitat overall, in turn reducing leopard depredation of livestock and improving leopard‐human co‐existence and conservation.

Interdisciplinary efforts are fundamental for achieving successful conservation translocations. However, behavioral information is usually lacking to guide conservation translocations for social animals. This is particularly significant for the conservation of endangered Asian elephants. Therefore, by tracing the long-term behavioral logbook records in the southern central part of Myanmar, our study highlighted that younger semi-captive elephants (male ≤21 years old; female ≤42 years old) were identified as suitable candidates for translocations since they were more easily accepted by the wild population, with fewer fighting events and higher mingling probability. Furthermore, we recorded 136 present data combining field surveys and collection from literature , and we identified 4349.69 km 2 of suitable habitat in this region located around 10 km away from the villages, closer to managed forests and water. This study integrated ecological and behavioral information to support reinforcement conservation for Asian elephants in Southeast Asia, where most of the semi-captive elephants are distributed. These insights could guide more effective reinforcement projects by considering age and sex for improved success in integration. Additionally, our study emphasizes the importance of habitats near human-dominated areas, which are preferred by elephants, offering practical implications for habitat management and human-elephant conflict mitigation efforts. Further research efforts from the behavioral perspectives, such as using camera trappings or video recordings, are encouraged to facilitate social animal conservation.

Given the vulnerability of large and medium‐sized mammal communities to climate change and human disturbances, understanding the spatial–temporal dynamics of these communities is essential for effective conservation planning. However, in many biodiversity hotspots, precise biological community assessments are insufficient. From 2012 to 2022, we deployed 784 camera traps in eight nature reserves (including sub‐reserves) and one State Forest Farm (SFF, less strictly protected than a reserve) to study the composition and distribution of large and medium‐sized mammals in tropical Xishuangbanna. The findings revealed the following: (1) Forty‐three species, encompassing six orders, 17 families, and 37 genera, were documented. Among the species in historical data, nine species were not detected in this survey. (2) Smaller and more fragmented reserves lacked larger body‐sized predators and herbivores, and most common species showed lower relative population abundance. Conversely, the SFF exhibited high mammal diversity. (3) The community composition of large and medium‐sized mammals varied significantly across the nine sites, particularly among threatened species. Our findings highlight the uneven distribution of these mammal communities in Xishuangbanna, with rare and large‐sized species facing increased vulnerability to rapid environmental changes. Moreover, the findings demonstrate the importance of considering species specificity and uniqueness in conservation planning for maintaining regional‐scale biodiversity.

The factors that enable the coexistence of closely related species remain a major question in ecology, particularly in human‐disturbed habitats. The effects of anthropogenic disturbance and interspecific competition can exacerbate the decline in populations of competing species. The adoption of different strategies in responding to anthropogenic disturbances and competitive avoidances may create opportunities for competing species to coexist. However, few studies have explored how disturbance and competition interact to shape species coexistence. In this study, we conducted long‐term and large‐scale camera trap surveys comprising 540 sampling sites from 2017 to 2021 at Xishuangbanna, southwestern China, and deployed a spatiotemporal analysis framework to determine the effect of anthropogenic disturbances and competitive avoidances on the coexistence of three sympatric macaque species: Assamese macaque (Macaca assamensis; MA), northern pig‐tailed macaque (M. leonina; ML), and rhesus macaque (M. mulatta; MM). Macaque species exhibited diverse responses to different types of anthropogenic disturbances. The occurrence probability of MM was positively associated with distance to road and relative abundance of human occurrence, and negatively associated with distance to cropland, which reduces the likelihood of sympatry between MM and the other two species due to their opposing responses to road, cropland, and human occurrence. Conversely, the similar responses to road and cropland increase the sympatry between MA and ML. Three macaque species did not avoid each other through shifting space use or their overall daily activity pattern. However, they delayed using the shared site after other species used it to avoid confrontation. We provide evidence that (1) the spatial co‐occurrence pattern of sympatric macaque species was determined by anthropogenic disturbances rather than by competitive spatial avoidance and (2) fine‐scale temporary avoidance is the strategy to alleviate their interspecific competition. These results enhance our understanding of the underlying mechanisms leading to species coexistence of nonhuman primates in human‐disturbed habitats.

When the book Wild mammals of Myanmar (Tun Yin 1993) was published, a total of 252 mammal species were reported. Since that publication, numerous new species have been described, taxonomic revisions published, and additional distribution records produced that have expanded Myanmar’s mammals considerably. Therefore, we aimed to provide an updated checklist of the mammals of Myanmar, which includes the scientific and common names, global and Myanmar distributions, remarks on taxonomy, and conservation information including the IUCN Red List status and legal protection status under The Conservation of Biodiversity and Protected Areas Law 2018 of Myanmar. Our new checklist includes 365 (33 marine and 332 terrestrial) mammal species belonging to 13 orders and 49 families. We also confirmed that Myanmar is home to at least nine endemic mammal species. Our results highlight the areas that require further exploration to gain a more comprehensive understanding of Myanmar’s diverse fauna.

Physical defence investment in seeds varies greatly among plant species and is associated with many potential factors. Exploring the factors explaining the interspecific variation in physical defence has long attracted particular attention in both ecology and evolution studies. However, the relative importance of the factors has not yet been quantitatively evaluated, which may lead to the misunderstanding of the main driver generating such interspecific variation. Here, by compiling a global database of the seed coat ratio (SCR), a proxy of seed physical defence, for 1362 species, we provided the first quantification of the relative explanations of six factors that have been commonly considered to be associated with the interspecific variation in SCR: seed mass, seed desiccation response (desiccation‐sensitive vs. desiccation‐tolerant), seed dormancy (nondormant, physical dormant or other dormant types), growth form (herbaceous vs. woody), fruit type (dry vs. fleshy) and climate (19 bioclimatic variables representing temperature and precipitation). Using partial R² calculation that can estimate the reduction in explained variance of a given factor after removing it from a full model containing all the other factors, we disentangled the relative contribution of each factor to explain variation in the SCR. Seed desiccation response was the most important factor associating with SCR variation, followed by seed dormancy, with a partial R²lik value of 9.70% and 1.41%, respectively. Plant growth form, seed mass, climate and fruit type showed little power to explain SCR variation, although they are often cited in the literature as potential factors. Our results highlight the important roles of seed desiccation response in shaping interspecific variation in the SCR. These findings provide a detailed interpretation of ecological patterns underlying the physical defence mechanisms and allocation strategies of plant seeds. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.