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Rhinos in the Parks: An Island-Wide Survey of the Last Wild Population of the Sumatran Rhinoceros  (summary by Chris)

3/19/2018

1 Comment

 
Citation
Pusparini, Wulan, et al. “Rhinos in the Parks: An Island-Wide Survey of the Last Wild Population of the Sumatran Rhinoceros.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, 16 Sept. 2015, journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0136643.
 
Purpose
The authors sought to asses the population size of the Sumatran rhinoceros, a critically endangered large mammal.  The population has dropped significantly in the last two hundred years since the species was first described by Fisher in 1814. The authors decided to conduct this survey in order to understand how best to conserve this rare species.
 
Methods
To get a solid idea of the rhinoceroses’ distribution and habitat the researchers searched for “signs” of the rhino’s presence, these “signs” includes rhino droppings, foot prints, and a few rare instances of actual sightings. After acquiring the data the researchers conducted statistical analyses of the populations by using PRESENCE var. 8.3 and R version 2.8.1 software.
 
Results
Despite this being the first systematic survey ever conducted on the species, the results were still inconclusive. This uncertainty in the data made the researchers conclude that immediate action must be taken to preserve the species in order to prevent a worst-case scenario.    
 
Relevance
This research is relevant to invertebrate conservation in Palau because it is an excellent example of population analysis of endemic species. Palau, being an archipelago, is home to countless endemic species, species that inhabit a small geographic range and are sometimes rare as a result. Palau is likely full of undescribed species, however just because they are undescribed does not mean they are safe from human impact. We can use this paper as a model to understand how we can more easily track rare and undescribed species in order to plan how we can save them.   
1 Comment
Haley Korcz
3/24/2018 06:46:11 am

I found the Rhinos in the Park blog post to be very interesting. I found an article about the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle that has become invasive in Micronesian islands. This is slightly different because it is a beetle and invasive instead of endemic but similar methods of analyzing populations by collecting data of confirmed sightings could be used to study their distribution.

There would be different methods of searching for the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle. The Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle feeds upon coconut palms by boring into emerging fronds and feeding on the sap. This can be very damaging if the boring is occurring on the growing area of the tree. The beetle also uses downed trees as breeding sites which could be good sites to search for them and important to clear downed trees in order to help contain their spread.

This is relevant to Palau because it is an invasive beetle that was first found in Palau in 1942. It has already damaged their coconut palms and has now moved onto their crops. There are currently eradication programs being used in Guam which could also go into effect in Palau if it is not already but having knowledge of the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetles distribution and population could be beneficial to the eradication process.

Zou, Miller. “USC Dornsife Scientific Diving: The Invasion of the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle.” Scientific American. Jim Haw, 15 May 2012. Website: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/expeditions/usc-dornsife-scientific-diving-the-invasion-of-the-coconut-rhinoceros-beetle/#. Accessed 20 March 2018.

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    Rebecca Rundell & Jesse Czekanski-Moir

    Co-instructors, 2018

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